I awoke to the sound of Gwendoline arguing with Gondofini.
“Ye will stay away from the lass, if ye know what’s good for ye,” she bellowed with her hands placed firmly on her hips.
“I only wish to examine her so I can assure her subjects of her well-being,” he insisted as he attempted to walk around my angry mentor.
For such a petite woman, Gwendoline made a frustratingly formidable blockage that Gondofini just couldn’t find a way around.
“What subjects might that be?” she asked vehemently. “’Twouldn’t be Lord Blaise, would it?”
“What’s going on?” I asked as I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “I feel like I’ve been drugged.”
“I have no doubt,” Gwendoline practically hissed. “Ye ran a risk letting this one walk free. If ye ask me, I think he’d do well to get locked up alongside cook and his lordship.”
“Careful, woman,” Gondofini warned. “I shall tolerate only so much from a lowly midwife.”
“I’m fine, Gondofini,” I said as I leapt from the bed in response to Gwendoline’s loud intake of air.
I raced to put my body between them.
“Your dress is a mess,” Gwendoline clucked.
“Shall I send for your attendant?” Gondofini asked in his usual pompous manner.
“Royal weddings don’t happen every day,” I said softly. “Let her enjoy herself. I’ll be fine with Gwendoline’s assistance, but I thank you for your concern.”
We were granted a reprieve of an excruciating few seconds of enduring Gondofini’s piercing inspection of the energy around Gwendoline and me when Ferguson stoically entered the room and asked if she could be of assistance. Realizing that was his cue to leave, the castle magician did so with arrogance and ceremony. Instead of walking out the door like a normal person, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
“Parlor tricks,” Gwendoline mumbled as she stood in front of me to inspect my eyes. “Ye were right. Ye were drugged. Sit down and let me see if I can figure out what they gave ye.”
The tiny gasp from Ferguson caught my attention. When I asked her what was the problem, she motioned for Gwendoline to look at my back where she’d undone the lengthy row of tiny, buttons covered in satin that was dyed a darker green than the pale green of the intricate embroidered leaves of on my pale yellow gown. After much sputtering and verbal condemning of sneaky, untrustworthy vampires, Gwendoline managed to share the reason for her angst. Long red streaks etched across my back were a clear sign that my gown had been dipped in some type of poison. Had I stayed in it much longer I would have probably gone into a deep slumber that I’d never awaken from.
“All of the folklore have vampires practically invincible,” I whined. “I seem to be on death’s door at every turn.”
“Folklore is spread by humans,” Gwendoline reminded me. “Ye’ll not hear it coming from the lips of the supernatural.”
“I feel woozy,” I complained.
“Be grateful ye are vampire and not human,” Gwendoline said firmly. “Ye’d be dead by now.”
“What kind of poison do they put on fabric?” I asked.
“There are several,” Gwendoline. “I’m not familiar with the area to know what grows most plentiful in these parts. I’ll have to research a bit.”
I turned to Ferguson and asked her to bring the new cook, Rob, to me. When Gwendoline protested her assurance that the poison was not in the food, I held my hand up to indicate her silence while I watched Ferguson leave to do my bidding.
“I’m sorry, “I said in a soft voice, “I didn’t want to explain in front of her. The less who know Rob’s talent the better.”
“I’m waiting,” she said impatiently. “What talent could a farm boy turned cook have to contribute to this situation?”
“He’s been studying herbal medicine and is a native of the area,” I explained. “I thought we’d question him to see if he could tell us what poisons are native and what’s used to counter them.”
“Ye truly are coming into your own,” Gwendoline said with pride. “Ye do me proud.” As if on cue, the child in my womb kicked so hard I practically doubled over. “I see someone agrees with me,” she chuckled.
“I feel so bad for this baby,” I said softly. “Too much poison for one little creature to endure.”
“’Tis a lot, I’ll admit,” Gwendoline said gently, “but the tike has strong bloodlines. I’ll wager all will be fine.”
“Isn’t it odd?” I asked. “When I carried Braedon, I knew I carried a boy. You did as well. We both referred to him as “him” while he was still in the womb. Yet, neither of us mentions gender with this baby.”
“I noticed the same thing,” she said. “I’m not able to pick up on the sex of this one and I thought ye just didn’t want to say the sex for safety’s sake. If that evil bastard Pierre knew for sure ye carried a second male heir to solidify his separation from the throne it could be very dangerous for ye both.”
“More so than it is already?” I asked incredulously.
“Ye have a point,” she mused.
When Rob arrived a few moments later we showed him my back and grilled him heavily about what poisons he might know grew locally. He inspected my gown thoughtfully and shook his head.
“I believe the die on these buttons is Sheele’s green die. It’s highly toxic,” he mused. “They stopped using this die after they used it to color wallpaper in General Napolean’s rooms and he was poisoned. One of the main ingredients of Sheele’s green is arsenic. There’s plenty of that in the soil back by the creek behind the castle.”
“What grows here to counter it?” I asked.
“We usually use the chlorophyll from pond algae to cleanse the blood,” he replied hesitantly.
“Usually?” Gwendoline repeated.
“Someone cleared all the algae from the pond a few days ago,” he explained. “I thought it odd, but I had no idea the reason behind it.”
“I thought the kingdom decided they liked me,” I complained as I sat in a chair near the fire and rubbed my ever expanding abdomen.
“Your baby doesn’t seem to be affected by all the murder attempts,” Rob observed.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Your stomach has practically doubled in size in the weeks since I saw you last,” he explained. “If the baby was affected by the poison, would that happen?”
“Probably not,” Gwendoline mused. “Ye have a keen head on your shoulders, lad. Let me see what I can come up with for a blood cleaner.”
“I have a good supply of yellow dock,” Rob offered.
“Will that work?” I asked eagerly.
“’Twill make a harsher cleanse, but ‘twill work,” Gwendoline said thoughtfully.
“Go get it,” I ordered as I turned to Rob.
“I’ll go with ye, lad,” Gwendoline offered. “I want to make sure the preparation is done to my specifications.
“Yes ma’am,” Rob said as he held the door and bowed while Gwendoline exited before him.
I pulled my dressing gown tighter around my body while I continued to rub my growing stomach. Rob was right. The baby had practically doubled in size in the matter of weeks. I looked as if I was full term, even though I still had a few months to carry. I tried to remember Braedon’s growth rate to compare it with, but my mind felt muddled and I was tired. I rested my head against the high back of my chair and closed my eyes.