“No past events making you suffer long-term consequences?”
She laughed, throwing her small head back. The sun glinted off her smooth skin, making her look like she was glowing. He wanted to grab her and plant a firm kiss on her red lips. He resisted with all his might.
“What odd questions you have for me today, Sir William. Tell me about your sister. Do you get along well with her?”
Before he answered, William had time to wonder if she was manipulating the conversation to avoid talking about her past or if there was simply nothing there to reveal. It was not inconceivable that the guard had been lying.
In fact, it was quite likely that he was.
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“There is a problem with the princess. It’s…it’s not looking good.”
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CHAPTER TEN
BELLE IN PERIL
Belle looked like an angel to him. Her eyes were the brightest blue he’d ever seen. She was glowing. She lifted her arms out to him, the long fabric of her flowing gown making wings at her sides. Her blond hair was loose, falling down around her shoulders like soft strands of gold.
He tried to get to her, but found that his feet were stuck and would not move. He looked down. They seemed to be encased in a solid block, which was buried in the ground. He was immediately frustrated. He tried pulling out his feet. They refused to budge. The princess was calling out to him. A breeze picked up and moved through her hair, lifting it in the air all around her.
“Belle…” he tried to call out to her. “Princess, princess…” He reached out, but she wasn’t getting any closer to him and he couldn’t move.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement to his right. He turned his head and watched as Max and Naomi came out of the dark fog that surrounded them. The big guard scooped up the princess in one arm and began to carry her away. When she realized what was happening, she tried to fight his grip. She tried to loosen herself, still holding one arm out to William. She began to cry.
“Belle, Belle!”
He could barely hear her calling out to him, though she seemed only a short distance away. She couldn’t get away from Max. The guard and Naomi took Belle into the fog, leaving William angry.
“Get back here!” he called, to no avail. “Get back here!”
He woke up abruptly, hearing a commotion outside his door. It was different from before. No one was knocking on his door. They were talking just outside it in frantic voices. He slid out his legs and pushed them into a pair of slippers he’d set next to the bed on the floor. He grabbed his robe and slung it around his shoulders.
He slid the door open and stood watching the people in the small hallway that connected the five rooms.
Captain John turned to look at him. His eyes were wide, nearly panicked. That surprised William into silence. It would surely take quite a lot for Captain John to panic.
“What the devil is going on out here?” he finally asked.
“William. William.” John slapped one hand on William’s shoulder and squeezed it tight. “There is a problem with the princess. It’s…it’s not looking good.”
“What do you mean?” Chills ran over William’s body. He frowned. “Is she ill?” The memory of Max’s words moved through his mind.
“I am unsure. The doctor is in there with her now. Naomi came to me this morning asking if a doctor of medicine was on board because she could not rouse the princess. I got George and we came immediately to see to her royal highness, but it appears we may be too late. Although she is breathing, she will not wake. It appears she is in a very deep sleep.”
A thousand things ran through William’s mind. What could have caused this sudden illness? “Have you spoken to Naomi or Max about it? Does…the princess have any old illnesses that might be coming back to haunt her?”
“I do not know. I have not spoken in depth to either about the situation. I want George to see what he can do.”
“If she is in a deep sleep and is not responding to stimuli, what can he possibly do?”
Again, John shook his head. “I do not know, William. I am at a loss myself.”
“May I go in to see her?”
“I think it would be best if we waited until the doctor is done examining her. He may be in the middle of a delicate procedure.”
William hoped his look of skepticism did not display openly on his face. Somehow he doubted the doctor aboard the ship had the equipment he would need to do a detailed investigation of the illness causing the princess to sleep without waking. “What exactly is he doing to her?”
“I do not know.”
William looked at the door impatiently. Only a few minutes later, he was tapping his foot, sighing heavily. He crossed his arms over his chest and drummed his fingers on his muscular arms. Finally, he could take it no longer. “I’m going in there. I’m sure I won’t be a bother to George.”
John grabbed his arm. “If you go in there, you must stand back against the wall. The cabins are not large, you know. I could not make her cabin larger because she is a princess. I just don’t want you gettin’ in his way.”
“No. I won’t. I promise.” William gently removed his arm from John’s hand and slid the door open. He stepped through the door and closed it behind him.
The doctor was leaning over Belle, looking closely at her face. He turned and stared at William for a moment. “Do you know anything about medicine, son?” he asked.
William stepped forward so that he was next to George. He looked down at Belle’s beautiful sleeping face and felt his heart skip a beat. He swallowed, moving his eyes back to the doctor. George was an older man, thin, with wire-framed glasses and a shock of white hair that it looked like he never combed. He was running his eyes over Belle nervously.
“I don’t,” William admitted. “I only know that this woman is special to me and I wanted to find out what you know of her illness.”
