Seven Devils and a Rose

Book 3: A Kingdom of Roses and Magic - Chapter 114

A few moments later, we entered his quarters, a grand chamber filled with books and papers, much like his office library back at the palace. Except that this one was way smaller.

In one corner, I saw Brenna busily reading some papers. I noticed she looked a little stressed out, with her lush brown hair in a wild mess and her eyes tired, undoubtedly from the constant reading.

When she spotted me, she waved and called out my name enthusiastically. I assumed my sudden appearance would take her mind off the boring reading, if only for a moment.

I went over to her as Lord Noah shut the door.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

"Presentation materials," she replied tiredly.

I took the seat opposite her as she gave me the report and proceeded to explain to me what it was about. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Lord Noah and Brenna, running through the presentations. By the time we were nearly done, it was dark, and dinner was just around the corner.

I was just packing up when Brenna said, "Let's go and get changed for dinner."

I nodded in agreement.

As we headed out the door, Brenna said loudly to Lord Noah, "Don't forget to join us for dinner, my lord."

Lord Noah waved, his masked face still buried deep in paperwork. "I won't."

As I shut the door behind us, Brenna said, "He will forget. We'll have to come back and get him later."

I chuckled. How typical of Lord Noah. He was always so engrossed with his work that he forgot about almost everything else around him.

Brenna and I headed up to the third floor of the airship, where our bedchambers resided. Along the corridor, we parted ways, and I entered my quarters.

"My lady, you're back," Ruth, my personal maid, said.

I nodded as I shut the door behind me. "Hi, Ruth. How was your day?"

"Good, my lady."

I chuckled. I had no doubt she had probably been busy figuring out which gown I should be wearing for dinner, as usual. She would have spent at least all morning making her decision, picking the perfect one and then mixing and matching that with other accessories. In the afternoon, she had probably been in the kitchen, helping the staff.

I said, "I desperately need a bath."

The maid nodded. "I'll prepare one for you right away, my lady."

As Ruth headed into the bathing chamber to prepare my request, I went toward the queen-size bed where the woman had set out the evening outfit for me. I was just touching the soft material of the pretty gown when I felt a chill, followed by a feverish heat coursing throughout my body. Suddenly, I felt dizzy.

Shit!

The world around me was spinning, and I found myself collapsing onto the bed as my vision darkened.

I freaked out.

God, what is happening to me? Have I caught something nasty?

I lay there on the bed, taking a few slow, deep breaths as I told myself I'd be fine. Maybe it was just the realm traveling and the change in the environment or something that weakened my body.

Not that I had ever caught anything when I had been traveling from country to country with my parents when I had been young. Then again, my vaccines had always been up to date. So maybe it was something akin to a flu here? Since obviously they didn't have vaccines in this realm because they had never had to deal with this kind of sickness before. At least not until very recently when the Aurora Barrier ecosystem started to weaken.