#drama
#thrill
#love
#thrill
#love
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
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.
00:10They brought her home under white linen. I pulled it back myself. She was cold, already stiff. I held her
00:17until I had no more tears. What was left 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.
00:30So I spent a year learning the old remedies, the herbs, the pressure points the Thessalian healers passed down in
00:37silence.
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.
00:46I walked in. I was assigned to the laundry quarters. I waited. Then Chloe's episodes came back, and the court
00:53physicians failed her. My turn.
00:55They brought me to her. She was gripping her own head, face twisted in agony.
01:00I can try, my lady.
01:01She looked at my scar.
01:03If you fail, I'll have your tongue.
01:05I pressed my fingers to the points along her skull, and ground the herbs into her temples with slow, deliberate
01:12circles.
01:12Her face relaxed within minutes.
01:14You're useful. Stay.
01:17She trusted me completely after that. My skills helped her. My face made her feel safe.
01:22She had no idea those were both lies. One night, the king sent it to her.
01:26She was preparing herself when the episode hit. She called me in. The king waited in the outer chamber.
01:32I could only see the edge of his robe. Deep, Tyrion purple. Heavy wool.
01:37I knelt at her side and worked the pressure sequence, one pass at a time.
01:40Then I reached into my case for the final compound. The one I had prepared weeks before.
01:46Odorless. Tasteless. It would not be felt in contact, but it would move.
01:51Slowly. Through her blood. Toward her heart. I just had to be patient.
01:56Her pain cleared, but the king had already lost interest and left.
02:00Chloe was furious. She smashed everything in the room, then had three servants dragged out and beaten.
02:05I was one of them. Twenty strokes, face 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. How she'd been in this same position.
02:16How she'd never done anything wrong.
02:18Killing Chloe isn't enough, I 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. Dark robes, straight back, and handsome.
02:32Chloe had already ordered us to cover our bruises before he arrived.
02:35She 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.
02:42What happened to you?
02:43I looked up. Let my eyes fill.
02:45Used the voice I'd practiced a hundred times.
02:48Nothing, my king. Please don't worry. 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.
03:06Chloe arrived late, leaning on my arm, and spent the first hour insulting 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.
03:24She grabbed 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.
03:33I had no time to think. I didn't bother. A voice from behind us.
03:38What's going on?
03:39The king. Chloe transformed instantly.
03:42My king. Just a clumsy servant.
03:44He glanced at her. Then at me. His gaze stayed one beat too long.
03:49I excused myself to change. I 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. 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.
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. Said nothing.
04:38Let him wonder. I was nearly back when one of the younger servants came looking for me and called my
04:43name down the corridor.
04:45Behind me, I heard him say it quietly to himself.
04:47Daphne.
04:48That was the first real move.
04:50Chloe hosted a feast. Three days later, the hall was full and loud. She sat in the place of honor
04:56wearing the king's gifts, and every woman there had to pretend to be happy for her.
05:00I stood behind her and remembered what day it was. One year ago today. This same hall. My sister.
05:07When the feast hit its loudest point, I slipped out to the garden pool at the far edge of the
05:11grounds. A 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. I'll give it all back. Every bit of pain she put you through.
05:28A hundred times over.
05:29Four. Footsteps. The king. I didn't turn around. I had about two seconds to decide. I stood up and stepped
05:36off the edge into the pool.
05:37It wasn't deep. Only waist height. But I went under it, and when I came up, my scar had washed
05:42away completely.
05:43He was calling for someone to come help. Lamplight behind me. Hair loose and wet.
05:48I looked at him across the water with the expression I'd practiced until it felt like breathing. Someone who had
05:53run completely out of hope.
05:54Don't help me.
05:55I let him look. Counted to three. Then I took a breath and went under. Swam hard along the bottom
06:00to the far bank. And was gone before anyone reached the water.
06:04By morning, the story was everywhere. The king had seen a woman appear in the garden pool and vanish. Searched
06:10all night. Hadn't slept.
06:11Chloe put her fist through her favorite bronze mirror.
06:14Some sorceress is working tricks on him. When I find her, she drowns. For real.