“That’s what is troubling me, sir. This young lady should not be asleep. She is in a comatose state and I can reach no diagnostic reason as to why. It’s very troubling.”
“What is your plan of action?”
The doctor stared at him. “What can be done? We must wait and see what happens.”
“She cannot feed herself in this state. How will we nourish her?”
“We will be able to give her small bits of food and water, but she will suffer greatly if we are unable to bring her back to consciousness.”
William sighed in frustration. “What could possibly have put her in this state, doc?”
The man shook his head. “I wish I had the answers you seek, sir. I truly do. I do not want to see her in this state either.”
“Her father is going to be very unhappy when word gets to him.”
“It will take us days, perhaps a week or more, to reach port, sir. We cannot send a messenger until then. If the princess has not recovered by then, I fear for her life.”
William grunted. “We must do everything we can to help her. It’s imperative that she reach New Bedford in sound mind and healthy.”
“Is there a sole reason for that, sir? Or is it simply your desire?”
“It is my desire. And I’m sure it’s the desire of the rest of the people on this ship. She is a good woman and must be cared for as much as possible.”
“Of course, sir, of course.”
“I’m going to go talk to the captain. Stay here with her.”
“Yes, of course, sir.” George turned his eyes back to the sleeping lady.
William turned to the door, his mind wandering back to when he’d found Liza dead in her bed. Was he cursed? Were his past deeds coming back to haunt him? What could be the cause of this tragedy?
It seemed that something bad happened to each of the women he’d cared for in his life. The princess was in jeopardy and they were not even bound together. The maid, Abigail, gave birth to his child and was forced t
o live in servitude all her life because he was married when she got pregnant. His dear fragile wife, Liza, as much as he had not cared for her, had perished in a manner that was much too similar to Belle’s predicament. He’d tried to make their life together comfortable after the wake-up call of Abigail’s pregnancy. But he’d never regained the love he’d had for her when they were first bound in marriage. He sincerely had tried. It just never came back.
Captain John wasn’t outside the cabin when he went out. Max and Naomi, however, were hovering outside the door, looking like they had been eavesdropping on the conversation between William and the doctor. He didn’t know why that would make them feel guilty. Nothing had been discussed that the servants shouldn’t have heard. He dismissed his own feelings of guilt at the state of the princess, thinking the same should apply to him. This tragedy wasn’t about him or his guilt from the past. It was about the princess and her health. Something strange had occurred. He wanted and needed to find out what it was.
“Max,” he said, getting the guard’s attention. “Is this the health issue you were mentioning to me before? Does it have something to do with that?”
“It could be, Lord Montgomery. I am not a doctor, so it is hard for me to tell.”
“Has this happened to her before in your presence? Or that you’ve heard of?”
Max paused, looking out into space. “No, sir. Not that I remember.”
William looked at the woman next to him. “Naomi, have you ever seen this happen to the princess?”
“No, I haven’t.” The short woman shook her head, her bobbed hair sifting back and forth around her ears gently.
“Do you know if this is something that happens to anyone else in her family? Do the king or queen suffer in this manner? How about her sister? Has this ever happened to her?”
Naomi’s eyes opened slightly wider at the mention of Tamilia. She looked sharply at Max and then back to William.
“Not that I have seen, sir,” Max answered, looking down at Naomi.
William turned his eyes to the woman again. “Have you seen anything like this before, Naomi?”
“No. Never,” the woman replied, shaking her head.
William stood for a moment, glaring at the two of them. His frustration was mounting. His heart was aching. “Where did the captain go?”
“He didn’t say where he was going, Lord Montgomery,” Max said. “I saw him going up there, out on the upper deck.” He pointed toward the door.
William turned his eyes in that direction. In the corner of his eye, he could see Max and Naomi glance at each other. When he looked back toward them, they were staring directly at him. “Don’t go anywhere,” he directed. “Stay right here. If the doctor says anything at all has changed, you must come and find me and the captain. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my lord.”
He looked at Naomi. “Yes, my lord.”
He gave them a hard stare before turning and heading toward the door. There was nothing he could do to help the princess except pray for her safety and return to consciousness.
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“For instance, what if this was a conspiracy from the beginning? Someone on the staff in her homeland could have…sent along some type of poison with her…in her bags.”
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY
Captain John’s face was set in a worried expression. He was holding a cup of steaming hot liquid and staring out over the water when William came up behind him.
“How does the weather look, John?” he asked. John didn’t move his eyes from the rolling water in front of him.
“It is enough to know that we have clear skies at the moment, Will.”
“You are very worried about the princess.”
“Yah. Her health and well-being are my responsibility. I may as well have handed my head to her father on a platter. I am at a complete loss, my friend. Truly.”
