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Wick stared after her for a moment

At the door, she looked over her shoulder "You have to show ure out how to get Jonas froive him He didn’t even want to think about how Kate would react "Look, you hness that I, and I alone, would hold Jonas--that is, the young princeling"

"He needs water," Miss Daain "I think there’s a chance he won’t live through the night, actually Babies die awfully quickly if they don’t drink enough"

Wick walked forward and pushed the door open before her "Straight to the end of the corridor and doo flights"

When they reached the kitchen, nine or ten heads swiveled almost in unison The castle’s kitchen was a vast space with a stone floor Worktables were arrayed around the room, scrubbed to a fare-thee-well, and covered with copper pans of all sizes and shapes It was full of people, as always: the cook, three kitchenat the sink to one side

They all snapped upright at the sight of Wick, except for Madaros the cook, who considered herself his equal, if not his better The already complex hierarchy of castle staff was further complicated by Wick’s relationship to the prince Even had Gabriel (who showed no such inclination) wished to keep their fraternity a secret, one of his elderly aunts regularly took pleasure in shocking polite co that she preferred Wick to his brother Gabriel

By rights, a young nurseh certainly above the dairymaid And yet Philippa Damson walked into that kitchen like the lady of the house She unerringly put her eye on the cook, a lady twice as broad and four times as fierce as anyone else in the room

"Qu’est-ce que c’est que ça?" snapped Mada for breath, Miss Daent, French As all could see, she had the little prince in her arms He needed water, but it must be special water, water boiled, then cooled And she also needed a cloth, a clean linen cloth, to be boiled in a different pot of water, then cooled

Madaht, of a rabid French weasel, if such a thing existed--s As she opened her mouth, undoubtedly to refuse, Miss Daardez," she said, drawing back the cover that protected the prince’s face

Confronted by that tiny, exhausted face, Madaros flinched and pointed with her ladle to a chair Miss Damson obediently sat down A few minutes later, an immaculate piece of linen was shown to Miss Damson for her approval, then carefully placed in a pot of boiling water

Even h the room remained as silent as a church as everyone strove to keep Jonas asleep The housekeeper appeared and hovered in the background; two or three footmen had apparently deserted their posts in the front hall as they now stood quietly against the walls The knife boy had stopped sharpening his wares and was sitting on a three-legged stool, his !" Miss Damson ordered Wick in a low voice "Babies don’t like nervous influences"

"Gabriel allery," Wick said, entirely forgetting that he generally referred to his brother as His Highness in public Miss Damson was that sort of woman She made a man lose his head

"Why not send a footman to stand outside the prince’s bedchamber so as to inform him of our location when he wakes? Meanwhile, you’ll have to take the baby while I wash my hands," she said, and slipped Jonas back into Wick’s ar

To Wick, Jonas looked worse than he had even an hour before The skin around his eyes was the deep blue of a bruise His little nose stood out from his face, as if the skin had receded around it He was an extraordinarily unattractive baby, which did nothing to assuage the feeling of pure grief and panic Wick felt at seeing his nephew in this state

"It’s not too late, is it?" he heard hi Everyone in the kitchen froze

Miss Da out the cloth and dipping it in the pot of boiled, cooled water "Absolutely not," she said firht a bit dazedly about the fact that he never took orders except from his own brother, but he sat She bent over and slipped the corner of the wet cloth into the baby’s mouth He sucked reflexively, realized it wasn’t milk, and let out a pained cry Quick as she could, she dipped the cloth again, returned it to his lips Over and over and over