- 5 hours ago
The Scar of Vengeance
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Mi hija murió porque el rey dijo que era muy hermoso.
00:03Es todo lo que se tomó.
00:04Una complimentación, y por nightlife,
00:06Chloe had driven a bronce stylus through su boca
00:09hasta que se despedida de respirar.
00:10Ellos llevaron a casa de blanco.
00:12I pulled it back myself.
00:14Ella era caliente, ya que era muy caliente.
00:16I heldó ella hasta que no hubiera más triste.
00:19Lo que había quedado no es triste.
00:21Es la muerte.
00:22Para llegar a Chloe,
00:24tenía que entrar en la palestra.
00:25Sabía que ella sufriera de la cruz de Helios,
00:27la blinding headfire que viene sin warner.
00:30So I spent a year learning the old remedies,
00:33the herbs,
00:34the pressure points the Thessalian healers
00:36pass 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
00:43down 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.
01:03If you fail,
01:04I'll have your tongue.
01:06I pressed my fingers
01:07to 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
01:28when 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
01:38and worked the pressure sequence
01:39one pass at a time.
01:41Then I reached into my case
01:42for 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
01:59and left.
02:00Chloe was furious.
02:01She smashed everything in the room.
02:03Then had three servants
02:04dragged 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
02:11and didn't make a sound.
02:12Lying there,
02:13I thought about my sister.
02:15How 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,
02:24the king came to check on her.
02:26The first time I saw his face.
02:28Dark robes.
02:29Straight back.
02:30And handsome.
02:31Chloe had already ordered us
02:33to cover our bruises
02:34before he arrived.
02:36She didn't want him
02:36knowing what she was.
02:38As he turned to leave,
02:39I 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
02:47a hundred times.
02:49Nothing, my king.
02:50Please don't worry.
02:51Just please visit her more often.
02:54When the pain comes,
02:55she gets upset.
02:57He was a king.
02:58He wasn't going to investigate
02:59a servant's bruises.
03:01But the seed was planted.
03:03Spring.
03:04The king's mother held a garden gathering.
03:06Chloe arrived late,
03:07leaning on my arm,
03:09and spent the first hour
03:10insulting every other woman at court.
03:12Those people were cheap.
03:14That hairstyle was sad.
03:16That woman had the taste of a fishwife.
03:19I was pouring her wine
03:20when I let my wrist tip,
03:21just slightly.
03:22The cup emptied across her skirt.
03:24She grabbed a cup of water
03:26and threw it in my face.
03:27You stupid girl!
03:29The 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.
03:46Then 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
03:54near his root back and waited.
03:55When I heard his footsteps,
03:57I 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.
04:15I raised my face.
04:16Please,
04:17pretend you didn't see me.
04:19Don't tell anyone
04:21what 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
04:27that 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
04:40when one of the younger servants
04:41came looking for me
04:42and called my name
04:43down the corridor.
04:44Behind me,
04:45I heard him say it
04:46quietly to himself.
04:48Daphne.
04:48That was the first real move.
04:50Chloe hosted a feast.
04:51Three days later,
04:52the hall was full and loud.
04:54She sat in the place of honor
04:56wearing the king's gifts
04:57and every woman there
04:58had to pretend
04:59to be happy for her.
05:00I stood behind her
05:01and remembered
05:02what day it was.
05:03One year ago today,
05:04this same hall,
05:06my sister.
05:07When the feast
05:07hit its loudest point,
05:09I slipped out
05:09to the garden pool
05:10at the far edge
05:11of the grounds.
05:12A few small oil lamps
05:13floating there
05:14by other servants
05:15for luck.
05:15I lit a bundle
05:16of dried laurel
05:17and lowered a plain white lamp
05:19into the water.
05:21Sister,
05:22wait for me
05:23a little longer.
05:25I'll give it all back.
05:26Every bit of pain
05:27she put you through.
05:28A hundred times over.
05:30Footsteps.
05:31The king.
05:31I didn't turn around.
05:33I had about two seconds
05:34to decide.
05:35I stood up
05:35and stepped off the edge
05:36into the pool.
05:37It wasn't deep.
05:38Only waist height.
05:39But I went under it
05:40and when I came up,
05:41my scar had washed away
05:42completely.
05:43He was calling for someone
05:44to come help.
05:45Lamplight behind me.
05:46Hair loose and wet.
05:48I looked at him
05:48across the water
05:49with the expression
05:50I'd practiced
05:50until it felt like breathing.
05:52Someone who had run
05:53completely out of hope.
05:54Don't help me.
05:55I let him look.
05:56Counted to three.
