Chapter Text
"Mistress!” Ulysses cried after lowering the body of the man that had attacked Jocasta, the man he had just killed, to the floor.
„Mistress-” he walked around the lounge, kneeling in front of Jocasta, who lay on the lounge unconsciously. She did not move. Her arm lay lifelessly across the length of the lounge, her left hand was folded around her waist. Had he come too late?
„Mistress.” He whispered in a desperate manner, tears filling his eyes, he was afraid to come too close to her, yet wanted to hold her, catch any sign of life.
„Jocasta.”
Then, at the sound of his voice, her eyes fluttered open with a sharp intake of air as she reached for her chest, still feeling the urge to fight off Forbes. Ulysses saw the panic growing in Jocasta’s eyes, which wandered around the room, and he carefully and as gently as possible reached out for her hand to take it into his hands, caressing it, then drawing her hand close to his lips, crying, kissing the back of her fingers ever so tenderly as Jocasta rung for air, holding on to Ulysses while breathing these first hard breaths, breathing away her fear. Jocasta reverted to short, shallow breaths and relaxed a little as she felt his familiar lips on her hand, focussing now on Ulysses’ hands around hers only, her left hand still resting on her stomach, as Ulysses breathed heavily, not taking his eyes off her. Jocasta’s eyes widened once more and flew around the room with no focus. Where is he? Ulysses read from her eyes and replied „He is gone, Mistress.” Jocasta was still shaking when Mr. Innes hurried through the door, giving a kneeling Ulysses a startled look before discovering Jocasta, who lay on the lounge, white as a ghost and scared to death, still struggling to catch her breath.
„Jocasta, my dear! What is the meaning of this? Ulysses I-„ His gaze dropped to the floor and remained at the still open eyes of Mr. Forbes, whom he had seen very much alive just minutes ago. Ulysses let go of Jocasta’s hand and rose to speak: „I heard Mrs. Cameron- my excuse, I mean Mrs. Innes’ bell ring as well as some noise. When I entered the room, I found her being suffocated… by Mr. Forbes… with this pillow” he said while eying between Jocasta, the back of the sofa where Forbes still lay, and the pillow, which he had collected from the floor while speaking. „My dear Jocasta-” Duncan pleaded while coming closer to her, and kneeled in front of the lounge where Ulysses had kneeled, and took one of her hands, while Ulysses reached for the other hand, laying his hand carefully around her waist in order to slowly help her to sit up, hoping that it would allow her to breath more easily. Jocasta took a deep breath, still shaking, her body was still tense. She woke from her shock when Mr. Innes stroked her hair, and she opened her mouth to speak, but only a cough escaped at first. After a while with a hoarse voice, she whispered „Mr. Forbes” and paused, „was most upset to learn that I meant for my family to receive the most part of my fortune,” she frowned and took a deeper breath, „and was labouring under the illusion that it was his money I was giving away” she halted again. „He had a madness I never kent. He lost his temper when…” she exhaled shakingly „he walked behind me and all of a sudden I felt the fabric of the pillow-” she gestured with her hands, panicked „-pressed with all his might in my face. Unable to draw a single breath, I-” she stopped to take some deep breaths, realising now how remembering the details reactivated the fear.
Suddenly she felt her heartbeat hammering against her bones and shaking her body, and she felt how her body got heavier and heavier. She leant forward into Duncan, gravity pulling her down, and closed her eyes, feeling too dizzy to continue speaking. „Mistress!” Ulysses exclaimed and reached for her. With the room spinning, she took short, shallow breaths before slowly collapsing in on Duncan who had put one knee on the lounge now, before gravity defeated her eventually. „Perhaps you should lay down, dearest, and PHAEDRA,” he shouted, „please call for the physician!” He put one hand on Jocasta’s cheek and the other on her arm to support her while Ulysses put the pillow at one end of the lounge. Duncan took Jocasta gently by the shoulders and moved her towards the back of the couch and held her upper body by placing both hands around her waist, lowering her onto the lounge, while Ulysses tenderly supported her head with his hand. Ulysses then lifted Jocasta’s feet up slowly and carefully while Duncan sat down beside Jocasta and let his hands linger around her waist for a moment.
