Chapter 9 The Seer’s Astrolabe
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Brielle observed that the shadow darkening Daniel’s brow had deepened further, and a sickly greenish tint now touched his temples. She frowned and, against her better judgment, offered him one more word of caution. “Lord Daniel, if you continue to heed only one side of every tale, you will find yourself beyond any help I can give. I would advise you not to set foot beyond the manor gates for the next two days. If you do, you are likely to meet with bloodshed.”
Daniel, however, dismissed her words entirely. He leveled a harsh threat at her in return. “Should I hear you spreading any further wild rumors within these walls, or uttering a single unkind syllable against Donna, I will have your tongue cut out.”
Brielle let out a soft, humorless laugh. She had tried to warn him out of genuine concern, and he had mistaken her intentions for yet another attack upon his precious Donna.
Very well, then. If he scorned her counsel, what concern was it of hers whether he lived or perished?
If he met his end, she would not even need to petition for an annulment.
She saw no point in wasting further breath upon him. She turned on her heel and retreated to her chamber.
Given her standing as the daughter of the Whitmore household, Daniel would not go so far as to take her life. Yet he would certainly not permit her any semblance of comfort either.
It remained to be seen whether Daniel could weather the storm that was coming. He did possess the king’s own vigor about him-the marks of a man born to command. Perhaps he would survive after all.
If he did, she would have to devise a new course of action.
Once back inside her room, she stripped the bed of all its linens and replaced them herself. By the time she finished, the hour had long since crept past midnight.
She settled herself cross-legged against the wall and began to quiet her breathing, following the ancient disciplines of inner harmony she had learned in her former life. This body was heavy and sluggish, weighed down by its excess flesh. If she wished to train her limbs for combat once more, she first needed to open the vital pathways within her frame. A nightly practice of measured breath and focused stillness ought to prepare her for the physical rigors to come.
Yet for some cause she could not fathom, though she usually possessed the stamina to maintain such meditation until the first light of dawn, on this particular night she drifted into unconsciousness after barely two hours. She slumped forward, face pressed against the bedding.
A dream seized her. She beheld a face blurred and indistinct, which demanded of her in a rasping voice, “Give me the Seer’s Astrolabe.”
“No!” She clutched the object hidden against her bosom as though her very soul depended upon it.
The hazy visage twisted suddenly into the shape of a fiend. It lunged at her with clawed hands and tore open her belly. “Even if I must gut you while you still draw breath, I will find that astrolabe.”
She felt no pain in the dream, but terror rooted her to the spot. She struggled in vain to rouse herself from the nightmare all through the long night.
“It is mine! The astrolabe belongs to me! Mine!” Brielle roke out in a cold sweat, mumbling in her sleep. Her fingers clenched the fabric over her chest so fiercely that her knuckles showed white.
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Chapter 9 The Seer’s Astrolabe
83%
Finished
Early in the morning, a chill figure appeared at the door of the study.
“Daniel.” Reid stepped forward without delay and placed two objects upon the table: a soiled bread roll and a small folded packet of powder.
“This is one of the rolls we discovered in Brielle’s chamber, along with the remaining powder we uncovered beneath Sarah’s bed. It is Dreamer’s Dust. The potency is considerable. Its effects endure for four hours. The victim falls into a waking delusion and cannot distinguish a familiar face from a brute beast.”
Hearing this account, Daniel’s gaze turned flinty. “A substance of such strength-could Sarah truly have obtained it on her own? Is there any connection to Elija?”
Reid shook his head. “Though the love incense Brielle employed on the wedding night did indeed come from Elijah, I have already conducted a discreet search of Elijah’s quarters. There is no trace of Dreamer’s Dust to be found there.
“Furthermore… my guess is that if Elijah possessed Dreamer’s Dust in the first place, he would never have furnished Brielle with a mere love philter.”
Daniel’s eyes grew deep and contemplative as he absorbed this. He spoke slowly at last, “Take the Dreamer’s Dust to Elijah. Sound him out with it.”
“My fifth brother is not nearly as guileless as he would have the world believe. He has already planted his watchers within my own household.”
Reid accepted the command. Just as he was about to withdraw, he recalled another detail. “Earlier, when I passed by Lady Brielle’s door, I could hear her thrashing in the grip of a nightmare. She kept crying out something about an ‘astrolabe.”
Daniel permitted himself a thin, mirthless smile. “Those who dabble in misdeeds are plagued by uneasy dreams.”
“Keep an ear to the ground regarding this ‘astrolabe’ she mutters about. It may well be some love token passed between the two of them.”
If this Brielle had merely been a witless girl who, in a moment of foolish infatuation, had taken the bride’s place, the matter might have been simpler.
But regrettably, his men had already observed Brielle meeting with Elijah in secret on numerous occasions. Even the love incense she had used against him had been supplied by Elijah. She professed to adore him, yet in truth she was no different from every other spy who had come before.
Her pretense was even more laughable than those of her predecessors. Did she truly imagine she could deceive him?
He did not know precisely what scheme his brother was hatching. But if Elijah wished to plant a spy under his roof, so be it. He would let the game play out and discover what it was that Elijah truly sought.
The sun had climbed high into the sky. Brielle still lay sprawled across her bed, caught fast in the clutches of her nightmare. The manor maids had come and gone, paying her no more heed than a piece of furniture. They left a basin of water on the stand and departed without a word.
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