William nodded. “I am also confused by her state. It is so sudden. She was showing no signs of illness yesterday. She has been well since we first boarded.”
“She has not eaten anything different from the rest of us. She has not had anything to drink that the rest of us have not had. If she has, she certainly cannot tell us now.”
“No. She can’t. It is discouraging.”
John snorted. “Discouraging?” His voice betrayed his anger. “My crew…these men feel responsible as well.”
“Do you think there has been foul play?”
John hesitated, still staring out over the water. He brought the cup to his lips and sipped at the steaming water. Satisfied with the heat of it, he took a longer swallow and then answered, “Who would have done such a thing?”
“I don’t know. But I suppose it is something that must be considered. We have very few suspects. It was not I who did the deed, nor you.”
“We don’t even know if anything was done or how it was done. What could possibly have caused this?”
“I can only think that she somehow ingested something to make her fall into unconsciousness. The doctor did not mention any signs of injury on her body. She did not fall and hit her head. If she did, there was no indication of it. Her head is not bruised, bleeding or swollen. She really does look like she’s sleeping.”
“Yes, I agree it must be something she was given. Perhaps to eat or drink. But for what purpose? No one on my crew knows the princess or has even been to the Netherlands. You would not harm her, I would not harm her, none of the passengers we have taken on board with us would hurt her. It is the duty of her guard to keep her safe. Where was he? What about her attendant? Could the woman have something against her?”
“These are good questions to ask, my friend. We should ask them.”
Captain John shook his head. “Princess Belle is a good woman. She has never had any trouble of this sort in the past.”
“How can you be certain? Her guard has mentioned that her health has given her trouble in the past.”
John gave him a quizzical look. “He said that? That is odd. I inquired of her personal doctor through a series of messages and I was not informed of anything that might cause her trouble. This is a long voyage. I inquire about the health of any person I feel might have even the slightest trouble on the water. She was given high marks in the health department.”
William shook his head. “Max mentioned that she has had some dealings with health issues. That is all I know. He seemed to almost warn me to keep a watchful eye on the princess.”
John continued to look confused. “I do not understand that. Why would the doctor say it is safe for her to travel if there is a possibility that it isn’t? Could the doctor have lied? Could he have wanted her to leave the country, become ill and die for some reason? What would be the reason for such a thing?”
William shrugged. “I do not know the answers. Who was with the lady last night?”
John turned his head to stare at him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
William nodded. “Yes, I suppose I was with her last night.”
“You may have been the last one to see her,” John said. “Do you remember anything odd about her behavior? Was she feeling ill?”
“No, not that I remember. If she did, she mentioned nothing.”
“Did you see anyone besides her guard and attendant entering her cabin after you departed from her?”
“No.”
“We must consider that Max and Naomi have something to do with this.”
“If there is anything to it. How can we accuse them when we have no proof and no real facts? This is simply our intuition.”
“We must speak with them. There could be any number of causes we have not even considered.”
“For instance?”
“For instance, what if this was a conspiracy from the beginning? Someone on the staff in her homeland could have…sent along some type of poison
with her…in her bags.”
William looked doubtful. “You would consider this to be an option?”
John’s face and voice were frustrated. “Anything is an option at this point, William. The princess is sleeping as though she had been cursed. It is not something my crew needs to deal with or think about. Do you know what they will do if they believe a curse has been brought upon this ship?”
“It is not a possibility.” William tried not to compare the captain’s words against his own thoughts after he’d seen Belle. He pushed away the feeling of guilt that once again wrapped him in a tight cocoon. “No one has cursed this ship, its crew or the princess. This is something done by man. I am certain of it.”
“What do you propose we do, Will? We are days away from port in New Bedford. We must deal with this on our own.”
“First, we must speak to the Burkinshires and the crew, as well as Max and Naomi. Perhaps someone saw something they can report. She may have gotten up in the middle of the night and consumed a substance that has put her in this state.”
John grunted. “I will speak to the crew. You speak to the Burkinshires, Max and Naomi.”
“I would rather you speak with Max and Naomi. I do not think they are pleased with my company. They seem rather suspicious of me. I would not be surprised if they try to convince you that I had something to do with what has happened.”
“Surely not.”
William shrugged. “We will see. I will speak with the Burkinshires and the others who are traveling with us. I doubt they will know anything of use, but it cannot hurt to try.”
He turned back to return to the lower deck, paused and turned back. “How much do you know about the other two men traveling with us? I have…to be honest with you, my friend, I have been so focused on Belle, I have not given them much thought.”
“Neither of them knew the princess before, if that is what you are thinking.”
Regency Romance: The Marquess’ Curse (The Fairbanks Series - Love & Hearts) (CLEAN Historical Regency Romance) Page 7
