Casket of Souls
holding out his cup again.
Seregil snatched it away and put it out of reach. “I’m sorry to end the evening on such a note, but I fear I should take him home before he can’t walk at all.”
“I most certainly
can
walk!” Alec exclaimed indignantly. To prove it, he stood up, knocking his chair over in the process. He wavered a moment, then collapsed in a drunken faint.
Seregil quickly righted the chair, apologizing profusely as he and the actor tried to get Alec onto his feet. “Alec, you fool! Of all the boorish—”
“Oh, the poor thing!” Palmani cried. “He’s going to be very sorry in the morning.”
“Perhaps sooner. Really, I fear for the state of your carriage.”
“A wise concern,” said Reltheus. “Please, stay the night.”
Seregil sighed. “We’ve abused your hospitality enough already.”
“Nonsense!” said Palmani. She summoned a servant. “Have one of the bedrooms made up for them at once. And send some men to carry Lord Alec upstairs.”
“You’re far too kind,” said Seregil.
“He’s not our first guest to enjoy our wine too much, Lord Seregil. It’s no trouble at all.”
“Perhaps I should go,” said Atre, watching it all with counterfeit concern.
“Oh, do stay a little longer!” Palmani pleaded. “This will only take a few minutes.”
“Want to stay ’n’ watch Atre,” Alec mumbled, leaning unsteadily on Seregil.
“Some other time,” Seregil told him none too gently.
They were given a room overlooking the garden, and Palmani accompanied them upstairs. As Seregil followed the servants carrying Alec, he tried to take stock of the other rooms along the corridor, but most of the doors were closed.
Their bedchamber was large, with tall fretted summer doors that let onto a balcony beyond. The furnishings were richly carved, and the walls were decorated with murals of fantastical undersea scenes.
The servants placed Alec on the bed and pulled off his boots.
“If I might trouble you for one last thing, dear Duchess,” Seregil said. “I think a bucket may soon be in order.”
“I’ll have one sent up at once, and water.” She looked down at Alec, who was snoring softly. “I fear you’re in for a restless night. I can have one of the servants tend to him, if you’d like a room of your own.”
“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. We’ve been through this before.”
“Good night, then. I’ll have breakfast sent up in the morning.”
“I think bread and tea will suffice.”
When she was gone, Seregil sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked Alec’s flushed cheek. “Talí?”
Alec moaned and looked up at him. Though not quite as drunk as he’d pretended, he was still glassy-eyed. “Did it work?” he mumbled.
“Perfectly.”
Alec gazed blearily around. “Is that octopus on the wall really moving?”
“No,” Seregil chuckled.
“The bed is moving!”
“No, it’s not, love.”
Two maidservants hurried in with the bucket, water, and several small flannels. Seregil folded one into a band, soaked it in water, and laid it across Alec’s forehead. “Does that help?”
“No,” Alec gasped, looking pale. “Bucket!”
Seregil supported him over the side of the bed as Alec brought up both wine and dinner. When he was finished, Seregil set the bucket outside, undressed Alec, and settled him more comfortably in bed with a fresh cloth on his brow.
“Better now?”
“A little,” Alec said, eyes fluttering shut. “You damn well better find something!”
Leaving Alec to sleep, Seregil paced the long balcony, peering in through the windows of the other rooms. There was enough moonlight for him to see inside; all bedchambers, one of which was the nursery, where a wet nurse was watching over two of the duke’s younger children, and the new baby. The one next to it appeared to belong to the duchess.
He went inside again and waited until the house was quiet, then slipped out into the corridor to begin his search.
The rooms at the front of the house proved to be more bedchambers and a day room. Taking out the tool roll he’d hidden under his shirt, he searched that room but found nothing of interest except the duchess’s correspondence box. Helooked through it quickly and found nothing of note. Whatever Reltheus was up to, it was doubtful his young wife knew anything of it.
As he stepped out into the corridor, a brawny servant with a lantern appeared at the head of the stairway just a few yards away.
“Who’s
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