Honor Bound (The House of Bellvue Book 1) by L. C. Williams

Author:L. C. Williams [Williams, L. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liminal Corvid Press
Published: 2022-03-13T06:00:00+00:00

11

Callers

Monday, April 2nd.

Honor awoke the next morning to the clinking of porcelain and silverware and Mabel’s footsteps on the floor. It was all much too loud. Her head throbbed, and her tongue felt fuzzy. She rolled over onto her back and groaned.

“Good morning, your ladyship,” Mabel chirruped. She came bustling over to the window and threw open the curtains, sending a beam of sunlight directly into Honor’s eyes. Honor let out a yelp of protest and covered her face with a pillow. “Had a nice time at the ball, then, did yeh?”

The ball. Honor had vague and fragmentary recollections of the ball. She remembered hurriedly eating her dinner before the servants finished clearing the tables, saying good-night to Father and her cousins, then going out to the gardens to find Noble Alix and their friends. There had been music, and laughter, and a light, lovely wine that sparkled on the tongue. Honor had never had it before, and there were servants with whole trays of it who would give her another glass whenever she liked. And then one of Alix’s army friends had pulled out a flask of something else and passed it around … what had they called it? Fairy nectar? Magical, or so they claimed. It had burned her sinuses all the way down, but after that the lights had swirled with new colors, and she could feel the music on her skin, and everything had seemed strange and new and wonderful…

Mabel sat her up in bed, propping her pillows up behind her. The maid placed an empty basin on the table beside her, along with a carafe of water, then hurried away again. Honor was going to ask what this was for, but then her stomach lurched, and she quickly snatched up the basin and vomited into it. The smell of her own sick seemed to trigger a chain reaction, and Honor bent over and heaved until it felt like she’d emptied half her body. When her stomach quieted at last, she took up the carafe and rinsed and spat, again and again, until the taste was only a fading bitterness on the back of her tongue.

Mabel came back, nodded her approval at the mess in the basin. “Better out than in, miss.” She swapped the full basin for an empty one, then pressed a warm mug into Honor’s hands. The liquid inside was yellow-brown and slightly hazy. Honor took a sniff, and the sharp, acidic tang of vinegar burrowed straight into her brain.

“Here you are, milady,” Mabel said, crinkling a smile at her. “An old family remedy, it never fails.”

Honor was dubious. “What is it?” Her voice came out hoarse and scratchy.

“One part apple cider vinegar, one part willow bark tea, two parts green tea, pinch of salt,” Mabel said proudly. “Sort you out right quick, it will.”

Honor took a sip, winced. It tasted even worse than it smelled. She wondered if the stuff might actually kill her. But since death seemed preferable to what she was experiencing at the moment, she held her nose and drank it all down.

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