05:57Then I took a breath
05:58and went under.
05:59Swam hard along the bottom
06:00to the far bank
06:01and was gone
06:02before anyone reached the water.
06:04By morning,
06:05the story was everywhere.
06:06The king had seen a woman
06:07appear in the garden pool
06:08and vanish.
06:09Searched all night.
06:10Hadn't slept.
06:11Chloe put her fist
06:12through her favorite
06:13band's mirror.
06:14Some sorceress
06:15is working tricks on him.
06:17When I find her,
06:18she drowns.
06:20For real.
06:21I'm sure it was nothing,
06:23my lady.
06:25Even if it wasn't,
06:26I could make her disappear.
06:29A ghost,
06:29she called me.
06:30She was more right
06:31than she knew.
06:33After the garden,
06:34the king and I
06:35had a secret.
06:36Neither of us named it.
06:37He kept coming
06:38to see Chloe.
06:39I kept staying
06:40out of his line of sight.
06:41Or,
06:42keeping the scarred side
06:43toward him.
06:44Eyes down.
06:45Movements stiff
06:46and correct.
06:48Men like him
06:48were used to women
06:49who came to them.
06:50Distance
06:51was more interesting.
06:52Then came the royal hunt.
06:54The whole court
06:55rode out to the countryside.
06:56Banners,
06:57horses,
06:58noble sons
06:59showing off.
07:00Halfway through the morning,
07:01a storm hit fast.
07:03Cold and hard.
07:04Everyone scrambled
07:05back to the hunting lodge.
07:06That night,
07:07the king had a fever.
07:08The headfire
07:09came back with it.
07:10The court physicians
07:11failed him.
07:12One after another.
07:13Chloe paced the corridor
07:15outside his room,
07:16turning 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.
07:24The room smelled of medicine
07:25and sweat.
07:26The king was on the bed,
07:27flushed,
07:28jaw locked with pain.
07:30Chloe tried to go to him.
07:32My lady,
07:33he needs quiet.
07:34Perhaps the healer
07:34should work alone.
07:36Chloe didn't like it.
07:37Just me and two servants
07:39in the corner.
07:39I sat at the edge of the bed
07:41and opened my case.
07:42When my fingers touched
07:43his temple,
07:44he opened his eyes.
07:45Blurred with fever,
07:46but they found me.
07:48You.
07:49I'm going to help
07:50with the pain.
07:51I kept my hands moving.
07:53Ground herb paste
07:54into the points
07:54along his skull.
07:55Dipped my fingers
07:56in cool olive oil
07:57and worked down his neck.
07:59His breathing slowed.
08:00The tight lines
08:01around his mouth
08:02softened.
08:02I started to pull back.
08:04I'll leave you to rest,
08:05my king.
08:05His hand closed
08:06around my wrist.
08:07He pulled.
08:08I had no time
08:09to catch myself.
08:10I went backward
08:11and landed across the bed,
08:12his arm locking around me
08:14before 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.
08:24The two servants
08:24had already slipped out
08:26and pulled the door shut.
08:27You still have a fever.
08:29Let me get you back
08:30on the pillow.
08:31He sat up instead,
08:33keeping me with him.
08:34His eyes moved
08:35over 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
08:46onto my knees to bow.
08:48He wouldn't let me move.
08:49My king,
08:50I'm grateful,
08:50but Chloe gave me a place
08:51when I had nothing.
08:52I can't repay that
08:53with betrayal.
08:54Please,
08:55let me keep this much.
08:57I looked at his face,
08:58loyalty to someone
08:59who hurts you.
09:00That was the thing
09:01that would work on him.
09:02Every woman at court
09:03came toward him.
09:04A woman who held a line
09:06was something different.
09:07He looked at me
09:08for a long time.
09:09Something shifted
09:10behind his eyes,
09:11frustration,
09:12and underneath it,
09:13sharper interest.
09:14He let me go,
09:15fell back on the pillow,
09:17but his hand stayed loosely
09:18around my wrist,
09:20all night.
09:20His fever broke
09:21before dawn.
09:22His grip loosened.
09:23I fixed my robe
09:24and left quietly.
09:26Outside,
09:27Chloe 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
09:35off her wrist
09:36and held it out.
09:37Plain carnelian beads
09:38on a copper wire.
09:39You did well.
09:40Go rest.
09:41I thanked her
09:42and walked away.
09:43A dead girl's blood
09:44is worth more
09:45than a string of carnelian,
09:47I thought.
09:47I said nothing.
09:48The hunt resumed
09:49two days later.
09:50Chloe was tired,
09:51and it showed.
