- 11 hours ago
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00:00My sister died because the king said she was pretty.
00:03That's all it took.
00:04One compliment, and by nightfall,
00:06Chloe had driven a bronze stylus through her throat
00:09until she stopped breathing.
00:10They brought her home under white linen.
00:12I pulled it back myself.
00:14She was cold, already stiff.
00:16I held her until I had no more tears.
00:19What was left wasn't grief.
00:21It was revenge.
00:22To get to Chloe, I had to get inside the palace.
00:25I knew she suffered from the curse of Helios,
00:27the blinding headfire that comes without warning.
00:30So I spent a year learning the old remedies,
00:33the herbs, the pressure points
00:35the Thessalian healers passed down in silence.
00:37When the palace opened for servant selections,
00:40I stood in front of my mirror
00:41and painted a long, ugly scar down my left cheek,
00:44purple-black, grotesque.
00:46I walked in.
00:47I was assigned to the laundry quarters.
00:49I waited.
00:50Then Chloe's episodes came back,
00:52and the court physicians failed her.
00:54My turn.
00:55They brought me to her.
00:56She was gripping her own head,
00:58face twisted in agony.
01:00I can try, my lady.
01:01She looked at my scar.
01:02If you fail, I'll have your tongue.
01:05I pressed my fingers to the points along her skull
01:08and ground the herbs into her temples
01:10with slow, deliberate circles.
01:12Her face relaxed within minutes.
01:14You're useful.
01:16Stay.
01:17She trusted me completely after that.
01:19My skills helped her.
01:20My face made her feel safe.
01:22She had no idea those were both lies.
01:24One night, the king sent it to her.
01:26She was preparing herself when the episode hit.
01:29She called me in.
01:30The king waited in the outer chamber.
01:32I could only see the edge of his robe.
01:34Deep, tyrian purple.
01:36Heavy wool.
01:36I knelt at her side and worked the pressure sequence, one pass at a time.
01:41Then I reached into my case for the final compound.
01:44The one I had prepared weeks before.
01:46Odorless.
01:47Tasteless.
01:48It would not be felt in contact.
01:50But it would move.
01:51Slowly.
01:52Through her blood.
01:53Toward her heart.
01:54I just had to be patient.
01:56Her pain cleared.
01:57But the king had already lost interest and left.
02:00Chloe was furious.
02:01She smashed everything in the room.
02:03Then had three servants dragged out and beaten.
02:06I was one of them.
02:07Twenty strokes.
02:08Face down on a cold stone.
02:10I bit through my lip and didn't make a sound.
02:12Lying there, I thought about my sister.
02:14How she'd been in this same position.
02:16How she'd never done anything wrong.
02:18Killing Chloe isn't enough.
02:20I thought.
02:21I'm going to take everything she has first.
02:23The next day, the king came to check on her.
02:26The first time I saw his face.
02:28Dark robes, straight back, and handsome.
02:32Chloe had already ordered us to cover our bruises before he arrived.
02:36She didn't want him knowing what she was.
02:38As he turned to leave, I let my sleeve fall.
02:40He saw the marks on my arm.
02:42What happened to you?
02:43I looked up.
02:44Let my eyes fill.
02:45Used the voice I'd practiced a hundred times.
02:48Nothing, my king.
02:50Please don't worry.
02:51Just...
02:52Please visit her more often.
02:54When the pain comes, she gets upset.
02:57He was a king.
02:58He wasn't going to investigate a servant's bruises.
03:01But the seed was planted.
03:03Spring.
03:04The king's mother held a garden gathering.
03:06Chloe arrived late, leaning on my arm,
03:09and spent the first hour insulting every other woman at court.
03:12Those people were cheap.
03:14That hairstyle was sad.
03:16That woman had the taste of a fishwife.
03:18I was pouring her wine when I let my wrist tip, just slightly.
03:22The cup emptied across her skirt.
03:25She grabbed a cup of water and threw it in my face.
03:27You stupid girl!
03:28The scar dissolved on contact.
03:31I felt the pigment peel away.
03:33I had no time to think.
03:35I didn't bother.
03:36A voice from behind us.
03:38What's going on?
03:39The king.
03:40Chloe transformed instantly.
03:42My king.
03:43Just a clumsy servant.
03:44He glanced at her.
03:45Then at me.
03:46His gaze stayed one beat too long.
