Ancient Appetites (34 page)

Daisy was waiting in a chair by Roberto's bedside when he finally regained his senses. He had been feverish for more than a week, racked by pain from his injuries. His sleep was troubled by nightmares, and when he woke, he would suffer delusions brought on by his agony or the laudanum given him to ease it.

Even as she nursed him, she wondered about their future. How could she forgive him for his infidelity? It was hugely humiliating for her and the greatest betrayal of her trust. If word got out about it – as it surely would – she would hear whispers and muffled laughs wherever she went. But worse was the knowledge that she was trapped in a marriage with a man who did not love her – who was in love with another man, one old enough to be his father. She had heard of this kind of thing before, of course; the upper classes had all sorts of strange habits, but Roberto was her
husband.
She'd be giving him a piece of her mind, he could count on that.

Then one day he opened his eyes and looked over from his bed at his wife and smiled weakly, and she knew that it was an argument that could wait until he was better prepared for it. As a friend, she owed him that much at least.

'How are you feeling?' she asked, smiling back at him.

'I'm starving . . . Thirsty too,' he replied. 'Other than that. . .'

His voice drifted off as he tried to move his legs. A look of sorrow came over him.

'Gerald says there might still be hope,' Daisy told him, getting on her knees by his side and taking his hand. 'You have your ancestors' blood in you. He said anything is possible.'

'Having met my ancestors, I'm inclined to agree,' Berto snorted. 'That said, I'm not sure I'm happy having their blood crawling around in my veins. Heaven knows what it's getting up to in there. Is everyone else all right? Tatty? Nate? What about Clancy? Did he make it?'

'They're all fine,' she reassured him. 'Although Clancy refuses to stay in bed even though he still has a hole in his chest, and Tatty ordered a suit of
boy's clothes
to be made for her the other day. I'm not sure quite what to make of that. Nate and I have been busy putting the house in order for you.'

What do you mean?'

'Darling,' she said, squeezing his hand. 'You're the Patriarch now.'

'Oh, bugger,' he sighed.

The door opened and Nathaniel peeked in.

'Bloody hell! He's back from the dead!' he exclaimed, rushing across to his brother.

'God! Don't say that!' Berto protested, grinning as he clutched his brother's hand. 'There's been quite enough of that, I think. What . . . what's happened to them, anyway?' His face went suddenly sombre. 'Are they . . . ?'

'It's over,' Nate told him, his hand going self-consciously to the fast-healing wound in his side.

And it
was
over, for the most part. They saw no reason to trouble Berto yet with the news that Elizabeth had escaped somehow, despite her injuries, and that Gideon was trying to have Nate exiled for his very public duel with Hugo. A blatant breach of the Rules of Ascension, he argued, even if Hugo had instigated it – not that the family were in a mood to listen to him. They still weren't sure whether or not he had actually sent the telegram to the Viceroy. The British were outraged over the train crash and were demanding answers, and the entire family were at each other's throats over the whole affair.

Abraham and his two brothers were gone too. The last time Daisy had seen them was boarding a ship for Southampton, from where they hoped to find passage to Kenya. They had said something about wanting to kill a lion.

Daisy had been pressing Nate to help her persuade Berto to do away with the family's barbaric Rules once and for all. And he seemed inclined to agree with her, although they both doubted if it could be achieved so simply. It was more likely to take generations to filter all the conspirators, traitors and murderers out of the family. Gerald continued to insist that, as a woman, it was none of Daisy's business anyway.

Not that he was very interested himself. He had personally disposed of Brutus's body in the house's boilers and was now immersed in his studies to investigate the so-called 'intelligent particles'. Whatever Nate and Daisy decided to do about the family's traditions was apparently of no concern to him.

But it seemed that Berto, even in his fragile state, was one step ahead of them.

'If I'm going to be in charge, I want to change a few things around here,' he said abruptly. 'I'm tired of all this one-upmanship and back-stabbing. It's absurd, the way we live in fear of one another. There's no need for it and it . . . it just gets in the way of everything. I'm absolutely sick of it. It's time this family just got along with one another. I'm going to put a stop to this fighting once and for all.'

'Absolutely!' Nate said, clenching his fists. 'You're absolutely right, Berto! And if they don't want to stop, then by God, we'll
make
them.'

And that, thought Daisy, is why some things will never change.