06:21I'm sure it was nothing, my lady. Even if it wasn't, I could make her disappear.
06:28A ghost, she called me. She was more right than she knew.
06:33After the garden, the king and I had a secret. Neither of us named it. He kept coming to see
06:39Chloe. I kept staying out of his line of sight.
06:42Or, keeping the scarred side toward him. Eyes down. Movements stiff and correct.
06:47Men like him were used to women who came to them. Distance was more interesting.
06:52Then came the royal hunt. The whole court rode out to the countryside. Banners. Horses. Noble suns showing off.
07:00Halfway through the morning, a storm hit fast. Cold and hard. Everyone scrambled back to the hunting lodge.
07:06That night, the king had a fever. The headfire came back with it. The court physicians failed him. One after
07:13another.
07:13Chloe paced the corridor outside his room, turning in circles. Then she grabbed my arm.
07:18You treat these episodes. Go!
07:21My face was her guarantee. She wasn't worried. The room smelled of medicine and sweat.
07:26The king was on the bed. Flushed. Jaw locked with pain. Chloe tried to go to him.
07:32My lady. He needs quiet. Perhaps the healer should work alone.
07:36Chloe didn't like it. Just me and two servants in the corner. I sat at the edge of the bed
07:41and opened my case.
07:42When my fingers touched his temple, he opened his eyes. Blurred with fever. But they found me.
07:48You.
07:49I'm going to help with the pain.
07:51I kept my hands moving. Ground herb paste into the points along his skull. Dipped my fingers in cool olive
07:57oil and worked down his neck.
07:59His breathing slowed. The tight lines around his mouth softened. I started to pull back.
08:04I'll leave you to rest, my king.
08:05His hand closed around my wrist. He pulled. I had no time to catch myself. I went backward and landed
08:11across the bed. His arm locking around me before I could move. Cedar and fever sweat. Close and overwhelming. His
08:18arm was around my waist. His weight behind me. His mouth near my ear.
08:23Don't go.
08:24The two servants had already slipped out and pulled the door shut. You still have a fever. Let me get
08:29you back on the pillow.
08:31He sat up instead, keeping me with him. His eyes moved over my face. The scar side. Then the other.
08:38Come serve me. Not her. Me.
08:42Too soon. Too easy. Easy things don't last. I tried to shift onto my knees to bow. He wouldn't let
08:48me move.
08:49My king, I'm grateful. But Chloe gave me a place when I had nothing. I can't repay that with betrayal.
08:54Please, let me keep this much.
08:57I looked at his face. Loyalty to someone who hurts you. That was the thing that would work on him.
09:02Every woman at court came toward him. A woman who held a line was something different.
09:07He looked at me for a long time. Something shifted behind his eyes. Frustration. And underneath it, sharper interest.
09:14He let me go. Fell back on the pillow. But his hand stayed loosely around my wrist. All night. His
09:21fever broke before dawn. His grip loosened. I fixed my robe and left quietly. Outside, Chloe was still waiting.
09:28How is he? The fever's down. The pain eased. He's sleeping.
09:34Then she slid a bracelet off her wrist and held it out. Plain carnelian beads on a copper wire.
09:39You did well. Go rest.
09:41I thanked her and walked away. A dead girl's blood is worth more than a string of carnelian, I thought.
09:47I said nothing.
09:48The hunt resumed two days later. Chloe was tired, and it showed. One of the other women at court noticed
09:54and smiled.
09:55You've been working so hard, sister. Why not ride out today? Show the king what you can do.
10:01Everyone knew Chloe couldn't ride. The woman was doing it to watch her fail. Chloe started to make an excuse.
10:06I stepped forward.
10:08My king. Lady Chloe hasn't been well. She shouldn't strain herself. I'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 of the king.
10:20Chloe caught on fast.
10:22She's rough, but she can ride, my king. Let her go.
10:25Permitted.
10:25I walked to the horse they'd brought out. Big, white, bad-tempered. It was stamping and tossing its head.
10:32The other women watched with expressions ranging from bored to amused. A scarred servant playing at hunting.
10:39I ran my hand along the horse's neck and pressed my thumb into the hollow below its jaw, the point
10:44my sister had shown me for calming animals.
