“It is.”
He didn’t believe her; that was clear. In an instant, he was reaching around the dog and grabbing Ghislaine by the arm, pulling her over to him so he could put a hand to her face. She tried to pull away but he laid a big palm against her forehead and, immediately, his eyes widened.
“You have a fever,” he said seriously. “How long has this been going on?”
Ghislaine looked at him fearfully. “I am sure I do not have a fever,” she insisted weakly. “It is simply too much sun.”
Gaetan sighed faintly. “Mousie, you do, indeed, have a fever,” he said, somewhat gently. “I must look at your wound. There is poison in it.”
Ghislaine was looking at him with great distress, completely overlooking the fact that he’d called her mousie, a pet version of the “little mouse” term that he seemed to like so much when addressing her. Had she not been so afraid of his discovery of her fever, she would have been very touched. Flattered, even.
Giddy.
“It can wait until we reach Worcester,” she insisted. “Truly, I feel fine. I simply think I have had too much sun.”
Gaetan acted as if he hadn’t heard her. “We must get you to Worcester immediately and seek a physic,” he said. “They do have physics in this barbaric country, don’t they?”
She nodded. “Aye,” she said. As Gaetan began to rise, she grabbed him by the arm, preventing him from moving. When he looked at her, curiously, she gazed up at him with teary eyes. “Promise me you will not leave me in Worcester while you go on without me. I do not want to be left behind.”
Gaetan had never been one to be swayed be feminine wiles or tears but, at this moment, he was quite swayed by the tears. He didn’t like to see them on her face. “I cannot make any promises,” he said, though it was gently done. “If you are ill, you cannot travel. You know that.”
Her features crumpled. “I do not want to be left alone,” she wept as tears streamed down her face. “This mission is as much mine as it is yours. I must see it through.”
Gaetan felt a good deal of pity for her. Taking the hand that was on his arm, he lifted it to his lips for a tender kiss simply to comfort her. “You are very dedicated and I appreciate that,” he said patiently. “But if you are ill, you cannot…”
Ghislaine was so distraught that she couldn’t even spare the thrill for the kiss he’d just given her. “Please!”
She was weeping louder now, attracting attention. Gaetan sighed heavily as he rose to his feet, lifting her up to stand. De Russe, the ever-present protector, was immediately at her side, appearing quite concerned with her tears.
“What has happened?” he asked her. “What did Gaetan say to you?”
Gaetan rolled his eyes. “I did not say anything to her,” he snapped quietly. “She is running a fever. We must get her to town and locate a physic. If her leg is becoming poisoned, then it must be treated.”
The concern on de Russe’s features grew. “I knew it was a dirty wound,” he muttered, reaching out to take Ghislaine’s right arm as Gaetan took the left. “Come along, my lady. We will go and find you a physic.”
Ghislaine was feverish and unhappy. She pulled her arms from their grips even though they were only attempting to help her. “I can walk alone,” she said, incensed. “I am not feverish. It is simply the sun.”
Gaetan looked at Aramis’ questioning expression over the top of her head, shaking his head faintly to indicate that the lady was wrong in her assessment of her illness.
“Then let us at least get you out of the sun,” Gaetan said patiently.
By this point, the other knights were gathering around her, drawn by her weeping. De Moray and de Winter, in particular, were looking at her with great concern.
“My lady?” de Moray asked. “What has happened?”
Gaetan prevented her from answering. “The lady is ill,” he said. “Get the horses. We must leave for Worcester immediately.”
“I am not ill!”
“Of course not.”
Gaetan had an amazing amount of patience with her as they headed for the horses. He wanted her to ride with him but she balked, insisting she ride her own horse, so de Lara brought the mare around and helped her to mount. Her leg was very tender, making it uncomfortable to ride, but de Lara was clever. In helping her mount, he was able to get a hand on her leg, pretending to help her but what he really wanted to do was feel the limb to see if it had any temperature to it. Once he helped the lady settle, he turned and walked past Gaetan, muttering in the man’s ear.
“Her leg is on fire.”
Gaetan’s heart sank. Gesturing to his knights to mount up, soon they were all moving in the direction of Worcester, which was less than an hour away. They could see the top of the cathedral as soon as they left the thicket and passed onto the road, and then on to the city that was still devastated by tribal wars and a flooding river.
Now, as they entered the outskirts of the beaten city and headed towards the city center, the fever that Ghislaine had been trying to ignore was growing worse. She could tell because her eyeballs were growing hot, a sure sign that her fever was worsening. She also felt strangely weak and her head was swimming and rather foggy. It was an increasing effort for her to stay upright on her mare because she wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep.
Behind her, she could hear small talk from the knights as they passed into the town. De Russe, riding behind her, came up beside her and handed her a purple flower that he’d ripped from a vine they’d passed. The flower brought a weak smile to her face and she held on to it as they continued into the town proper, past the waddle and daub buildings and the inhabitants of the town who, at just past noon, were winding down their business for the day.
Children ran about, playing, and Camulos found a dog friend to sniff at but the dog ran off, leaving poor Camulos rather bewildered. But Ghislaine didn’t notice any of it; she was starting to feel dizzy as her flaming cheeks and burning eyes raged. It hurt to even keep her eyes open, so she closed them, briefly, to bring them some relief.
Up ahead, Gaetan was speaking to Téo and Wellesbourne about the town and the possibility of finding a physic for Ghislaine. But as they chatted, a shout from behind stopped them.
Gaetan turned around, swiftly, just in time to see Ghislaine hit the ground as she fell from her horse, unconscious.