houseofcards_rp | [ota] I can't see the stars for the sun.

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[ota] I can't see the stars for the sun.

Ceiro felt the first pains when he tried to relieve himself. And try though he might, nothing seemed to relieve that gut twisting, soul shattering pain. It honestly had come to the point that he'd excused himself from the office, making the excuse that he was seeing Mr. Browning off as he was finally returning home (with the assistance of the Magician, as they had all agreed to for Mr. Browning's assistance.) But in truth he'd only managed to get a 'be safe' out before the boy was put in the car and concerned guards we just barely waved off.

Not now, he told himself, pale, white hands gripping the rails lining lifted walkways around the front of the Castle. Not yet, he still had things to finish- people to speak with, to prepare for the inevitable. But each step he took sent another sharp, gutting pain through his abdomen. The fact that the sharpest pain seemed focused on his back, to the right side did not ease his worries. If anything, the anxiety began to rise as a dizzy spell washed over him and his swollen, aching legs seemed to give out.

He honestly didn't remember hitting the ground. He certainly didn't recall if he hit his head or not, though the splitting headache of the past few months reared it's ugly head ten fold. He rolled to his side, a hand desperately clinging to a post as his body heaved in an effort to expel what little food he'd forced himself to ingest. All the while only one thought remained in his mind- would his son grow up not knowing his own father?

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He nodded, vaguely as he tried to take a deeper breath. He wasn't going to protest her examination, but frankly he just didn't want it to be done there.

"Please....help me to my feet." She could very well wait the few moments it took them to get inside and down the hall, could she not?

"Of course," she said easily, and she shifted her hands to get a better grip before slowly starting to rise, steadying him as he first sat up and then struggled to his feet. "Just down the hall," she murmured.

Her thoughts, already, were on possible causes for this collapse. Ceiro had seemed frail when they first met, which was strange for a man his age. Cancer was a possibility, of course, but not the only one.

He had not always been so frail, though some might have accused him of such. He had earlier that year, after all, been in fine shape. His arms, even now, still held that definition though most of the strength was gone from them. He let her get him to his feet though, and even help support him as he moved down the hallway and toward the infirmary.

Once in the seclusion of the exam room, he sagged into a chair, the exam table too far away from him to gather the strength to get to it.

"Dr. Cataldo, I am afraid," he paused, wincing at a wave of pain that came over him for a moment. "cannot...ran a few test. But I was...informed not but a few days ago- he was involved in a collision off deck."

Meaning he and his findings were, and would remain a mystery to the King.

Abby nodded, and flicked her eyes at the Ten who'd helped Ceiro into the infirmary. She should tell him to leave, and she opened her mouth to gently tell him that the King required privacy for his examination, when he spoke up before she could.

"I think," Jordan said, "that you should look into lead poisoning." He didn't quite meet the King's eyes as he spoke. "Hadyn was in Zurich, where Dr. Cataldo's accident was, and that's what his tests indicate. I have it on this flash drive, here."

Ceiro blinked at that, lifting his head to watch Jordan impassively for a long moment. "Hadyn....?" He asked almost dumbly. He'd known the boy was off Deck for some time but...

"Perhaps...." He wanted to say that perhaps Hadyn had best come explain that, but he let it trail off, shaking his head. The boy, for all his faults, was working on his challenge and had suffered enough lose in his life. Not that Ceiro expected him to be concerned with the King's health- but watching someone suffer had a profound effect, regardless of how close one was emotionally to them. At least, it seemed so to him.

"Perhaps you would like to speak to him," he said instead to Abby.

The words lead poisoning had had Abby freezing in shock - and then cataloging the possible treatments. If it was so far as to cause collapse - the King would almost certainly need to go somewhere for treatment.

"Where...?" she began.

"He should be in the theatre at this hour, practicing," Jordan said in an even voice. "In the east wing."

'it would...be best to speak with him there," Ceiro said after a moment, before turning to look at Jordan.

"And perhaps you....and I might discuss....how he discovered this....?" Because Hadyn being near the same city, and finding the man's research was not precisely something that someone stumbled upon. "Jordan?"

