Kiss of Steel Read Online Free PDF

nothing,” Honoria blurted. “You must have bitten your tongue. Lena, stop being such a…such a…” The blood was slick between her fingers. His condition couldn’t have gotten as bad as it had so swiftly. She’d been rigorous with Blaud’s iron pills and the injections of colloidal silver. Poor Charlie’s arm looked like a pincushion.
    He gazed hypnotically at the blood. “There’s rather a lot of it,” he said. His little pink tongue darted out, licking at his bloodied lips. Something, some flash of darkness, swam through the pale blue of his irises.
    “The rag!” she ordered, gesturing at a piece of stained flannel near the washstand. She snatched his hand and held it down, wiping the blood off with the rag Lena gave her. “There. Nearly done.”
    “Honor. He’s…” Lena’s whisper died away.
    Charlie was staring at Honoria’s bloodied shoulder. Hungrily.
    “Lena.” Somehow her voice was cool and composed. Inside she was shaking like a leaf. “Run and fetch Doctor Madison. Tell him Charlie’s had another turn.”
    “I can’t leave you with him—”
    “Go,” Honoria commanded. “And send a lad to Mr. Macy’s to tell him Charlie’s ill again and I can’t make it in today.” That would be another shilling to send the message. And more for the doctor, on top of what they already owed. But it couldn’t be helped.
    Lena spun on her heel and bolted in a flurry of skirts.
    “Charlie,” she said in a low voice. “Charlie, look at me.”
    His gaze lifted slowly.
    “ Stop it.” The hard, flat tone had never failed to work before.
    His nostrils flared. “I can’t…” Suddenly he buried his face in his hands. “Can you go? Just go away a bit so I can’t smell it.”
    Each step back from him felt like a weight settling on her shoulders. “Is this better?” she asked, staring at him from across the room. His face was almost as white as fresh snow. He looked so small against the bed, a little bloodied figure lost in the tangle of bed sheets. Seeing her brother in this condition was harder than anything she’d had to do before.
    Charlie nodded, then erupted into another coughing attack.
    Honoria could do nothing as another bloodied rain landed on the sheets. Heat burned behind her eyes. It wasn’t fair. Why wouldn’t fate simply leave them alone?
    ***
     
    “Hmm.” Doctor Madison thumbed Charlie’s eyelid back.
    Honoria hovered. “Well? Is he going to be all right?”
    Madison stepped away from the bed and wrung his hands. “If I could trouble you for some tea, Miss Pryor?” He gave her a piercing look.
    Honoria pasted a smile on her face. Inside, her stomach plummeted. “Of course, Doctor. If you’ll join me in the kitchen?” Leaning closer to Charlie, she tucked the sheets up over him and kissed his cool forehead. “Get some rest. I’ll bring you something to eat.”
    “Not hungry,” he said in a quavering voice.
    “Some of that nice stew Lena made the night before last,” she said, as though he hadn’t spoken. “I’ll soak the bread in it too so that it’s easy to get down.”
    Getting it down didn’t seem to be the problem. Keeping it down was.
    She closed the door behind them and crossed to the small stove and kettle. She’d sent Lena to work. There was no point in both sisters hovering over Charlie, and they needed the money.
    “You know,” she said in a quiet voice, concentrating on stoking the stove. “When Mama died, I promised her I’d look after them. Charlie was so sweet. So small…” Her hands fell to her sides and she stared through the stove, seeing Charlie’s pink face and the tuft of silky blond hair on his head.
    “How long has he been like this?”
    “The coughing? Three weeks and five days. There hasn’t been any blood before—”
    “Not the coughing, Miss Pryor.”
    Though it was said gently, the words felt as though they’d taken her feet out from under her. “Five months. Five months since the first symptoms started showing up.”