03:49I excused myself to change.
03:51I didn't go to my room.
03:52I went to the stone columns near his root back and waited.
03:55When I heard his footsteps, I started crying.
03:58Not loudly.
03:59Just enough.
04:01Who's there?
04:02I stumbled out and dropped to my knees.
04:05Forgive me.
04:07I didn't know you were passing.
04:08He recognized me.
04:10You.
04:11Chloe's healer.
04:12He was already moving on.
04:14I had seconds.
04:14I raised my face.
04:16Please, pretend you didn't see me.
04:20Don't tell anyone what I really look like.
04:22I'm begging you.
04:24He looked down at me.
04:25A woman in the dirt.
04:26Tears on a face that wasn't scarred at all.
04:28A face he wasn't expecting.
04:30After a long moment.
04:32I won't say anything.
04:35What's your name?
04:36I shook my head.
04:37Said nothing.
04:38Let him wonder.
04:39I was nearly back when one of the younger servants came looking for me.
04:43And called my name down the corridor.
04:44Behind me, I heard him say it quietly to himself.
04:48Daphne.
04:48That was the first real move.
04:50Chloe hosted a feast.
04:51Three days later, the hall was full and loud.
04:54She sat in the place of honor wearing the king's gifts.
04:57And every woman there had to pretend to be happy for her.
05:00I stood behind her and remembered what day it was.
05:03One year ago today.
05:04This same hall.
05:06My sister.
05:07When the feast hit its loudest point,
05:09I slipped out to the garden pool at the far edge of the grounds.
05:12A few small oil lamps floating there by other servants for luck.
05:15I lit a bundle of dried laurel and lowered a plain white lamp into the water.
05:21Sister.
05:22Wait for me a little longer.
05:24I'll give it all back.
05:26Every bit of pain she put you through.
05:28A hundred times over.
05:30Footsteps.
05:30The king.
05:31I didn't turn around.
05:33I had about two seconds to decide.
05:35I stood up and stepped off the edge into the pool.
05:37It wasn't deep.
05:38Only waist height.
05:39But I went under.
05:40And when I came up, my scar had washed away completely.
05:43He was calling for someone to come help.
05:45Lamplight behind me.
05:46Hair loose and wet.
05:47I looked at him across the water with the expression I'd practiced until it felt like breathing.
05:52Someone who had run completely out of hope.
05:54Don't help me.
05:55I let him look.
05:56Counted to three.
05:57Then I took a breath and went under.
05:59Swam hard along the bottom to the far bank.
06:01And was gone before anyone reached the water.
06:04By morning, the story was everywhere.
06:06The king had seen a woman appear in the garden pool and vanish.
06:09Searched all night.
06:10Hadn't slept.
06:11Chloe put her fist through her favorite bronze mirror.
06:14Some sorceress is working tricks on him.
06:17When I find her, she drowns.
06:20For real.
06:21I'm sure it was nothing, my lady.
06:25Even if it wasn't, I could make her disappear.
06:28A ghost, she called me.
06:30She was more right than she knew.
06:33After the garden, the king and I had a secret.
06:36Neither of us named it.
06:37He kept coming to see Chloe.
06:39I kept staying out of his line of sight.
06:41Or, keeping the scarred side toward him.
06:44Eyes down.
06:45Movements stiff and correct.
06:47Men like him were used to women who came to them.
06:50Distance was more interesting.
06:52Then came the royal hunt.
06:54The whole court rode out to the countryside.
06:56Banners, horses, noble sons showing off.
07:00Halfway through the morning, a storm hit fast.
07:03Cold and hard.
07:04Everyone scrambled back to the hunting lodge.
07:06That night, the king had a fever.
07:08The headfire came back with it.
07:10The court physicians failed him, one after another.
07:13Chloe paced the corridor outside his room, turning in circles.
07:17Then she grabbed my arm.
07:18You treat these episodes.
07:20Go!
07:21My face was her guarantee.
07:22She wasn't worried.
07:23The room smelled of medicine and sweat.
07:26The king was on the bed, flushed, jaw locked with pain.
07:30Chloe tried to go to him.
07:32My lady, he needs quiet.
07:34Perhaps the healer should work alone.
07:36Chloe didn't like it.
07:37Just me and two servants in the corner.
07:39I sat at the edge of the bed and opened my case.
