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After the tub had been brought in and was filled with water fresh from the rain barrel outside, Rolfe ushered everyone out.

He returned to the bed. He lifted Cassia’s limp body into his arms. He didn’t bother to take off her night rail.

Then, gently, as if she were a child, he placed her into the tub.

Holding her there, he took up a cloth and began to dribble water over her.

After she’d soaked in the tub for some time, and her hands began to pucker, Rolfe lifted Cassia up and out of the tub. He wrapped her in a thick drying cloth. He placed his lips gently against her forehead. She felt much cooler. He began to hold promise.

He laid her back upon the bed and drew up the coverlet over her before he climbed in beside her.

Cassia slept for hours. Rolfe stayed beside her, running his fingers gently over the soft hair that had dried curling at her temple.

He passed the time by talking to her, even though she likely could not hear him.

He told her about his childhood, about his family, about the adventures of his youth.

He made promises to her, assuring her no one would ever be able to hurt her again.

He vowed to help her prove her innocence.

And then, when he’d finally run out of things to say, he pleaded with her one last time to live, touching his lips softly to her forehead, before he lay her back against the pillows, still cradled in his arms. Only then did he allow exhaustion to claim him.

He did not know how long he’d slept with her there, wrapped in his arms. The sky outside had grown dark with the passing of the day into night.

When he finally did awaken, he did not immediately rise from the bed.

He didn’t want to leave just yet, didn’t want to release her from the circle of his arms. Instead, he lay there, staring at the ceiling, listening to her soft, even breathing in the silence of the room.

Cassia opened her eyes, blinking against the light on the other side that seemed brighter than if she were staring directly into the sun.

She tried to swallow, but her throat ached, her mouth felt scratchy, almost as if it was filled with sand.

Through squinting eyes, she could make out the canopy of a bed above her head hung with light blue and yellow damask. It wasn’t her bed. As her eyes became accustomed to the light, she began to see more clearly and took in her surroundings.

She saw that she was in a bedchamber, although whose she did not know.

She licked at her lower lip which was parched, and glanced toward the side of the bed.

There, sitting on a bedside table, she spotted an ewer of water.

A glass, half-filled, stood beside it. She tried to lift her arm, to reach for the glass, wanting it desperately, but her body somehow refused to respond.

Every muscle ached, seemed incapable of movement.

She tried again. A tear of frustration slipped down her cheek as she stared at that glass, wanting it more than she’d ever wanted anything before, frightened because she was unable to reach it.

“Please ...”

Somehow she’d managed to breathe that one word out. She did not even know if there was anyone near to hear her.

But there was.

“Cassia?”

Suddenly, he was there, that deep voice, the voice that she had heard calling to her in her dreams. It was the same voice that had begged her to come back. She felt him take her hand. And then he came before her, but somehow she could not see his face clearly.

“Please,” she managed to say again. “Water.”

Mercifully, she felt that glass being touched to her lips, and she could feel the wonderful cool liquid coming into her mouth.

She drank, gulping, savoring each drop until it trickled down her chin.

She didn’t care. She closed her eyes and lay back on the bed, exhausted from that one simple exercise. “Thank you.”

It was then she looked, truly looked at him. Before, she’d been so focused on the water that she hadn’t really cared if Lucifer himself had brought it to her. But here he was and he was looking down at her, his dark eyes studying her closely.

Rolfe, Lord Ravenscroft.

The sight of him made her feel ... safe, somehow.

She wondered how she’d gotten there, wherever she was.

She wondered in whose bed she was lying.

His face was heavily beard-shadowed and she wondered why he looked so tired.

She tried to think back, tried to remember what could have happened to have brought her there.

She remembered the masked ball at the palace.

She’d been dancing with the king under the lights of the chandeliers in the Banqueting House.

She’d gone to visit the queen, Catherine of Braganza, who looked so very pale and weak.

And when she’d gone back to the ball, she remembered she’d found Rolfe waiting for her.

But he’d been angry. Angry with her. Why?

I’m curious though, did you enjoy your visit to the king’s bedchamber as much?

Cassia closed her eyes, and she began to remember it all.

She remembered how Rolfe had accused her of being the king’s mistress, how she’d wanted to tell him the truth.

She remembered she had started to tell him, wanting him to know, needing him to believe her.

Had she been able to tell him? Had he listened?

“Cassia, how do you feel?”

She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

She remembered everything about that night, the hateful words, the accusations, and then she remembered something else.

She remembered other words, words that came later.

She remembered him talking to her, beseeching her to fight, words that had begged her to live.

She remembered the touch of him stroking her forehead.

She remembered feeling his arms around her.

She remembered feeling safe, truly safe for the first time in her life.

“I’m tired,” Cassia said, closing her eyes. “And hungry.”

“I’ll get you something.”

By the time Rolfe returned from the kitchen with a bowl of thin broth and bread still soft from the oven, Cassia was asleep once again.

“How is she?”

Mara came out of the room, setting the tray she’d brought with her on the table.

They were standing in the hallway outside Cassia’s chamber where Rolfe had been waiting for the past hour, having been ordered out while Mara and her maid, Cyma, had changed the bed linen and had dressed Cassia in a fresh night rail.

“She is sleeping now, Rolfe. She is very weak, but the color has begun to return to her cheeks. The decoction will need some time to fully take effect and restore her. Her body must rid itself of the poison before it can even begin to heal. But, I feel in my heart she will recover.”

Rolfe nodded, hoping she was right. “Has she said anything?” He hesitated. “About what happened that night?”

“She only awoke for a few moments, barely long enough for me to give her another dose of the Angelica treacle. She appears very confused, rightfully, and perhaps a little frightened. Wouldn’t you be?

She’s woken up from a very difficult bout to find herself in a strange bed in a strange house and surrounded by strangers.

And she doesn’t yet realize that we believe someone tried to poison her.

After all she’s been through in the past few days, I am just grateful she hasn’t attempted to flee from here by now.

And she hasn’t even been subjected to the children yet. ”

Rolfe smiled, knowing Mara was trying to ease his mind with her teasing final comment. “I think a healthy dose of those two imps of yours would do wonders for Cassia’s recovery. I don’t know how to thank you for all you have done, Mara. If it weren’t for you and Cyma, she would have ...”

Mara took his hand. “I have only done what I would have done for any stranger in the street. The treacle alone could not have saved her life. It was you who gave Cassia the will to fight the poison, Rolfe. It was you who spent every hour with her, stubbornly refusing to leave her for a second. You must remember that.”

Squeezing his hand, she turned, picked up the tray, and started down the hall again. Rolfe stared at the door to Cassia’s chamber, thinking about what Mara had just said. He wanted to believe her, to think that his words had somehow broken through and had given her the will to live.

But then he wondered what had he given her the will to live for? What would she do when he told her what he’d done?

What would Cassia say when she learned she was now his wife?