“When I feel stressed and kinda down, I get a tincture to help me,” fibbed Jaime. “I don’t want to tell the physician to make me anything when the lord’s son is…unwell. He has more important things to worry about.”
The guard blinked at him like taking a tincture for stress and feeling down was silly, and Jaime needed to tough it out. “Whatever.”
Jaime slipped into the shop that smelled of herbs. An undertone of lavender reminded him of Aleric. A glass counter held jars and bottles, mostly for common ailments such as rashes, coughs, and minor pains.
He told the man behind the counter that he wanted liquid medicine for fevers. “Four doses. Can you seal the bottle too? I want to have it on hand just in case.”
The man nodded before he went to the back. He didn’t know Jaime and wouldn’t suspect who it was for. Jaime leaned on the counter and pretended to look at the jars and bottles while he thought.
He remembered playing by himself one day at the age of five. While running through the Castle and pretending to hunt evil ogres, he’d run into a storage room to find a man and a woman against each other with their clothes partially off.
They’d yelled at him to get out while trying to cover themselves, and he’d run, hardly knowing what to make of the situation. Not long passed before the guy had come to find him in an empty sitting room and bribed him with sweets to stay quiet and never say a word about what he’d seen. As long as he said nothing, he’d get more honey sticks.
So while court can be treacherous, it doesn’t always involve life and death. When one wants something quite badly to where they’re willing to do anything to get it…Olivier could be an accomplice just like Jaime had been one, although his role had been quite small, and he hadn’t fully understood things. All he’d known was that if he kept quiet about what he’d seen, more honey sticks might be in his future.
For Olivier, money and perhaps status awaited him, and he fully understood his role including how serious the consequences were. He wouldn’t blab to anyone like Jaime had a month later when the honey sticks stopped coming.
Many people want things even if it's just a secret screw in a private room, and they might need another to do something or at least keep quiet. Some want far bigger things as Jaime had later learned at the age of seven, and he was dealing with such a situation again in a different way.
If Zacharie got rid of his older brother, he’d be the next Earl, and not only would he have Côte, he’d also have a small village on the opposite side of Soleil and by the coast. Lord Monet owned two locations, and that brought more than enough money. Côte was thriving with the ports and the farmlands that lay beyond the main part of the city itself. Jaime didn’t know about the village since he’d never been that far west in Soleil, and he wasn’t sure of the name. His last landlady had forgotten the village’s name.
People had killed for far less, and since Zacharie was with Gautier, Aleric’s words after falling might not be so far-fetched.The animosity Aleric had shown toward him before had to come from somewhere, right?
Zacharie and Gautier could have hired men who cared about money more than morals and were willing to attempt to kill a higher-up. If Aleric survived, there was the accomplice, the physician. If Aleric died due to infection and weakness from being unable to replenish his blood…oops. The physician wasn’t the Goddess and couldn’t cure all. Lord Monet didn’t seem like the sort who would itch to punish anyone to make himself feel better over the loss and have Olivier imprisoned or hanged.
He needed Aleric to get better and explain the truth because Jaime might be entirely wrong and twisting things since he didn’t have all of the details. Perhaps Zacharie was solely responsible. What if Aleric had meant to say his name and mixed it up in his head?
Jaime also needed to know if the night he’d been chased had simply been viewed as a good opportunity for Aleric to get a fresh person on his side. Jaime was no weakling, and he owned a weapon.
If so, Aleric was using him. Jaime didn’t like that, but what could he do? Walk away? No. Walking away isn’t so easy. Jaime was alive because others hadn’t abandoned him.
Chapter Ten
Aleric shivered while he sweated and drifted in and out of jumbled dreams that made no sense. Father was by the window again to keep watch. Truly, he cared about his sons. He wasn’t a terrible Father. He'd stick around until he was sure his oldest was better.
He just couldn’t see that he’d helped Olivier attempt to murder him.
Aleric was almost too tired to care. Breathing was a struggle, and his heart pounded as though he’d run the length of the city wall.
He couldn’t believe he’d managed to convince Father to let Jaime come in and help him while alone. If he died, he wanted to be laid to rest near Mother and the twins out back. Just not now. Not yet. Mother wouldn’t want her remaining child to join her so soon.
He had a chance unless his body gave out.
When he woke up at some point and realized Father wasn’t by the window, he was still too hot. From his sitting room, Gautier’s voice came. Despite the heat swallowing his body, he wanted to hide further under the blankets. All of this was because ofhim, and Father was entirely blind.
But while it was Gautier’s fault, Aleric had screwed himself over at the age of eighteen and walked right into it. By keeping quiet, he’d later trapped himself in a corner. He was a fucking fool.
Through squinted eyes, he saw Father had opened the curtains a little. The flower-shaped light catchers sparkled in the sunlight. They were supposed to represent life blooming. A red one for Aleric’s birth and two green ones for the twins.
So much for that. The flowers were a memorial now. Mother was dead, the twins had withered despite constant care and a wetnurse, and a part of Aleric had wilted years ago.
The next time he heard voices, thankfully, Gautier’s wasn’t among them.
“Again, I’m sorry about what I said last night. It was nasty, and you just got here. You couldn’t have done anything. I’m mad because my son was hurt, and I-”
“It’s fine. I’d be angry and suspicious of everyone too in your place. He’s your son.”
Aleric kept his eyes closed while they continued speaking and wondered if he could continue to trust Jaime. His earlier actions meant a lot. Anyone can turn in the blink of an eye after being nice for a while.