07:42When my fingers touched his temple, he opened his eyes.
07:45Blurred with fever.
07:46But they found me.
07:48You.
07:49I'm going to help with the pain.
07:51I kept my hands moving.
07:53Ground herb paste into the points along his skull.
07:55Dipped my fingers in cool olive oil and worked down his neck.
07:59His breathing slowed.
08:00The tight lines around his mouth softened.
08:02I started to pull back.
08:04I'll leave you to rest, my king.
08:05His hand closed around my wrist.
08:07He pulled.
08:08I had no time to catch myself.
08:10I went backward and landed across the bed.
08:12His arm locking around me before I could move.
08:15Cedar and fever sweat.
08:16Close and overwhelming.
08:18His arm was around my waist.
08:20His weight behind me.
08:21His mouth near my ear.
08:23Don't go.
08:23The two servants had already slipped out and pulled the door shut.
08:27You still have a fever.
08:29Let me get you back on the pillow.
08:31He sat up instead, keeping me with him.
08:34His eyes moved over my face.
08:36The scar side.
08:37Then the other.
08:38Come serve me.
08:40Not her.
08:41Me.
08:42Too soon.
08:43Too easy.
08:44Easy things don't last.
08:45I tried to shift onto my knees to bow.
08:48He wouldn't let me move.
08:49My king, I'm grateful.
08:50But Chloe gave me a place when I had nothing.
08:52I can't repay that with betrayal.
08:54Please.
08:55Let me keep this much.
08:57I looked at his face.
08:58Loyalty to someone who hurts you.
09:00That was the thing that would work on him.
09:02Every woman at court came toward him.
09:04A woman who held a line was something different.
09:07He looked at me for a long time.
09:09Something shifted behind his eyes.
09:11Frustration.
09:12And underneath it, sharper interest.
09:14He let me go.
09:15Fell back on the pillow.
09:17But his hand stayed loosely around my wrist.
09:20All night.
09:20His fever broke before dawn.
09:22His grip loosened.
09:23I fixed my robe and left quietly.
09:26Outside, Chloe was still waiting.
09:28How is he?
09:30The fever's down.
09:31The pain eased.
09:32He's sleeping.
09:34Then she slid a bracelet off her wrist and held it out.
09:37Plain carnelian beads on a copper wire.
09:39You did well.
09:40Go rest.
09:41I thanked her and walked away.
09:43A dead girl's blood is worth more than a string of carnelian.
09:47I thought.
09:47I said nothing.
09:48The hunt resumed two days later.
09:51Chloe was tired.
09:52And it showed.
09:52One of the other women at court noticed and smiled.
09:55You've been working so hard, sister.
09:57Why not ride out today?
09:59Show the king what you can do.
10:00Everyone knew Chloe couldn't ride.
10:02The woman was doing it to watch her fail.
10:05Chloe started to make an excuse.
10:07I stepped forward.
10:08My king.
10:09Lady Chloe hasn't been well.
10:12She shouldn't strain herself.
10:13I'd be honored to ride in her place.
10:15Every eye in the courtyard went to the scarred servant who'd just put herself forward in front
10:19of the king.
10:20Chloe caught on fast.
10:22She's rough, but she can ride, my king.
10:24Let her go.
10:25Permitted.
10:25I walked to the horse they'd brought out.
10:28Big, white, bad-tempered.
10:30It was stamping and tossing its head.
10:32The other women watched with expressions ranging from bored to amused.
10:36A scarred servant playing at hunting.
10:38I ran my hand along the horse's neck and pressed my thumb into the hollow below its jaw, the
10:44point my sister had shown me for calming animals.
10:47The horse stilled, nuzzled my palm.
10:49I mounted and rode into the field, fast and low.
10:53A hair broke from cover.
10:55I took the shot without thinking, clinging, through the neck.
10:58I didn't go deeper.
10:59This wasn't about showing off.
11:01A king doesn't want a hunting dog.
11:03He wants something he can't fully predict.
11:05I brought the hair back and knelt.
11:07I hope it serves my king.
11:09He looked at me for longer than he needed to.
11:12Undisguised interest.
11:14Good instincts.
11:15Then he praised Chloe for keeping useful people around her.
11:18He praised her, not me.
11:20Smart move.
11:21Chloe beamed.
11:22He gave her gifts.
11:23She looked at me differently after that.
11:26Like I was actually worth something.