Jocasta’s eyes where still closed, her right hand rested on her chest, rising and sinking in the rhythm of her breathing, the other one reached out for Ulysses after covering her eyes and mouth for a moment, trying to exhale a little bit longer after Ulysses told her so. Duncan sat by her side next to her knees, looking at the carefully stitched floral ornaments on his wife’s dress before looking back at her face which had changed from a shade of red to a paler one, her eyes opening from time to time, still filled with fear, looking out for a fix point, an anchor, but finding nothing that would give her peace or security. Duncan slowly reached for Jocasta’s hand, that rested on her chest, and lay his hand carefully on top of it, squeezing her hand gently at first, then stroking her hand in tender circles, trying to fathom what just happened, namely that he could indeed have lost Jocasta. He let his hand fall beneath her waist again, stroking the fabric of the dress with his thumb, and watched the corners of Jocasta’s lips twitch for a second at the gesture before she fell back into trance. A certain gratefulness about Ulysses intervention crossed Duncan’s mind, but the worry about Jocasta overshadowed it, and was yet again pushed aside by the dead lawyer laying on the floor of the parlour, when a tense sigh from Jocasta brought his attention back to his concerns for his wife.
„Are you all right, dear?” He asked quietly and warm-heartedly, his voice and expression pained. After what seemed to be an eternity, Jocasta’s nod was hardly noticeable, which meant that she probably was not. „Are you in pain, my dear?” He asked while scanning her body as if he expected any visible injuries, then focussing back on her hand, her eyes, her lips that slowly stopped trembling. „Do you need anything?” „U-„ she sighed and hawked „Ulysses?” she cried, pushing herself up on her lower arms while groaning, closing her eyes immediately, inhaling sharply from the sudden feeling of pressure in her skull. „Oh please, mistress, lay thee down again.” Ulysses replied in a hushed, warm voice, while reentering, and took her hand, reached for her arms, to lift her up and lay her back down once more, squeezing her hand reassuringly. „Th-thank y-hcrrm-you, Ulysses.”
He squeezed her hand once more, with a shiver running down his spine, conveying that he would do it a hundred times more, and while Duncan looked out for the physician, he took her hand in his to his lips once more and kissed her hand, barely touching her fingers with his soft lips, his eyes fixed on her eyes. „All will be well.” He reassured her. „All… will be… well” he said, at each pause drawing a full circle on the back on her hand with his middle finger, then enclosing her hand and moving his hand over hers back and forth along the length of her lower arm. By this movement her arm relaxed in his hands and she sank into the cushions a little bit deeper. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw dead daughters and husbands appear before her inner eye, calling for her, and she started breathing more quickly again, her heart beating too fast, leaving her with a feeling of sickness in the pit of her stomach.
She exhaled through her mouth in a panicked manner, trying to keep her eyes open. Ulysses reached for her shoulder, moved a little closer to her as she reached out her left hand and he pushed it against his chest, while laying his left hand on her quivering body over her right hand. „Shhh…. breathe… Jocasta.” He pressed her hand against his chest. „Look at me.” He begged. She tried to focus on him, still shivering. „Darkness, I was drowning in-n darkness… I… I thought now I am going to join my children, they c-called for me, called me h-home.” Tears built up in her eyes as she shifted on the lounge. „Try„ Ulysses hesitated, then shifted towards the light so that his mistress could see him better with some additional contrast. „Try to look at me, Mistress.” It worked, her eyes focussed on him a wee bit more determined. Another deep breath made her body rise higher before she let herself sink into the pillow again with a long sigh that developed into a concentrated breath out through the mouth. Ulysses leant in alarmed, instinctively reaching for her arm as if she could actually fall. She looked much smaller, laying there, exhausted.
„I would now like to resume to my private rooms, Ulysses. If you please.” She didn’t feel safe here anymore, despite her rescuer’s presence. Her personal butler doubted that she had regained enough of her composure for him to accommodate her to her quarters safely, which is why he was glad when Mr. Innes returned at the very moment. Mr. Duncan Innes gave Jocasta a doubting look as she rose slightly in order to lean on her elbows, groaningly. It was obvious that it required more strength than she had. „Mrs. Innes would like to resume to her quarters. Now.” Ulysses stretched the last word, making clear what he thought of the idea with his facial expression.