The Duke's Unwanted Second Wife

Damian entered the chamber, his presence immediately commanding the room despite the child in his arms.

”Son!” Georgia stood up abruptly. ”You finally came! And what is Roman doing with you? Was he not supposed to be at his studies?”

”Mother, could you please leave us alone for a moment?” Damian requested.

Georgia furrowed her brows, clearly surprised by his sudden change of heart, but she nodded. ”The physician has already administered medicine to Eilika,” she noted, pausing at the door. ”But she is still burning with fever.”

Once she departed, Damian turned his gaze toward Joanna. The attendant had been busy replacing a cold wrap on Eilika’s forehead, but she quickly stood and bowed her head. ”You shall step out as well,” Damian commanded.

Joanna obeyed without a word, slipping out and pulling the heavy doors shut behind her.

Damian lowered Roman into a nearby chair, but the boy immediately slid down and hurried to the bedside. Damian moved to the opposite side of the bed, looking down at Eilika. Her face was flushed a deep crimson, and her breathing was shallow and uneven.

”Father, can we not bring a better doctor?” Roman whispered, his small hand reaching out to touch the edge of the blanket. ”Her foot is swollen, too. It looks very painful.”

Damian looked at the bandage on Eilika’s heel, then back at her restless face. The anger he had felt earlier was being replaced by a strange, unsettling tension in his chest.

”Roman, your mother will be fine,” Damian assured him, his voice softer than it had been in weeks. As he touched her forehead, the heat radiating from her skin made him recoil slightly; her fever was indeed dangerously high. ”Roman, would you call your mother’s attendant back inside?”

The boy didn’t hesitate, scurrying to the door to fetch Joanna.

Left alone for a fleeting moment, Damian stared at Eilika’s flushed face. He felt a surge of complicated emotions, irritation, guilt, and a strange, unwelcome protectiveness. He had spent so much energy pushing her away, yet here he was, drawn to her side by the very child they both loved.

”Father!” Roman called out as he returned with the attendant.

Joanna bowed deeply, her eyes focused on the floor.

”She injured her ankle last night,” Damian noted, his gaze shifting to the bandage. ”Did the physician administer any kind of painkiller for the inflammation?”

”He did, Your Grace,” Joanna replied softly.

”Hmm. Fetch the physician again; I want another assessment,” Damian ordered. ”And take Roman to his room. He must begin today’s lessons immediately.”

”But I want to be with my Mama!” Roman protested, his small face contorting in a pout.

”If your mother wakes and finds out you neglected your duties because of her, she will be deeply upset,” Damian countered, using the only logic he knew would work. ”Go. As soon as she opens her eyes, I will personally send word to you.”

Roman glared at his father, his chest heaving with a sudden, mature intensity. ”Don’t leave her side,” the boy warned. ”If Father leaves, I will know that he doesn’t love me or Mother. I will know that he truly doesn’t want us here.”

Damian froze to learn Roman’s thoughts. He hadn’t realized the depth of the abandonment Roman felt, nor how closely the boy tied his own worth to how Damian treated Eilika in just one day.

”I’ll be by your mother’s side. That’s a promise,” Damian said, the weight of the vow settling heavily in the room.

Relieved, Roman finally allowed Joanna to lead him away. As the doors clicked shut, the silence returned, thick and medicinal. Damian reached out, his hand hovering for a second in uncharacteristic hesitation, before he finally dipped the cloth into the basin. The water was biting cold.

”You’ve a way of bringing me to you, don’t you?” Damian murmured to the unconscious woman. He wrung out the cloth and laid it gently across her burning forehead.

A few minutes later, the physician hurried back into the chamber, his breath hitching as he bowed low. ”Your Grace summoned me.”

”Yes.” Damian stood, his shadow looming over the man as he walked toward him with predatory slowness. ”What kind of painkiller did you give to Eilika last night?”

”It was a standard pill to reduce inflammation and pain, Your Grace,” the physician answered immediately, though his voice wavered under Damian’s intense scrutiny.

Without warning, Damian reached out and grasped the physician’s collar, hauling him upward until the man was forced to meet his cold, dark eyes. ”You think I don’t know what you’re up to? A simple ankle injury does not ignite a fever of this magnitude so quickly. On whose orders did you act?”

”Your Grace, I did nothing! I swear on my life!” the physician gasped, his face paling as he struggled for air. ”I would never dare hurt the Duchess by administering the wrong medicine. I have served this palace for years!”

”Then explain it,” Damian hissed, his grip tightening. ”Why is her fever not breaking? Why does she look as though she is fighting for her life over a mere twist?”

The physician’s eyes darted toward the bedside table, his body trembling. ”It... It could be an infection, or perhaps a reaction I did not foresee. But I followed the protocol!”

Damian released the physician’s collar with a forceful shove, sending the man stumbling back. ”Do whatever it takes, but I want her awake within a day. I will not even wait until the evening. If you fail, consider yourself dismissed for your incompetence.”

The physician’s face drained of color as he swallowed hard, his hands trembling as he straightened his robes. ”I have done everything within my best capabilities, Your Grace. The rest... The rest is in the hands of God.”

”Then you had better start praying to your God that Eilika wakes up before the time you’ve given,” Damian stated, his voice dropping to a deadly threat. ”Because if she does not, you know exactly what I am capable of doing to your life.”