11:27You did well, Daphne.
11:29She said back at the tent.
11:30And gave me two gold pins.
11:32I accepted them and bowed.
11:34That night, his summons came again.
11:37Another episode.
11:38Chloe waved me off without hesitating.
11:40The scar.
11:41The loyal servant.
11:42The safest woman in the palace.
11:44An attendant led me to a building at the back of the lodge.
11:47The thermal baths.
11:49Low light.
11:50Steam.
11:50Rose petals in the water.
11:52The king was already in the pool.
11:54Eyes closed.
11:55One shoulder bare.
11:56The attendant disappeared.
11:58The door closed.
11:59Your servant didn't know the king was bathing.
12:01I'll wait outside.
12:02Stay.
12:02I stopped.
12:04He stood up.
12:06Come here.
12:06My king, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to-
12:09A wet hand closed around my wrist.
12:11And I was in the water before I finished the sentence.
12:14Water over my face.
12:15My robe soaked through instantly.
12:17I came up coughing.
12:18He was right in front of me.
12:20The scar had washed off.
12:22Steam and lamplight.
12:23His eyes on my face.
12:25Fully.
12:26With no polite distance.
12:29My king.
12:30I'm a servant.
12:31Please let me go.
12:32He took my chin and turned me back.
12:35Then he kissed me.
12:36No question asked.
12:38I pressed both hands flat against his chest and pushed.
12:41Useless.
12:42He didn't move.
12:43The resistance seemed to interest him more.
12:46Eventually, he let me breathe.
12:47I shoved and got a foot of space between us.
12:50I belong to Chloe's household.
12:52She trusted me enough to send me here.
12:54I can't repay trust with betrayal.
12:57I hit hard on those last words.
12:59A king who commands everything is rarely told no.
13:02Someone who holds a line and means it is rare.
13:04Rare things are interesting.
13:06He didn't come closer.
13:07Go.
13:08The next morning, I was leaning over to pour Chloe's wine when her eyes stopped on my neck.
13:13Daphne.
13:14What is that?
13:18I didn't flinch.
13:20The bathwater was cold, my lady.
13:21I must have bruised myself on the tile.
13:23I'll cover it.
13:24She stared at me.
13:25At my face.
13:26At the scar.
13:27She was looking for a reason to be suspicious.
13:30She found none.
13:31My face did its job.
13:33Put some save on it.
13:34That evening, the king held a fire feast.
13:37Torchlight, roasting meat.
13:39The noise of people who'd been writing for three days.
13:41Chloe fed him from her plate and laughed too brightly.
13:45And kept her body angled toward him.
13:47She needed his eyes on her.
13:49His eyes kept moving past her.
13:51I felt the direction of that gaze, even with my back turned.
13:54I stepped half a pace to the left, behind her shoulder, and out of his sight.
13:59Chloe noticed him drifting.
14:00She looked around.
14:01Found nothing.
14:02On the ride home, she sat in the carriage, complaining in the dark.
14:06He wasn't with me tonight.
14:08Some woman is pulling his attention.
14:10I can feel it.
14:11Her hand went to her temple.
14:12The headfire building.
14:14Come here.
14:15I pressed my fingers in.
14:17Moved down her neck, her shoulders, to the base of her spine.
14:21I pressed one point.
14:22She cried out and spun around.
14:24What are you doing?
14:25Are you trying to cripple me?
14:27My lady, I'm so sorry.
14:29I felt a blockage.
14:30There's nothing there.
14:31You're just clumsy.
14:32Kneel here for the rest of the ride.
14:34Two hours on jolting wood in the dark.
14:36I smiled the whole way.
14:38The compound was moving faster than I'd planned.
14:41Back in the palace, the king stopped coming as often.
14:45Chloe paced like something caged.
14:47No child.
14:48No guarantee.
14:49Fifteen months of position and nothing to show for it that couldn't be taken away overnight.
14:54Without a child, I'm nothing.
14:56But I heard it.
14:57A few days later, she turned to me.
14:59Do you have more of that first remedy?
15:01The one that helped with my cycle?
15:02There it was.
15:03That compound is hard on the body.
15:05Using it again so soon could damage you.
15:08But I have another idea.
15:09I'd learned the king often walked alone in the palace gardens at dusk, down near the
15:13laurel pool.
15:14He went to think.
15:15Go to him.
