The Featherbed Puzzle by K.L. Noone

Author:K.L. Noone [Noone, K.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Up in the guest room, he found Alan lying horribly still across the bed, bandaged arm thrown across his face, utterly silent. For a second the entire world froze and faded and went white and grey, and Arthur could not think beyond the loss of color.

But then Alan’s chest lifted, and his voice said from under the arm, “Arthur?”

Light came back. Light, and air, and drenching shuddering presence; Arthur realized he was clutching a tea-tray as if it might save him from drowning.

He crossed over to the bed. Set the tray down. “I’m here.”

“You are.” Alan reached for him with the other hand, not looking. “Sorry. I know I shouldn’t be demanding your attention.” But he set his hand on Arthur’s leg, maybe accidentally but maybe not, even as he said it.

“You’re hurt, and I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.” He meant the words with all of himself. He knew he should be elsewhere, probably: should be spending time with his mother, his fiancé, wedding plans, Winter Jubilee discussions, not offending Albermarle and Horatius’ honor…“Can you sit up? I can help.”

“I can.” Alan moved the arm over his face, grimaced, shoved himself up on an elbow. “It’s not…all right, it’s a bad headache. Sparkles and spears inside my skull. But I think it’s just a migraine; I get those.”

“You do?”

“Sometimes. If I’ve been concentrating all day…working on something small, gears and pins and precision, and I forget to eat…or if I’ve been trying to read Grandfather’s handwriting for hours by candlelight…”

“Or if you’ve been in a carriage accident and hit your head?”

“I’ve felt worse. My sister Jennet and I both had the summer fever that year it was so bad, and I remember thinking then that I’d have to die, because I couldn’t feel so awful and wake up again. I did wake up, though, and so did Jen. We’re generally impressively healthy, our family.” His voice was frayed around the edges from pain, unguarded, less polished than usual. It drew attention, not on purpose, to the space between a master craftsman’s workshop and Starskeep’s towers.

Arthur let him sit up, but kept a hand behind his back, and another steadying the teacup when Alan took it. “How many sisters do you have?”

“Three. And three brothers. They were wonderfully symmetrical until I came along. Which ones’ve I mentioned?”

“Um…in the order you’ve mentioned them…Katerina, Margot, Jennet, and also your brother Edmund?”

“I’ve skipped Hugo and Conrad, then. Never tell them; they won’t let me forget it.” Alan leaned against Arthur more. “I do love all my siblings, even when they keep reminding me I’m the youngest and shortest.”

“You’re not that short.”

“Shortest, I said. Conrad sometimes tries to use my head as an arm-rest. As a joke, I mean. They know I’m the best shot with a pistol and the only one who can reliably make sense out of Grandfather’s handwritten financial records. And the most adorable.” He threw a grin after that last, pain-laced but teasing. “Also a joke, under the circumstances, of course.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.