6. Pain in the Neck
PAIN IN THE NECK
Irene
Papa fussed around me as I sat on a bench in the garden. I meant to push down my power, but his concern was so intense it reached me anyway.
“Do you want another shawl?” He adjusted the cushion behind my back.
“Papa, I’m fine.” I didn’t sound convincing to my own ears.
Last night during Lady Violet’s visit, another strong seizure had left me sore and tired.
Papa had cancelled my piano lesson and told me to do everything I fancied.
Or rather, to choose what I fancied among the activities I was allowed to do, which weren’t many.
Between the outbreak spreading through the rookery and Papa’s terror of my seizures, I had to stay home, which would be fine if I could read in peace.
Besides, I was supposed to attend a tea party at Lady Violet’s house, but she’d sent me a message, politely asking me not to go because my condition would offend her guests’ sensibilities.
“Did you ask Jones to send a message to Lady Violet and inform her you wouldn’t go?” He added another shawl to my shoulders.
“Er… I did.” He didn’t need to know my seizures had cancelled the engagement for me. I lifted the book I wanted to read. “I’ll be happy here, reading in the sun. You go to meet your agent.”
He kissed my forehead. “Don’t strain yourself.”
“How could I strain myself by doing nothing?” I muttered under my breath.
When he entered the house, I slouched back on the bench. The garden was bursting with new flowers, and the air smelt of honeysuckle. Shafts of sunlight speared through the leaves in a glittering show. I shouldn’t complain. There were worse things in life than being shunned.
A groan sounded from behind the bushes. Pain hit my neck, but it didn’t belong to me.
I rose and walked around the bench, rubbing the aching spot.
Alex was bent over, a hand on his neck. His sharp pain made me gnash my teeth.
“Miss Harlowe.” He straightened, grimacing. A dark violet light dominated his aura—pain.
“What is it?”
“Some stupid wounds on my neck. They throb and itch.”
“Let me see.”
He reluctantly lowered the collar of his worn shirt to uncover six infected wounds on his neck. The skin around them was red and swollen.
“What happened?”
He fiddled with his suspenders. Confusion disturbed his halo with ash-grey tendrils. “I fell in the garden shed, and a spiky tool stabbed me. I think.”
“I’ll send for Dr. Fletcher.”
“Don’t, please.” He scrubbed the back of his neck. “His Lordship might send me home.”
There wasn’t only pain but embarrassment as well.
“If it’s about the bill, I’ll ask Papa to take care of it.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to cause trouble.”
“Why don’t you go to St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington? It’s a voluntary hospital. You won’t pay anything.”
“They take care only of the deserving poor, and I’m not. I would need someone who vouched for me.” His sense of defeat weighed heavily on my chest.
He had no faith in society or good people.
“I’ll vouch for you. We’ll go together.” Without Papa knowing it.
Surprise and shock sparked around his head with an orange and burgundy flash. “Would you do that for me?”
“Of course.”
“What about your father, miss?”
“Don’t worry about him. We’ll go tomorrow. If Jones doesn’t want to give you a few free hours, I’ll talk to him.”
“Thank you.” He stared at me as if I were an odd creature.
Well, maybe I was.
“Do you have enough to eat at home?” I asked.
His orange surprise pricked my skin. “I do, miss.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you.”
He winced as a new pang sliced through his neck. Whatever they were, those wounds hurt a lot. “You didn’t.”
“You can tell me the truth.”
He lifted a shoulder. “I’m not used to someone worrying about me anymore.”
“I have the opposite problem. I wish Papa would worry less. If it were up to him, he would lock me up in the house forever.”
“I understand. People said horrible things about my sister’s seizures. She didn’t complain, but she was hurt.” His gaze became distant as confusion dominated his feelings. “I spoke with someone about Odette…”
“Who?”
“A man visited me.” He shook himself as if waking up from a trance. “I’d better get back to work. And thank you again.”
The happiness spreading in a soft yellow glow around his head warmed me.
I’d found a friend.