15:16Not dressed for court.
15:17Go simply.
15:18Be there by chance.
15:19Bring your kiaka.
15:20I described exactly what to wear.
15:22Hair loose.
15:23Nothing showy.
15:24Just her and the music and the evening air.
15:26I pressed a small cloth pouch into her hand and a vial of oil.
15:30Bathe with these tonight.
15:31The oil on your wrists and throat.
15:33The pouch held dried crocus and iris root.
15:36The oil was infused with something older.
15:38Chloe took them.
15:39Hungry for it.
15:40The following evening she went.
15:42She found the spot.
15:43Arranged herself with the kithara across her knees.
15:46And played.
15:47The king heard it.
15:48Sent his attendants back and followed the sound alone.
15:50I watched from the shadow of the colonnade across the water.
15:53He slowed down when he saw her.
15:55New dress.
15:56Dark water.
15:57Music in the still air.
15:59She looked up at exactly the right moment.
16:01Surprised.
16:02Composed.
16:03Quietly glad to see him.
16:04It worked.
16:05The lights in her chambers didn't go out until near dawn.
16:08I stood outside in the dark and waited.
16:10Before sunrise, I moved to a covered walkway near the crossing point between her chambers
16:14and the king's morning route.
16:16I arranged myself on a stone bench.
16:18Mies up.
16:19Arm under my head.
16:20Robes slightly disordered.
16:21I let my lips go pale.
16:23I didn't fake the cold.
16:24It was genuinely cold.
16:26I heard the chamber doors open.
16:27I slowed my breathing.
16:29Let my eyes go to half focus.
16:31The king crossed the courtyard.
16:32His gaze picked up the shape on the bench.
16:34I jolted awake.
16:36Tried to stand.
16:37And let my knee buckle just enough to pitch me into him.
16:39His hands caught me.
16:41For a moment I was very close to his face.
16:43He took in the loose hair.
16:45The crumpled robe.
16:46The pallor.
16:46I pulled back and tried to straighten myself.
16:49Forgive me, my king.
16:50I didn't hear you coming.
16:51I'll go.
16:52What are you doing out here?
16:54Waiting for Lady Chloe.
16:55In case she needed anything.
16:57I must have fallen asleep.
16:58All night?
16:59Please don't be angry with her.
17:00She doesn't know I stayed.
17:02I chose to.
17:03The more I defended Chloe, the worse she looked.
17:06I'd learned that.
17:07He was quiet.
17:08Looking at me.
17:08Pale.
17:09Shaking slightly.
17:10Defending the woman who'd put me out here.
17:12He turned and told his attendant to send a physician to check on me.
17:15Call the doctor.
17:18Before he left, he looked back once.
17:21I stood very still and watched his procession disappear around the corner.
17:24Then I smiled.
17:25Chloe, you were warm and comfortable all night.
17:28And this is what he saw this morning.
17:31Everything you don't know I'm doing costs you something.
17:36When Chloe came back, the head fire hit within hours.
17:40The remedy I'd blended for her had done its work.
17:43I worked the pressure sequence.
17:44Three minutes, and the worst of it broke.
17:46When she closed her eyes to rest, I pressed my fingers to her wrist.
17:50The pulse was there, and something else, deep in it.
17:53An irregular pull, faint but real.
17:56The compound had reached the edge of her chest cavity.
17:59Almost there.
17:59Chloe recovered.
18:00She complained that the episodes weren't going away for good.
18:04The symptoms I have are not gone yet.
18:07These old afflictions take time.
18:09I said.
18:11But you're improving.
18:12The frequency is down.
18:14Give it a few more months.
18:15Not a lie.
18:16Her episodes were improving.
18:18The physician said so too.
18:20No one was looking at the other thing.
18:22The king had been coming nearly every day since the garden evening.
18:26Chloe was pleased with herself.
18:27She thought she'd fixed it.
18:28She didn't know he came partly to find reasons to be in corridors and side rooms,
18:32while she sat in the main hall.
18:34For these moments, I was always exactly what he expected.
18:38Careful.
18:39Eyes down.
18:39Loyal.
18:40Slightly afraid.
18:41Never easy.
18:42Never coming toward him.
18:44Men who have everything want the one thing that won't come to them.
18:47I prepared a new compound for her evenings with the king.
18:50Something that would make the hours more vivid.