09:53One of the other women
09:53at court noticed
09:54and smiled.
09:55You've been working
09:56so hard, sister.
09:58Why not ride out today?
09:59Show the king
10:00what you can do.
10:01Everyone knew
10:01Chloe couldn't ride.
10:02The woman was doing it
10:03to watch her fail.
10:05Chloe started to make
10:06an excuse.
10:07I stepped forward.
10:08My king.
10:10Lady Chloe hasn't been well.
10:11She shouldn't strain herself.
10:13I'd be honored
10:14to ride in her place.
10:15Every eye in the courtyard
10:16went to the scarred servant
10:18who'd just put herself
10:19forward in front of the king.
10:20Chloe caught on fast.
10:22She's rough,
10:22but she can ride, my king.
10:24Let her go.
10:25Permitted.
10:26I walked to the horse
10:27they'd brought out.
10:28Big, white, bad-tempered.
10:30It was stamping
10:31and tossing its head.
10:32The other women watched
10:33with expressions
10:34ranging from bored
10:35to amused.
10:36A scarred servant
10:38playing at hunting.
10:39I ran my hand
10:40along the horse's neck
10:41and pressed my thumb
10:42into the hollow
10:43below its jaw,
10:44the point my sister
10:45had shown me
10:45for calming animals.
10:47The horse stilled,
10:48nuzzled my palm.
10:49I mounted
10:50and rode into the field,
10:52fast and low.
10:53A hair broke from cover.
10:55I took the shot
10:55without thinking,
10:57clean,
10:57through the neck.
10:58I didn't go deeper.
10:59This wasn't about showing off.
11:01A king doesn't want
11:02a hunting dog.
11:03He wants something
11:04he can't fully predict.
11:05I brought the hair back
11:07and knelt.
11:08I hope it serves my king.
11:09He looked at me
11:10for longer than he needed to,
11:12undisguised interest.
11:14Good instincts.
11:15Then he praised Chloe
11:16for keeping useful people
11:17around her.
11:18He praised her,
11:19not me.
11:20Smart move.
11:21Chloe beamed.
11:22He gave her gifts.
11:23She looked at me
11:24differently after that,
11:26like I was actually
11:26worth something.
11:28You did well, Daphne,
11:29she said back at the tent
11:30and gave me two gold pins.
11:32I accepted them
11:33and bowed.
11:34That night,
11:35his summons came again.
11:37Another episode.
11:38Chloe waved me off
11:39without hesitating.
11:40The scar.
11:41The loyal servant.
11:42The safest woman
11:43in the palace.
11:44An attendant led me
11:45to a building
11:46at 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
11:53in the pool.
11:54Eyes closed.
11:55One shoulder bare.
11:56The attendant disappeared.
11:58The door closed.
11:59Your servant didn't know
12:00the king was bathing.
12:01I'll wait outside.
12:02Stay.
12:03I stopped.
12:04He stood up.
12:06Come here.
12:06My king,
12:07it wouldn't be appropriate
12:08for me to-
12:09A wet hand closed
12:10around my wrist
12:11and I was in the water
12:12before I finished
12:13the sentence.
12:14Water over my face.
12:15My robe soaked
12:16through 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.
12:33He took my chin
12:33and turned me back.
12:35Then he kissed me.
12:36No question asked.
12:38I pressed both hands
12:39flat against his chest
12:40and pushed.
12:41Useless.
12:42He didn't move.
12:43The resistance
12:44seemed to interest him more.
12:46Eventually,
12:46he let me breathe.
12:47I shoved
12:48and got a foot of space
12:49between us.
12:50I belong to Chloe's household.
12:52She trusted me enough
12:53to send me here.
12:54I can't repay trust
12:55with betrayal.
12:57I hit hard
12:57on those last words.
12:59A king who commands everything
13:00is rarely told no.
13:02Someone who holds a line
13:03and means it
13:04is rare.
13:04Rare things are interesting.
13:06He didn't come closer.
13:08Go.
13:08The next morning,
13:09I was leaning over
13:10to pour Chloe's wine
13:11when her eyes stopped
13:12on my neck.
13:13Daphne!
13:14What is that?
13:18I didn't flinch.
13:20The bathwater was cold,
13:21my lady.
13:21I must have bruised myself
13:23on 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
13:28to be suspicious.
13:30She found none.
13:31My face did its job.
13:33Put some save on it.
13:34That evening,
13:35the king held a fire feast.
13:37Torchlight,
13:38roasting meat,
13:39the noise of people
13:40who'd been writing
13:40for three days.
