The Sixth

10: In the Wake of Naïvety is...

Niall was surprised to see Flora throw back the medicine with no more than a scrunch of her nose and a shiver.

The bitterness was a small price to pay for relief. So bilious Flora was that she dared not order anything sweet to make the treatment easier on herself.

Niall motions the maid, Annie, closer, "The lady should only have light meals for the next few days," He instructs while taking a few vials of medicine from his kit, "and one of these morning and night. Also,"

"What are you doing?" Flora's biting tone freezes the Doctor and maid in place. Their eyes dart awkwardly from one another then back to Flora, trying to find where they'd erred.

Flora looked at Annie, and though her regard was brief, the scorn within her eyes makes the servant flinch.

"Give the medicine to Hazel." Flora commands.

Hazel, who was cleaning Flora's closet alongside others, was sure she heard wrong. Annie and the other maids weren't any less lost.

Annie has been Flora's closest maid, yet not even she could unravel the noblewoman's thoughts in this moment.

"Well?" Flora glares when her order goes unfulfilled. "What are you waiting for?"

Annie pulls her jaw off the floor to gasp, "My Lady...!" her short cry an outpour of hurt and confusion. Still, Flora would not spare her a glance.

Hazel hesitates, but not out of pity for her colleague. She likes Annie no more than the other maids in Flora's service do.

As Flora's closest, Annie was intoxicated with power and never helped with the chores. She keeps the maids few in number and pours the grunt work on them so they never have a chance to grow close to Flora.

"My Lady," Hazel curtsies, an expectant glimmer in her eyes. "I am afraid I still have to finish cleaning your closet."

"What?" Flora raised a brow at the task that sounded so trivial to her. "Just let Annie do it then."

At this, Hazel beamed. She held the rag out to Annie, making the latter turn to Flora with a face begging her to admit she didn't mean what she said.

The longer Annie remains with that befuddled look, the more annoyed Flora becomes.

She is being infinitely lenient considering Annie did not lag to raise those books over her head at Gretchen's order. If mother hadn't shown up, she really would have followed that wicked woman's lead. Flora could not find it within herself to gloss over such betrayal.

Defeatedly, Annie took the rag and dragged her feet towards the closet.

Niall's voice was as lethargic as ever, but his gaze was a tad sharper than usual as he explains the use of the medicine to Hazel. This won't end well... He doubts Flora realizes there is an existing hierarchy amongst her maids, or that she just obliterated it. He also knows Annie isn't well liked— more than a few servants like to join him for a sip now and again.

Over Hazel's shoulder, he spies the dirty water Annie wrung the rag into tip over on the spot she just wiped. From the satisfied faces of the other maids, it was no accident.

Niall chose to ignore it.

He likes the Rayne family because they are simple. The Earl, Countess, Hanson, and Cara all fall into their routines and see little else outside of that. They disregard everything outside of their protocol and Flora until it becomes a problem they can't afford to overlook.

Even then, that is hardly the case because Darlin's thorough management never leaves room for errors to fester.

Once in a while, Niall does wonder why Darlin lets him and others get away with what they do, but remembers he isn't paid enough to care.