18:53He'd associate those feelings with her.
18:55It also contained something slower.
18:57Something she'd never taste.
18:58The poison was almost in her heart.
19:00The compound was building in her blood.
19:03Good things come to those who wait.
19:05A court feast.
19:06The hall was packed.
19:07Wine and music.
19:08And everyone pretending to enjoy themselves.
19:11I'd spent a week on two separate preparations.
19:13The first Chloe had been wearing on her skin for weeks.
19:16Worked into the oils I gave her each night.
19:19The second I carried on myself tonight.
19:21In a small cloth pouch.
19:23When the two met in the same space, they reacted.
19:26Slowly.
19:27Just a soft thickening of the air.
19:29I moved carefully through the banquet hall.
19:31Close to the king's table.
19:33Close to Chloe.
19:34Spreading the second scent as I went.
19:36The king's eyes went heavy.
19:37He excused himself to rest in the back rooms.
19:40Chloe watched him go.
19:41The haze was already working on her too.
19:43She moved to follow.
19:44I intercepted her smoothly.
19:46Called her handmaiden.
19:47Suggested the side rooms.
19:49Guided her away without her noticing.
19:51Then I turned back.
19:52I picked up the shawl Chloe had left on her chair.
19:55And walked toward the king's rest chamber.
19:57I pushed the door open softly.
19:58My lady.
20:00Your shawl?
20:00He opened the eyes.
20:02Looked at me.
20:02I started backing out.
20:04Wrong room.
20:04I'm sorry.
20:06An arm came around my waist from behind.
20:08The second compound.
20:10Suddenly this close.
20:11Hit the first.
20:12The reaction was immediate.
20:13What followed was exactly what I'd planned.
20:16I lay still afterward.
20:17Watching the door.
20:18Counting time.
20:19A crash.
20:20The door came in hard.
20:21She stared at the clothes scattered on the floor.
20:24And at us embracing on the bed.
20:25Her face went white.
20:29What is this?
20:47The king moved fast.
20:49He pulled me in and got the blanket over my face.
20:51Before she could look at me directly.
20:53I lay still in the dark.
20:54I'd set this up down to the attendant I'd sent to put the idea in Chloe's head.
20:59A strange woman in his chambers.
21:00Knowing she'd come running.
21:02Knowing she couldn't stop herself.
21:04She lunged for the blanket.
21:05I felt her fingers grab at it.
21:07The king's hand shot out and shoved her back.
21:09She sat down hard on the floor.
21:11How dare you?
21:12How dare I?
21:13You do this and ask how I dare.
21:15Everything in this palace is mine.
21:17Every room.
21:17Every person in it.
21:18You pushed me.
21:19You've never pushed me before.
21:20Get out.
21:22Alexander.
21:23Take her back.
21:24She doesn't leave her chambers until I say.
21:26I heard her footsteps.
21:28Fast.
21:28Then slower.
21:29Then running.
21:30Her crying fading down the corridor.
21:32The room went quiet.
21:33He lifted the blanket.
21:34I was trembling.
21:35I made sure of it.
21:37Are you hurt?
21:37I shook my head.
21:39Kept my eyes down.
21:40Let me give you a formal place here.
21:41You don't have to go back to her.
21:44My king.
21:45She was kind to me when I had nothing.
21:46Everyone will say I used her.
21:48Please let me go back.
21:49Please let me keep what little I have.
21:52Go.
21:52I dressed and walked back through the palace.
21:54When I came through Chloe's courtyard,
21:56her servants were kneeling in rows across the stones.
21:59Chloe stood above them on the step with a riding whip.
22:02I went through the gate and knelt.
22:04Chloe's eyes locked onto me.
22:05Where were you?
22:07Getting food from the kitchens, my lady.
22:09I heard something had happened and took the long way back.
22:13She stared.
22:14No holes in it.
22:15But her anger needed somewhere to go.
22:16The whip came down across my back.
22:19Then again.
22:19I pressed my forehead to the stone and made no sound.
22:22Hit harder, I thought.
22:24Every mark is evidence.
22:25She moved down the line.
22:27The courtyard was filled with crying and begging.
22:29She moved through it like the weather.
22:31Stop!
22:32Then from the gate, the king walked in.
22:35He stood still and took in the scene.
22:37The kneeling servants, the whip, my back.
22:40His face went flat.
22:42My king.
