Page 73 of Ruthless

“Unfortunately, more than we would like. He was at a dinner with several members of Parliament, along with their families. We tried to keep it as low-key as possible, but we had no choice but to have him carried away on a stretcher.”

“Why wasn’t he taken to the hospital?”

“The dinner was here at the palace. We thought it best to bring him up to his rooms and allow him to be treated by the palace doctor.”

That information might’ve opened up a much wider suspect pool, except the person, or people, who had set up the attack knew Eve was here. Only a select few within the palace knew this information. Whoever it was likely knew that Eve would be informed right away that her father had fallen ill. That didn’t lessen his suspicion of Eve’s uncle, but Jacques’s guilt wasn’t assured either.

“How ill is the king?”

“He was vomiting, so we’re hoping whatever made him ill is no longer in his system.”

“Do you think he was poisoned?”

Jacques’s face turned grimmer. “We all ate the same thing, but as far as I know, the king is the only one who became sick. So my guess is yes, he was poisoned.”

“The kitchen and waitstaff are being questioned?”

“Yes.”

“I’d—” Gideon cut off when Eve walked toward them. She had a deep red mark on her face and smaller ones on her neck where she’d been choked. In a few hours, those red marks would darken into bruises. But she’d cleaned the blood off her face and neatened her hair and clothing. There was no hiding that she had been injured, but she looked less vulnerable than she had a few minutes ago.

“Come in with me.” She held out her hand, and he took it, letting her lead him toward her father’s bedroom.

“Perhaps it would be best if you went in by yourself, Eve,” Jacques said. “After all, Gideon isn’t family.”

Her brows arched, she said crisply, “Gideon is my family.”

If she didn’t already own his heart, those words would have sealed the deal.

Taking a long, shallow breath, Eve steadied her nerves to face whatever was going on with her father. She had so many questions that needed to be answered, but first and foremost was making sure her papa was going to be okay. Right now, that was all that mattered.

Her father lay on the bed, his eyes closed, his face as pale as death, and an expression of extreme pain etched in his features. He looked ten years older than he had yesterday.

Rushing to him, she sat gingerly on the bed and took his hand. “Papa?”

Her heart skipped several beats when he opened his eyes and stared up at her almost as if he didn’t recognize her.

“Papa?” she whispered softly. “It’s Lina.”

“I’ve given him something for the pain, so he’s likely confused.” The voice came from her left. She turned to see Claude Duval coming toward her. Duval had been the royal physician for almost twenty years.

“What happened? Do you know yet?”

“We’re analyzing blood samples, but my best guess is he was poisoned. With what, we don’t yet know. I’ve given him something to ease the cramps in his stomach, which has made him drowsy.”

“Will he be okay?”

“His pulse is elevated, and his respiration is faster than I would like. His blood pressure plunged very low, but we’ve stabilized him. He’s much improved but not out of the woods yet.”

She turned back to her father, the first man she’d ever admired and loved. If she lost him, she wasn’t sure how life would ever be the same. He was bigger than life to her.

“Lina,” her father whispered.

“Yes, Papa?”

“Trust no one.”

She leaned closer, sensing he didn’t want anyone else to hear what he was saying. “Papa, do you know who did this to you?”