Jordan was silent for a moment, after Abby had uncertainly disappeared down the hall, but it was less because he didn't know what to say and more because he wasn't certain how to explain himself without giving everything away, and it was too soon for that, especially if he intended to get a confession from his mother. "Dr. Cataldo had been gone already for a lot longer than was usual for him," he began, "and Hadyn had had a...rather personal upset. I thought having something to look into would be a good distraction when he was outside.

"Dr. Catlado's accident was not caused by drunk driving, as the Swiss police are claiming," he said quietly. "They were paid off, my lord. And you are very sick, but it's because someone is doing this to you."

"Very forward thinking...of you." Though Ceiro frowned a bit. He would not punish Jordan for it (how could he, really), but it left an unpleasant taste in his mouth. Why, after all, would someone do this to him?

"....Why?" He asked after a moment, realizing that asking himself quietly did not actually solve his problems.

Jordan was silent for a moment. He knew why, of course. It was all part of the plan that he'd heard like a bedtime story ever since they'd come here, sort of a consolation for the way he never really fit - they'd make a Suit where he did.

"You're very much loved, my lord," he finally said, "but even men who are loved can have enemies. I don't know who," he added. Not for certain. "I have a suspicion, but no proof. Not yet."

"T-Tell me, then.....what you know." Because if anyone deserved to know this, he thought, it was himself. Not Judith, nor anyone else. But he alone needed to know why someone wanted to end his life.

Jordan nodded. "The test results Dr. Cataldo had with him indicated lead poisoning," she said, falling into a business-like tone. It was easier, somehow. "He did die in a car accident, but his car had been tampered with. The brake lines," he added evenly. "There was no alcohol in his system, so there was no reason for the police to claim it was a drunk driving accident unless someone made it worth their while."

And this was the difficult part. "You told me that you knew I wanted to be King, but that's not strictly true," he said. "I've been raised to be King. And I know that you began to get ill after my mother suggested that I should challenge Blythe for Ten. I know she has the connections to...do this. And she's always wanted both Hadyn and I to rule the Hearts." To make them closer to the Suit they'd left. "I just don't have any proof."

"Your mother?" He seemed almost stunned by the news, but yet knew....he shouldn't have been. Frowning, he slowly managed to push himself to his feet, closing his eyes slowly. "Without...proof, nothing can be done."

And yet could he really ask her son to look into it? He couldn't decide, right then, if it was really...wise.

But perhaps he would tell Athena. Not Judith, though. She might act too rashly. And death would not be the outcome he'd want as part of Laureline's punishment, but he felt he knew right where Judith's mind would go.

"This....must be treated delicately. Who...knows?"

"I know." And...he was working on it, but he felt that, at least, was not something Ceiro should know. Not yet.

There were too many variables.

"Hadyn knows," he said after a moment. "And....he may have told King Elisha, but I can't say that for certain. I tried to warn Judith that it was a possibility yesterday, but...you know your wife's opinion of me, Your Majesty." It was suspicious, to say the very least.

"Elisha is a good man. And will...be a good ally." Should things go badly for the boys. And he would speak with Judith, do what he could to protect them as best he could.

But nothing yet could be done without proof- no matter how angry he felt in the pit of his stomach. And he was- he was angry. He felt a rage that had been a foreign memory to him for over a decade now. And it warred with his morality, sense of right and wrong.

It was not, he thought, his finest of moments. But then he no more wanted to die, than he wanted to have anyone else die. He wanted to see his son grow up, fall in love, marry, have children of his own. He wanted to be there for those moments when a son needed his father....

And was that really too much to ask?

"Do what you must," he said after a moment, leaning against the exam table.

They would get proof - somehow, they'd get it. His mother had, after all, taught both Jordan and Hadyn how to manipulate and twist things, how to get the information they wanted. And if, on Friday after Hadyn got her temper up with his monologue, Jordan still wasn't able to get her to confess...Hadyn had skills, too.

The Novaks would get what they needed.

There was a cool, focused light in Jordan's eyes as he nodded. "I will, Your Majesty."

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[ota] I can't see the stars for the sun.

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