22:44These servants have been impossible today.
22:46I was just...
22:47I can see what you were doing.
22:48Alexandrus, I have every right to discipline my own...
22:50Not like this.
22:51He crossed the courtyard and looked at the blood on my robe.
22:54His jaw tightened.
22:57Not ever like this.
22:58Chloe started explaining herself.
23:00He didn't let her finish.
23:01He announced her confinement in front of all of them.
23:04One month.
23:05No exceptions.
23:06You should stay in your palace and reflect for a month.
23:08Chloe went pale.
23:10Then, she made the mistake of talking back.
23:24She said things she couldn't say.
23:27Old closeness is used as a weapon.
23:29She'd known him long enough to know where to cut.
23:31She forgot she was talking to a king.
23:33He slapped her.
23:34She fell.
23:35Grabbed at the column beside her.
23:37Then doubled over.
23:38Hand pressed to her chest.
23:39Face draining white.
23:40And went down.
23:41The servants screamed.
23:43The king stood there for one frozen second.
23:45Then he shouted for the physicians.
23:47The court physician ran in.
23:49Knelt beside her.
23:50Checked her...
23:50Once.
23:51Twice.
23:52Three times.
23:52Then he knelt lower.
23:55Very formal.
23:56My king.
23:56The lady Chloe is with child.
23:58Approximately one month.
23:59Silence.
24:00Chloe's eyes opened.
24:02The words reached her slowly.
24:03Then she started to cry.
24:05The real kind.
24:06Not the kind she performed.
24:07The king crossed to her immediately.
24:09He took her hands.
24:10Cancel the confinement.
24:12Send for gifts.
24:13I watched from the back of the room.
24:15A child, I thought.
24:17How convenient.
24:18From that day, Chloe treated the pregnancy like a siege.
24:21Triple tasted food.
24:22Four servants walked her from room to room.
24:24Someone at her bedside every night.
24:27She also became worse.
24:28Much worse.
24:29A handmaiden was flogged for sneezing during her rest.
24:33Another beaten for pulling a single hair while dressing her.
24:36I was punished several times.
24:37I kept counting.
24:38I kept preparing her medicine, too.
24:40The compound I was adding to her morning coffee was carefully measured.
24:44Just enough to hollow her out slowly.
24:45While making her feel she was improving.
24:48Good days would keep her trusting me.
24:49Bad days would keep her scared enough to need me.
24:52The poison was almost at her heart.
24:54The child won't survive it.
24:56And after that, neither will you.
24:58The pregnancy was not peaceful.
25:01Within weeks, she bled three times.
25:03Physicians rotated through her room.
25:05They all said the same thing.
25:07Weakness.
25:07Rest.
25:08Strengthening herbs.
25:09None of them looked further.
25:11After the third episode, Chloe threw her medicine cup across the room.
25:15If I lose this child, every one of you dies with me.
25:19I swept up the pieces while she raged.
25:22Careful what you threaten.
25:23I thought.
25:24You'll be first.
25:26The physicians couldn't find what I'd put inside her.
25:28They weren't looking for a compound with no taste and no smell that had been building in her body for
25:33months.
25:34They weren't looking for a slow extraction from a root that grows in gorges no court physician ever visits.
25:40They just kept refilling her with remedies I kept quietly undermining.
25:43She was pouring water into a cracked jar and calling it healing.
25:47One afternoon, she grabbed my hand.
25:49Her nails bit into my skin.
25:50Daphne, you have to save this baby.
25:53If you do this, I'll give you anything.
25:56Anything.
25:57I looked at her hollowed out eyes and her desperation.
26:00My lady.
26:01I said gently.
26:03I'll do everything I can.
26:04I added something new to her morning coffee that week.
26:07Something that would lift her energy for a few days.
26:09She noticed it within two days.
26:13You see?
26:15You're better than all of them.
26:17The lady is very strong.
26:19I said.
26:21Not for much longer.
26:22The coffee was making Chloe's temper savage in ways she couldn't control.
26:27She threw things away.
26:29She had her oldest attendant kneeling in the courtyard for two hours because of a single pulled hair while dressing
26:35her.
26:36She swung between rage and weeping with nothing in between.
26:40When the king visited, she managed to hold herself together.
26:43Barely.
26:43He came every day now.
26:45Officially to check on her.
26:47In practice, he kept finding reasons to be in side rooms and corridors.
