Boy did his head hurt horribly. Harper could barely keep his eyes open as he stumbled into a small room at the back of an inn. Neither lord dared to bring him back in such terrible shape, which meant that they would have to spend the day, and possibly the evening, allowing him to return to his senses. Granted, he was still coherent enough to know that he needed his own room. It was unladylike to be around gentleman in such a place unless wed, and he was definitely not wed to either of them. 

Thank god for that. 

He was quite angry with the two. They had gotten him drunk on purpose, because they had continuously shot questions at him with each drink he downed, trying to get him to finally give up the information they hoped for. They hadn't gotten anything out of him, but there was little Harper could do about his situation now  besides lock himself in the small room he'd made them buy him for decency's sake, and try not to vomit. 

His stomach lurched hard as he slid down the wall by the door, trying to keep his breathing level while his heart pumped strange, uncomfortable beats in his chest. 

"Pardon me, miss, but do you need any assistance? The two gentleman you came in with are worried about you." A young maid's voice met his ears as she spoke cautiously from the other side of the door. 

Already they are sending someone after me. 

Forcing himself back to his feet, he let the wall support his weight as he walked back to the door. Taking more time than he liked on the small lock, he finally managed to turn it, then open the door partially. 

"I can assure you that I am well enough." He told the young woman standing before him a proper black and white maid uniform quite similar to his own. She looked to be a few years older. The glint of determination in her eyes made him feel nervous. 

Did they pay her to try and get to me? 

He wouldn't put it past them, but for some reason, he didn't think that they would be too happy if the big secret they'd been trying to get out of him for years came from a lowly maid at an inn. 

"Would you like any assistance? I am quite well versed in helping those who have suffered from too much drink." She tried again, making Harper's insides churn. 

"No, thank you, ma'am. I just need some rest. Have a good day," He said before he closed the door. She was opening her mouth to reply when he did it, but he couldn't stand much longer and not promise to keep their floors clean. 

Once the lock was back in place after some fumbling, he staggered over to the corner where a cleaned chamber pot sat and promptly began losing what he had consumed earlier. His stomach hurt terribly and all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball and try to let the darkness edging at his vision take over, but each time he tried to let it, his stomach released another wretch of vomit. 

His body sagged against the wall, tremors from exhaustion shaking him as he panted to regain his breath after what felt like hours, but surely could not have been more than twenty minutes. He felt frigid and overheated at the same time, though it made no sense to his blurry mind. Thankfully, his stomach had finally run out of things to fill the chamber pot with, which was good, because he didn't think that it could get much higher without causing a mess. 

 Nudging the thing away, he slowly crawled over to the small cot against the wall. It wasn't much, and there was a tear at the bottom that was letting out a faded handful of straw, but the moment his body fell onto the tattered sheet haphazardly covering it, his mind went blank. 

Harper wasn't sure how quickly time passed as he tossed and turned on the old bed. His temperature rose, waking him in sweat-soaked sheets, only to be chilled back to sleep minutes later. 

Some time later his eyes cracked open again, the lids sore from fitful sleep. Harper's temple throbbed as he grasped at the damp sheet near his head, his belly pressing into the mattress. He barely managed to grasp the chamber pot and drag it closer to the bed, then drop to his knees on the cold floor to relieve himself.  

The faint sound of the lock on the door rattling pulled him a little closer to actual coherence and he hurried to fall back into the bed. Instead of panicking, Harper made sure he was decent and made himself remain calm as he saw Rule and Arthur's familiar clothing from earlier. He couldn't manage to lift his gaze for more than a moment due to the ache returning in his eyes, but when another set of clothing stopped beside his bed, his heart twisted with worry. 

"She's conscious, at least. That's definitely a good thing." An unfamiliar voice said as he set something down on the floor, then knelt. The action put him in Harper's line of sight. He was a bland looking man with clear balding on top of his head, though he didn't look quite old enough to have it. 

When the man pulled out a small bottle and looked up at him, Harper pursed his lips together. He did not want to drink anything, fearing that even water would come up with how unsettled his stomach still felt. 

"Can one of you support her so that she can drink some of this? It should help her start feeling better." The man said. 

Harper expected Rule to be the first to move, but to his surprise, Arthur set his jacket down next to Harper, then climbed into the bed. Easily lifting Harper's weight, he settled his back against the wall, then tugged Harper against his chest in his lap. His heart sped up and his stomach twisted with the position he was now in, but no one seemed to noticed his discomfort as Arthur reached up and gently nudged his lips apart with his thumb, then tilted his head back a little. 

The action made his jaw begin to ache, but Harper forced himself to focus on the liquid being slowly poured into his mouth instead of the distracting pain. He couldn't afford to choke and start coughing. The action would likely try to bring up what he was swallowing immediately. 

The man, who Harper's blurry mind figured out must be a doctor, finished pouring the foul-tasting liquid down his throat and stood back with a small smile. "Hopefully that should do it. Be careful to keep her from drinks for a bit, alcohol can do a number on hardy men, let alone little lasses." He said as he leaned over and set the bottle somewhere, then lifted up a bag onto his shoulder. 

"Thank you, doctor." Rule said as he shook the man's hand, then lead him from the room. 

Harper watched them go until his eyes ached too much to follow their movement. He then leaned back more comfortably against Arthur and allowed his eyes to close on a tired sigh. He hadn't noticed that Arthur's thumb was still between his lips, pressing softly against his lower teeth, until the man allowed it to slip free. 

I probably smell terrible from sweating so much and lying on this old cot. I don't know why he's still holding me. Harper noted as Arthur's arms settled gently around his midsection. 

"We're sorry about what we did, Hari. We didn't mean for it to get this bad." He said after a long stint of silence that had nearly lulled Harper to sleep. 

Forcing his aching eyes open again, Harper saw Rule return to stop in front of them, then slip onto the bed to his left. He leaned closer, reaching up with his right hand to brush one of the black marks beneath his eyes that Harper knew he sported from his fitful tries to sleep earlier. 

"Indeed, we are. We took it too far." 

He left out the part where someone of the same status would have been able to declined to continue drinking, because it would have been considered extremely disrespectful for Harper to decline what the lords offered him. 

I'm just glad that my wits have been here when they have.

"You don't seem nearly well enough to make it back still, and the sun is already just about set." Rule mused as his thumb continued to stroke along Harper's jaw. "What do you say, Art?" He asked, his eyes moving above Harper's head to meet his friend's. 

Arthur shifted a bit and took a deep breath that Harper felt against his back. When he blew it out, Harper felt it rustled his hair as he turned his head just enough to rest his cheek against the man's chest. 

"I think Sir Marksworth would have our heads if we brought his favorite lass back in such a state." The deep rumble of Arthur's voice brought Harper out of the doze he'd been about to slip into. 

His mouth felt dry as he tried to speak, even though he had just drank what the doctor had brought. "I want to go home." He rasped, his throat painful from all of the vomiting he'd done earlier.

Both men looked at each other again and Harper groaned as his stomach shifted uneasily. Arthur moved him gently until he was propped up on his side with several pillows that Harper didn't remember even being in the room. 

"Could you go get one of the maids to bring us a new chamber pot and remove the old one." He said as Rule stood. The other man nodded and disappeared, leaving Harper alone with Arthur. He expected the man to try and take advance, but when he just lay down beside him and began rubbing his lower back with strong, firm strokes, Harper actually felt himself begin to relax. Even his stomach settled, and before Rule could even return, Harper found himself fast asleep.     

(Hmmm, this might end up being a bxbxb, but I don't know. I'm just letting it write itself. Either way, it won't be super pervy cause I'm not like that lol)