38: His heartless offer

His heartless offer

Six more sleepless hours after, all was settled in the once again open infirmary.

Placing her good left hand beneath her chin, Lady Adelaide de Lanark sat down on the comfortable chair that Nicolas fetched for her, nodding off in the most unladylike manner and caring very little about it.

She straightened up when Egon came through the door. 

"How is your hand?"

His lips were hidden under her white handkerchief, but his big eyes spoke a language of their own as they examined the right side of her neck beneath her secured green scarf that she never took off as of yesterday.

"…How is your neck?"

She gulped. Stay formal now…

"Master Egon, I feel no inclination to recede from the agreement into which we have entered. It is what brought me here…"

He raised an eyebrow, "Yes, you said that twice already,"

Adela avoided his intense gaze.

"Well then, please know that members of house de Lanark honor the word they give. As for your inquiries that ensure it, I am in good health, thank you for your concern,"

She looked away, afraid of showing him something she did not want him to know.

"What an eyesore," came Egon's uncle's audible insult.

Focused as she was on the conversation, the unexpected voice chased her drowsiness away. She looked over her shoulder at the begrudged von Conradie.

His hands were balled into tight fists, and a vein that bulged out of his forehead looked as if it was on the verge of explosion any minute now. She was only too glad that Andreas had taken a drained Larissa back to the Archduke's estate before this wolf clawed at her.

Facing his constant insults with her best of manners, Adela stood up and curtsied. His rude attitude was undeserving of her politeness, but acting civilized was a representation of her upbringing, her desire was to emphasize that whenever there was an opening for it.

I will win Egon over no matter what…

She looked up at her target, "Master Egon, a word please?"

"...I thought we were talking already," he mused.

She tilted her head, "A private one,"

He stiffened, "There are no secrets between me and my uncle,"

Her gaze roamed the crowded hall suggestively. Are there secrets between you and the rest of them? Was what her articulate eyes demanded of him.

"Follow me,"

He ushered her to a small empty room, the same one Adela wanted to turn into a laboratory. She was immensely annoyed when his uncle followed them inside. The three of them uncovered their faces. 

"I'm listening," he said earnestly when she turned around and looked up at him.

She braced herself for the confrontation, blinking a couple of times at him. Here goes nothing...

"Now that things are under control in both estates, we need to determine the source of the contamination," 

Egon's uncle forced a laugh, "Ha, ha. ha," he chuckled. "What a joke!"

Egon leaned forward, giving her his undivided attention, "How may I be of service?"

Having prepared a lecture in advance, she was taken aback by how agreeable he seemed to be.

She took a strengthening breath, "I need you to put your restoration project on hold,"

"Say what!" Egon's uncle exclaimed; his nephew drifted into a thoughtful expression.

"Don't be put out, uncle, let her explain some more,"

The man's upper lip curled back as he glared at her. But it mattered less when she focused on Egon's comforting face.

"You have recently acquired a part of our lands where water flows... Soon after that, we were faced with an epidemic,"

"...You think the water has been contaminated because of the restoration work there?"

Being understood by him was a shock of elation in her stomach. She hugged herself.

"You must allow the knights full access to investigate, the lives of Lanarkians depend on it,"

"I absolutely forbid it!" The older man shrieked. "Walking around with her nose in the air and calling shots as if the land is still hers! Preposterous!" 

Egon's eyes that never left her face hardened, "I cannot offer you access,"

Has it always been his uncle then? 

"…Add another spring to the agreement if you must, just authorize an investigation at once,"

"Woman! How big can someone's head be?!"

Egon rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "How big is it…I mean the part of the land that contains water?"

Hope blossomed in her heart, "Extremely small, it disappears into underground water, but the source is there where its last visible," 

"I cannot give you permission to access, but I can sell that part back to you,"

Her heart sank.

"You mock me…"

His eyes became indecipherable, "It's business, I am offering you another agreement,"

She glared, disgusted, "Would I even be standing here before you if I had the means to buy back my father's land?"

"You can pay for it," he insisted.

"How!"

"...The price for that small piece of land, is your falcon," 

Adela could not believe her ears at first, but his vacant eyes confirmed it. He was asking for a piece of herself in exchange for that land.

Was she the only one with feelings then? Or was this the price she had to pay for giving her heart to her father's enemy?

The sound of more people coming through the infirmary door had the three of their heads moving in that direction. 

I am such an idiot…

The ill, the land, and herself. None of those meant anything for the von Conradies who sought revenge and revenge alone. If it were not for that pregnant woman in the morning and the state Egon was in, Andreas would not have summoned her.

The von Conradies do not care for Lanark, and Egon does not care for her.

"...You have yourself a deal, Master," Adela spoke up in barely a whisper, her voice breaking in the end as two pairs of dark eyes observed her.

Egon's uncle fumed, directing his anger at his nephew this time, "Don't you think for one second that I am oblivious to that of which you're doing...Offering one of them an easy way out,"2

The empty look on Egon's face never faltered, leaving Adela wondering what was so easy about any of it.

"If I were you, Egon...I would ask myself why,"

Uninterested in the rest of that conversation, Adela walked out of the small room and then ran as fast as she could. She had to see that part of her soul one last time before they take him away from her.

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