26:51I slipped out of the main hall one afternoon and had barely stepped into the adjoining room when he pulled
26:57me in by the wrist.
26:58She was half asleep in the next room.
27:00Her hearing had been getting worse for weeks.
27:03Another thing no one had connected to anything.
27:08He turned my arm over and looked at the bruising around my wrist.
27:12She did this?
27:14I was careless.
27:18Stop covering for her.
27:20From the main room.
27:22Daphne!
27:23Where are you?
27:24I straightened my robe and stepped back through the doorway.
27:28Chloe looked at me with narrow eyes.
27:30What were you doing in there?
27:32Preparing your afternoon remedy, my lady.
27:35She stared.
27:36Then her face darkened and her hand came up.
27:38He stepped through the doorway.
27:40Who are you about to hit?
27:42Her hand froze in midair.
27:44She softened everything immediately.
27:46My king.
27:47Just correcting a servant.
27:49Rest.
27:50He said.
27:51Stop working yourself up.
27:52He left.
27:53She didn't hit me.
27:55She made me kneel in the corridor.
27:57I knelt in the afternoon sun and looked at nothing.
28:00Not much longer now, Chloe.
28:02The night she went into labor, the whole household fell apart.
28:05It started at midnight.
28:07Screaming that carried across three courtyards.
28:09The queen mother sent her two best midwives.
28:12The king broke protocol and waited in the side room.
28:14Chloe's brother, who commanded armies on the border,
28:17rode through the night and stood in the outer courtyard.
28:20This was the first child.
28:21Nobody could afford it to go wrong.
28:23Chloe gripped the bed frame until her knuckles split.
28:26She begged the physicians to save the baby.
28:28She made promises to gods she hadn't thought about in years.
28:31The poison had been moving through her body for nine months.
28:34The compound had been layering in her blood since the beginning.
28:37The body she was fighting this birth with was already running on nothing.
28:41The midwives worked until the room smelled of blood and exhaustion.
28:44Near dawn, Chloe's screaming stopped.
28:46A midwife said,
28:47He is coming.
28:48The room went completely still.
28:50Everyone held their breath.
28:52We waited for the cry.
28:53It didn't come.
28:54The midwife's voice, when it came, was barely a voice at all.
28:58My king, the boy has no breath.
29:01The king pushed through the curtain.
29:03I stood near the wall and watched the midwife holding the small, still shape.
29:07Perfect hands.
29:08Perfect mouth.
29:09Not moving.
29:10There it is.
29:12Chloe turned her head.
29:14Let me see.
29:15They gave her the baby.
29:17She held him, and her whole body understood before her mind did.
29:20Then the sound came out of her.
29:22A single cry with nothing held back.
29:25I dropped my head, under my breath, quiet enough that no one would ever hear.
29:30That is for my sister.
29:34Chloe held the dead child and couldn't be separated from him for hours.
29:38The king summoned every physician in the palace.
29:41They knelt in a row.
29:43Last month you told me everything was stable.
29:47Explain this.
29:48No one could.
29:49Chloe's brother was not the kind of man who accepted that.
29:52He wanted a cause.
29:54He wanted someone to blame.
29:56I waited three days.
29:57Then, while bringing Chloe her afternoon remedy,
30:00I deliberately let a folded piece of cloth slip from my hand.
30:04I moved to get it back quickly.
30:06One of the brother's men reached it first.
30:09The cloth held dried plant residue, dark-petaled, with a faintly bitter smell.
30:14The court physician was brought to examine it.
30:16He held it to the light, then looked up.
30:19This is Black Hellebay, forbidden to pregnant women.
30:23Even a small amount causes repeated bleeding.
30:26It can prevent a child from surviving full term.
30:29Chloe turned to look at me.
30:31Everything she'd never let herself suspect landed on her face at once.
30:35Daphne.
30:35I stayed kneeling.
30:37I said nothing.
30:38The poison was at her heart now.
30:40She had days, maybe less.
30:42There was nothing useful left to say to her.
30:44She threw herself out of bed toward me.
30:46Her legs barely held.
30:48A cough ripped through me, and blood came with it.
30:51Dark, onto the white wool.
30:53She pointed at me from the floor.
30:56You...
30:58It was you.
31:01You...
31:01You killed my son.
31:02You killed my son.
31:02You killed my son.
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