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