“’Tis accomplished,” Aisling whispered to Nelly. “What had Gormelia done?”
“I saw her add something to the meal and then set it at your place on the table. She never serves you. I suspected foul play.”
“Thank you, Nelly.” Aisling wondered if Gormelia had put something in her food that was meant to sicken Aisling or kill her. If so, Gormelia would get a surprise.
“Aye, once she began threatening you, I’ve been watching her.”
“I’m grateful to you for it. Did Kenna really disparage you to others?” Nelly had never told Aisling that she had, or she would have said something to her.
“Aye, she has. So it felt good to get her back for it and save you at the same time.”
They began to eat their meal, but Aisling noticed Cook was watching Gormelia as she drank her ale before starting to eat. Had Cook caught sight of Aisling switching plates with Gormelia?
Gormelia wasn’t observing Aisling, as if she were trying to pretend that if something bad happened to Aisling while she ate her meal, Gormelia hadn’t had anything to do with it.
But Kenna and Gormelia’s other friend, Wilma, both were watching Aisling, eating their food slowly, waiting for a reaction? Finally, Gormelia took a bite of her food, chewed it, swallowed it, and within minutes threw up all over the table, splattering herfriends sitting on either side of her. They jumped back in horror, wiping the offending food off their kirtles.
Gormelia left the table and threw up on the floor several more times. Most of the women were aghast and stopped eating, but Cook, Aisling, and Nelly finished their meals.
“Eat up, ladies,” Cook said. “You will be starving by the dinner meal if you dinna.”
“Can we get new plates?” Kenna asked.
“Nay,” Cook said. “Eat around the spit-up food on your plate. You’ll live. The same goes for you, Wilma.”
“What about Gormelia?” Wilma asked, her voice taut with concern.
“It appears she has become ill and willna be able to keep any food down. She can clean up the mess she has made and retire to the women’s chambers. You can help her once you’re done eating.” Cook continued to eat her meal then.
The other women finished their meals and carried their plates from the table to wash. While Aisling, Nelly, and the others cleaned the pots and dishes, Kenna and Wilma brought their half-eaten meals to wash their plates.
“What could have made Gormelia sick?” Cook directly asked Kenna and Wilma.
They both looked back at Gormelia as she threw up some more on the stone floor.
Kenna and Wilma both shook their heads. Kenna grabbed Gormelia’s plate and was going to dump the contents, but Cook stayed her hand. “Leave it on the table there.”
Their eyes widened, and Aisling suspected Cook was planning to learn what had been added to the meal to make Gormelia so violently ill.
Cook motioned to Gormelia. “Aisling, can you get your mother to see to Gormelia? She appears too sick to clean up after herself so Kenna and Wilma will do the task.”
“Aye, Cook.” Aisling hurried off to fetch her mother. She hoped Gormelia didn’t die, but if she did, it served her right because that would have been Aisling’s fate instead. She ran through the great hall and up the stairs to where her mother was seeing to a new mother and her bairn.
As soon as she opened the door, the mother and Aisling’s mother gasped. “Whatever is the matter?” Aisling’s mother asked, and she had to know there was trouble that Blair had to see to as their pack’s healer.
“Gormelia ate something that didna agree with her.” Aisling didn’t want to say what had happened in front of the new mother.
“I will return later,” Aisling’s mother said, patting the new mother’s hand as she nursed her bairn.
“What is wrong?” her mother asked Aisling as they headed down the stairs. “I know you wouldna fetch me unless something was terribly wrong.”
“Aye. I dinna know what Gormelia added to the food, but Nelly caught her doing it. Then Gormelia put the plate where I always sit. Nelly had to create a distraction, and I switched plates so Gormelia ended up with the tainted food. Cook wants you to see to her, and mayhap her food to determine what she added to it that made her so sick.”
“Is Cook aware of this?”
“I believe so. I think she saw me switch plates while all the others watched Nelly and Kenna fight.”
Her mother raised her brows.