13:42Chloe fed him from her plate
13:43and laughed too brightly.
13:45and kept her body
13:46angled toward him.
13:47She needed his eyes on her.
13:49His eyes kept moving past her.
13:51I felt the direction
13:52of that gaze
13:53even with my back turned.
13:54I stepped half a pace
13:55to the left,
13:56behind her shoulder,
13:57and out of his sight.
13:58Chloe noticed him drifting.
14:00She looked around,
14:01found nothing.
14:02On the ride home,
14:03she sat in the carriage
14:05complaining 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 head fire building.
14:14Come here.
14:15I pressed my fingers in,
14:17moved down her neck,
14:18her shoulders,
14:19to the base of her spine.
14:21I pressed one point.
14:22She cried out
14:23and spun around.
14:24What are you doing?
14:25Are you trying to cripple me?
14:27My lady,
14:27I'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
14:36in the dark,
14:36I smiled the whole way.
14:38The compound was moving
14:40faster than I'd planned.
14:41Good.
14:42Back in the palace,
14:43the king stopped coming as often.
14:45Chloe paced,
14:46like something caged.
14:47No child.
14:48No guarantee.
14:49Fifteen months of position
14:51and nothing to show for it
14:52that couldn't be taken away overnight.
14:54Without a child,
14:55I'm nothing.
14:56But I heard it.
14:57A few days later,
14:58she 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
15:07could damage you.
15:08But I have another idea.
15:09I'd learned the king often walked alone
15:11in the palace gardens at dusk,
15:12down near the laurel 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
15:25and the evening air.
15:26I pressed a small cloth pouch
15:28into her hand
15:29and a vial of oil.
15:30Bathe with these tonight.
15:31The oil on your wrists and throat.
15:33The pouch held dried crocus
15:35and iris root.
15:36The oil was infused
15:37with something older.
15:38Chloe took them.
15:39Hungry for it.
15:40The following evening she went.
15:42She found the spot,
15:43arranged herself
15:44with the kithara
15:45across her knees
15:46and played.
15:47The king heard it.
15:48Sent his attendants back
15:49and followed the sound alone.
15:51I watched from the shadow
15:52of the colonnade
15:52across the water.
15:54He slowed down
15:54when he saw her.
15:55New dress.
15:56Dark water.
15:57Music in the still air.
15:59She looked up
15:59at exactly the right moment.
16:01Surprised.
16:02Composed.
16:03Quietly glad to see him.
16:04It worked.
16:05The lights in her chambers
16:06didn't go out until near dawn.
16:08I stood outside in the dark
16:09and waited.
16:10Before sunrise,
16:11I moved to a covered walkway
16:13near the crossing point
16:14between her chambers
16:14and the king's morning route.
16:16I arranged myself
16:17on 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.
16:28I slowed my breathing.
16:29Let my eyes go to half focus.
16:31The king crossed the courtyard.
16:32His gaze picked up the shape
16:34on the bench.
16:35I jolted awake,
16:36tried to stand,
16:37and let my knee buckle
16:38just enough to pitch me into him.
16:40His hands caught me.
16:41For a moment,
16:41I was very close to his face.
16:43He took in the loose hair,
16:45the crumpled robe,
16:46the pallor.
16:46I pulled back
16:47and 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,
17:05the 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
17:11who'd put me out here.
17:12He turned and told his attendant
17:14to send a physician
17:14to check on me.
17:15Call the doctor.
17:18Before he left,
17:19he looked back once.
17:21I stood very still
17:22and watched his procession
17:23disappear around the corner.
17:24Then I smiled.
17:25Chloe,
17:26you were warm
17:27and comfortable
17:27all night.
17:29And this is what
17:29he saw this morning.
17:31Everything you don't know
17:32I'm doing
17:33costs you something.
17:36When Chloe came back,
17:38the head fire
17:38hit within hours.
17:40The remedy I'd blended
17:41for her
17:42had done its work.
17:43I worked the pressure sequence.
17:44Three minutes
17:45and the worst of it broke.
17:46When she closed her eyes to rest,
17:48I pressed my fingers
17:49to her wrist.
17:50The pulse was there
17:51and something else
17:52deep in it.
17:53An irregular pull.
17:55Faint but real.
17:56The compound had reached
17:57the edge of her chest cavity.
17:59Almost there.
18:00Chloe recovered.
18:01She complained
18:01that the episodes
18:02weren't going away for good.
18:04The symptoms I have
18:05are not gone yet.
18:07These old afflictions
18:08take time.
18:09I said.
18:10But you're improving.
18:12The frequency is down.
18:14Give it a few more months.
