Elly was very reasonable about the situation because nobody had told her about the situation. Hurry. Hurry. Now. They should have told Elly what was happening. Judah should have. She hadn’t. “I won’t allow this without Gavin here,” Judah said fiercely. Hoping fierceness was enough, because if they wanted to take Theron into the bedroom sooner than that, she had no idea how she would stop them. Hurry. Come now.
“It’s not for you to allow,” the Seneschal said.
“What’s that, girl, a rash on your arm?” Arkady said.
Judah felt like she was screaming, but the scream had nowhere to go so it reverberated inside her.
Gavin burst into the room, red-faced and hollow-eyed. He’d been on the field again and hadn’t stopped to take off any of his armor when he’d come running. His helmet was in his hand and his hair, soaked through with sweat, stuck up at odd angles from his head. His gaze swept over the two men in the room before landing on Judah. “What’s wrong?” he said, breathless. “Why are they here? Who’s hurt?”
“Nobody’s hurt,” the Seneschal said. “Everything is fine.” Gavin gave him a hard look at that, but the Seneschal seemed not to notice. “We’re just here so Arkady Magus can examine Lord Theron and issue a statement saying that the rumors of his illness are unfounded. Your people are concerned, Lord Gavin. Lady Eleanor has been kind enough to go fetch your brother for us.”
At rumors Gavin’s eyes had widened. Now he took a step toward the Seneschal, his shoulders down and his jaw clenched. “Lady—” By habit, Judah put out a hand to stop him, although she wouldn’t have minded in the least seeing the Seneschal go down under Gavin’s fists. But then Elly and Theron entered through the open door, arms linked. Elly took in the scene before her and looked, questioning, at Judah.
But Judah was staring at Theron. In the thin grayish light of his workshop, she hadn’t noticed how thin and grayish he’d become since the hunt. He was unshaven, his beard coming through in sparse patches, and he’d obviously been wearing the same clothes for days. She should have taken better care of him. Made sure he stopped working occasionally, and ate and rested.
“What’s wrong?” Elly said.
Our fault, Judah thought. Elly didn’t know. She didn’t know because we didn’t tell her. Theron’s expression was grim, but not grim enough. He squared his narrow shoulders. “Let’s get this over with, if we’re going to do it,” he said to Arkady, who nodded and—with some difficulty—stood up. His apprentice moved quickly to help him.
Theron thought the danger was over, that it had been left behind in the woods. Judah could feel Gavin’s sweat on her skin, the race of his pulse in her veins. She watched him strip off his gauntlets and drop them on the table. “I’m coming in, too,” he said.
Theron glared at his brother. “I’m not a child. I don’t need to have my hand held,” he said curtly, and marched into the bedroom. His back was straight, giving him a military bearing Judah was sure he’d never managed on the training field.
Arkady shook off his assistant, who still held him by the elbow. “Neither do I, boy. Wait out here.” There was a peevish irritation in Arkady’s voice. As he made his way after Theron, he walked as if his guts hurt him, or his back.
The door closed behind the two of them with a final maddening click.
“You shouldn’t have brought him down,” Gavin said to Elly.
“It was easier than arguing.” Her eyes traveled over him, then moved to Judah, and narrowed. “You’re a mess. You both are. What’s going on?”
The Seneschal sat back down in Judah’s chair, disinterested. Gavin said something angry, and Elly responded in kind, and as Judah dropped, helpless and numb, to the sofa, the words all fell away because Arkady was behind the closed bedroom door with Theron, and anything could be happening in there, anything.
“Your cheek is swollen,” a soft voice said. Arkady’s apprentice stood next to her. He didn’t even give Judah a chance to lie about the bruise on her face; just opened the satchel he carried, and began to root around in it. “I have a salve for that. It’s very effective. My own formulation.” The rhythm of his speech was odd. He wasn’t from Highfall.
She didn’t really care. Theron was alone in the bedroom with Arkady. There were rumors that he was ill.