A Shadowed Evil by Alys Clare

Author:Alys Clare
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781780106731
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2015-05-11T16:00:00+00:00

TEN

Josse, Helewise and Isabelle stood over the dead body. After a swift dash back to Peter’s room to verify Helewise’s dreadful news, Josse had hastened away to the family’s quarters and quietly roused his cousin. Now, watching her as she stood white-faced, repeatedly shaking her head as if to deny what lay before her, Josse wished he could have left her peacefully sleeping.

Helewise took hold of Isabelle’s hand. ‘It is what quite often happens after a bad blow to the head,’ she said, her voice soft and soothing. ‘I have seen it several times. The patient seems to be improving, and is encouraged to resume a normal, active life, and then it is as if some grave injury hidden within the hard bones of the skull asserts itself, the patient falls unconscious and, sad to say, there is nothing anyone can do to save him.’

Watching Isabelle, Josse wasn’t at all sure she’d taken in Helewise’s kind words. She did, however, seem to appreciate the gentle tone and the hand holding hers.

‘I gave him only a modest amount of the preparation,’ she said, not for the first time. ‘Enough dried willow to ease the pain, so that he would sleep, and enough of the soporific to ensure he stayed asleep.’ She gave an anguished cry, stifling it swiftly with her free hand. ‘I have given far more powerful doses in the past with no ill effect!’

‘Helewise is right,’ Josse proclaimed, ‘and I, too, have observed deaths that occur several days after a fall and a blow to the head. You cared for him devotedly, cousin, and there is nothing to feel guilty about.’

‘He’s dead, Josse!’

‘Aye, I know, but through no fault of yours,’ he insisted. Realizing that standing there helpless beside the body was not helping Isabelle to cope with the shock, he said briskly, ‘Now, there is much we must do. The body must be laid out, arrangements must be made to remove it to some private spot within the house, and we must consider how and where he is to be buried.’ He thought swiftly. ‘Fortunately we know who he is, and we must set about discovering where he comes from so that we can inform his family.’

‘He is all alone in the world,’ Helewise whispered. ‘Remember, Josse?’

Isabelle said softly, ‘Do you think he really is Aeleis’s son? Because if he is, we’ll have to seek her out and tell her he’s dead.’

Josse felt they had enough to deal with without the added distress of planning how they would break the news to Aeleis. Ignoring the sudden surge of love for her that rose up in him, he said firmly, ‘The idea that Peter was her son was no more than speculation. It cannot be permitted to affect our efforts to locate his kin, if, indeed, he has any. All we have to go on is his name, and the fact that he was on his way to Lewes, and—’

‘He wasn’t really going to Lewes at all,’ Isabelle said impatiently.

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