18:15Not a lie.
18:16Her episodes
18:17were improving.
18:18The physician said so too.
18:20No one was looking
18:21at the other thing.
18:22The king had been coming
18:23nearly every day
18:24since the garden evening.
18:26Chloe was pleased with herself.
18:27She thought she'd fixed it.
18:28She didn't know
18:29he came partly
18:30to find reasons
18:31to be in corridors
18:31and side rooms
18:32while she sat
18:33in the main hall.
18:34For these moments,
18:35I was always
18:36exactly what he expected.
18:38Careful.
18:39Eyes down.
18:40Loyal.
18:40Slightly afraid.
18:41Never easy.
18:42Never coming toward him.
18:44Men who have everything
18:45want the one thing
18:46that won't come to them.
18:47I prepared a new compound
18:48for her evenings
18:49with the king.
18:50Something that would make
18:51the hours more vivid.
18:53He'd associate
18:53those feelings with her.
18:55It also contained
18:56something slower.
18:57Something she'd never taste.
18:58The poison was almost
19:00in her heart.
19:00The compound
19:01was building in her blood.
19:03Good things come
19:04to those who wait.
19:05A court feast.
19:06The hall was packed.
19:07Wine and music
19:08and everyone
19:09pretending to enjoy themselves.
19:11I'd spent a week
19:12on two separate preparations.
19:13The first,
19:14Chloe had been wearing
19:15on her skin for weeks.
19:17Worked into the oils
19:17I gave her each night.
19:19The second,
19:20I carried on myself tonight
19:21in a small cloth pouch.
19:23When the two met
19:24in the same space,
19:25they reacted.
19:26Slowly.
19:27Just a soft thickening
19:28of the air.
19:29I moved carefully
19:30through the banquet hall.
19:31Close to the king's table.
19:33Close to Chloe.
19:34Spreading the second scent
19:35as I went.
19:36The king's eyes went heavy.
19:37He excused himself
19:38to rest in the back rooms.
19:40Chloe watched him go.
19:41The haze was already
19:42working 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
19:50without her noticing.
19:51Then I turned back.
19:52I picked up the shawl
19:53Chloe had left on her chair
19:54and walked toward
19:55the king's rest chamber.
19:57I pushed the door open softly.
19:59My 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
20:07my waist from behind.
20:08The second compound,
20:10suddenly this close,
20:11hit the first.
20:12The reaction was immediate.
20:13What followed
20:14was 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
20:22scattered on the floor
20:23and 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
20:50and 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
20:55down to the attendant
20:56I'd sent to put the idea
20:58in Chloe's head.
20:59A strange woman in his chambers.
21:01Knowing 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
21:08and 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.
21:22Alexandra.
21:23Take her back.
21:24She doesn't leave her chambers
21:25until 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?
21:38I 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.
22:06Where were you?
22:07Getting food from the kitchens, my lady.
22:10I 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.
23:04With no 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.
23:36Then 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.
23:51Once.
23:51Twice.
23:52Three times.
23:53Then he knelt lower.
23:55Very formal.
23:55My 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.
24:25Someone 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.
24:46While making her feel she was improving.
24:48Good days would keep her trusting me.
24:50Bad 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.
24:59The 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.
25:09Strengthening herbs.
25:10None of them looked further.
25:12After 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.
25:22Care for 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
25:31that had been building in her body for months.
25:34They weren't looking for a slow extraction from a root
25:36that 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.
26:01My lady, I 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, not 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
26:33because of a single pulled hair while dressing her.
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, officially 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
26:54and had barely stepped into the adjoining room
26:56when he pulled me 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?
27:15I was careless.
27:18Stop covering for her.
27:20From the main room.
27:22Daphne!
27:23Where are you?
27:25I straightened my robe and stepped back through the doorway.
27:27Chloe 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?
27:41Her hand froze in mid-air.
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.
27:54She made me kneel in the corridor.
27:56I 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.
28:15Chloe's brother, who commanded armies on the border, rode through the night and stood in
28:19the 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,
28:48He 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, perfect mouth, not moving.
29:10There it is.
29:12Chloe turned her head.
29:14Let me see him.
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.
29:50Chloe's brother was not the kind of man who accepted that.
29:53He wanted a cause.
29:54He wanted someone to blame.
29:56I waited three days.
29:58Then, while bringing Chloe her afternoon remedy, I deliberately let a folded piece of cloth slip
30:03from my hand.
30:04I moved to get it back quickly.
30:07One of the brother's men reached it first.
30:09The cloth held dried plant residue, dark-pedaled, 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.
30:36I 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 killed my son.
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