Alexander’s pulse hammered. He clutched the cloth, hands tightening around the equipment, before casting it back on the desk. He watched John carefully. The groom’s eyes darted to the closed door, fearful of others eavesdropping. He was concerned but not guilty. Someone else had done this to Margaret, perhaps intended the victim to be Isadore.
Unless Isadore herself had planned the accident.
“Send for Miss Bell at once,” Alexander instructed the butler quietly. “And hold everyone this day. No one leaves the manor until they speak to me.”
Terror flashed across the butler’s face.
“But Your Grace...” Mr. Collins took a step back. “Miss Bell is away.”
“What?”
“She left last night with Mr. Hawthorne,” the butler said, voice trembling. “I thought you knew?—”
“Left?” Alexander paused, his anger mounting. “Left for where?”
“I could not say, Your Grace. Mr. Hawthorne asked for a carriage to be prepared, and they departed after dinner while you were with Her Grace.” Mr. Collins followed Alexander as he stormed out of the room, raising his voice to be heard. “The driver returned in the night, saying they had been delivered safely to Salisbury.”
Alexander whipped around. “You are saying that Miss Bell was the only witness to the accident that almost killed my wife, and now she isgone? And Mr. Hawthorne is gone with her?”
It made no sense—none of it.
Isadore could not have been capable of such a crime. And Bastian... It wasn’t even an idea worth considering.
But something has given them reason to flee.
And I must discover what it is once Margaret awakens.
CHAPTER 21
The first thing Margaret thought once she awoke was that this was by far the worst headache she had ever suffered. It only occurred to her after the fact that the last thing she remembered was being on a horse, and now she was lying in a bed with the sheets tucked tightly around her, a strangely bitter taste in her mouth, in nightclothes she could not remember putting on.
Pain rang like a gong in her skull as she tried sitting up. She looked around, clutching her forehead, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Yes, these were her chambers. Yes, this was her bruised and battered body. An empty chair had been positioned at her bedside. The curtains were mostly drawn, except for a sliver of exposed window that allowed daylight into the room.
A strange sound caught her attention—the ticking of a watch.
Alexander’s pocket watch had been left on her bedside table. It read two o’clock.But two o’clock of which day?she wondered.And why is it even here?
She turned too quickly, and a wave of nausea spread through her. Then came the sudden sound of Thalia squealing, the sharp pain in her ribs, the face of Isadore, calling her a hypocrite before riding into the woods without her—not real thoughts and feelings like the qualms wracking her body, but memories.
“I fell,” Margaret whispered, looking down at her body. “Someone found me...”
She heard someone gasp behind the partition. Footsteps hurried toward her until Augusta appeared, immediately dropping the clothes she had been folding and rushing to Margaret’s bedside. Augusta fell to her knees and grabbed Margaret’s hand.
“Oh, thank heavens. Thank the Lord,” she said, squeezing Margaret’s fingers. “You’re awake, Your Grace. How do you feel? No, you mustn't answer too quickly. Take your time. I must find the duke at once. He will be so relieved?—”
“A moment, Augusta. I..." Margaret said, licking her lips. “Let me get my bearings...”
“But His Grace said to fetch him as soon as you awoke."
“As of yet, I am not sure Iamawake.” She sighed.
Margaret mustered a smile, fingers aching as Augusta released her. She bid her maid to rise and remain a while, leaning back in the bed as Augusta adjusted the pillows behind her. She was still not comfortable—restless and aching—but she leaned back and closed her eyes.
“I feel tired,” Margaret said, licking her lips. “And admittedly rather confused...”
“You had a fall, Your Grace.”
“I assumed as much.” Margaret tried looking around again. “Is Miss Bell safe? She was in the woods with me. Did anything happen to her?”