10:46The horse stilled, nuzzled my palm. I mounted and rode into the field, fast and low. A hair broke from
10:54cover. I took the shot without thinking, cleaning, through the neck.
10:58I didn't go deeper. This wasn't about showing off. A king doesn't want a hunting dog. He wants something he
11:04can'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, undisguised interest.
11:13Good instincts.
11:14Then he praised Chloe for keeping useful people around her. He praised her, not me. Smart move.
11:21Chloe beamed. He gave her gifts. She looked at me differently after that, like I was actually worth something.
11:27You did well, Daphne.
11:29She said back at the tent, and gave me two gold pins. I accepted them and bowed.
11:34That night, his summons came again. Another episode.
11:38Chloe waved me off without hesitating. The scar. The loyal servant. The safest woman in the palace.
11:44An attendant led me to a building at the back of the lodge. The thermal baths. Low light. Steam. Rose
11:51petals in the water.
11:52The king was already in the pool. Eyes closed. One shoulder bare. The attendant disappeared. The door closed.
11:59Your servant didn't know the king was bathing. I'll wait outside.
12:02Stay.
12:02I stopped. He stood up. Come here.
12:06My king, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to- A wet hand closed around my wrist, and I was
12:11in the water before I finished the sentence.
12:14Water over my face. My robe soaked through instantly. I came up coughing.
12:18He was right in front of me. The scar had washed off. Steam and lamplight.
12:23His eyes on my face. Fully. With no polite distance.
12:29My king. I'm a servant. Please let me go.
12:32He took my chin and turned me back. Then he kissed me. No question asked.
12:38I pressed both hands flat against his chest and pushed. Useless. He didn't move.
12:43The resistance seemed to interest him more. Eventually, he let me breathe.
12:47I shoved and got a foot of space between us. I belong to Chloe's household. She trusted me enough to
12:53send me here. I can't repay trust with betrayal.
12:57I hit hard on those last words. A king who commands everything is rarely told no. Someone who holds a
13:03line 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, what is that?
13:18I didn't flinch.
13:20The bathwater was cold, my lady. I must have bruised myself on the tile. I'll cover it.
13:24She stared at me. At my face. At the scar. She was looking for a reason to be suspicious. She
13:30found none. My face did its job.
13:33Put some save on it.
13:34That evening, the king held a fire feast. Torchlight, roasting meat. The noise of people who'd been writing for three
13:41days.
13:41Chloe fed him from her plate and laughed too brightly and kept her body angled toward him.
13:47She needed his eyes on her. His 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. Found nothing.
14:02On the ride home, she sat in the carriage, complaining in the dark.
14:06He wasn't with me tonight. Some woman is pulling his attention. I can feel it.
14:11Her hand went to her temple, the head fire building.
14:14Come here.
14:15I pressed my fingers in, moved down her neck, her shoulders, to the base of her spine.
14:20I pressed one point. She cried out and spun around.
14:24What are you doing? Are you trying to cripple me?
14:27My lady, I'm so sorry. I felt a blockage.
14:30There's nothing there. You're just clumsy.
14:32Kneel here for the rest of the ride.
14:34Two hours on jolting wood in the dark. I smiled the whole way.
14:38The compound was moving faster than I'd planned.
14:41Good.
14:42Back in the palace, the king stopped coming as often.
14:45Chloe paced, like something caged.
14:47No child, no 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? The 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 laurel pool.
15:14He went to think.
15:15Go to him. Not dressed for court.
15:17Go simply. Be there by chance.
15:19Bring your kyaka.
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.
15:58She 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.
16:18Me's up.
16:19Arm under my head.
16:20Robe 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 on the bench.
16:35I 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.
16:45The 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.
18:25Chloe 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.
18:40Loyal.
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.
18:54It 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.
19:17Worked into the oils I gave her each night.
19:19The second, I carried on myself tonight.
19:21In a small cloth pouch.
19:22When 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.
19:59My 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 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.
20:58A 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.
21:22Alexandra.
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?
21:38I 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, her 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.
22:26She moved down the line.
22:27The courtyard was filled with crying and begging.
22:30She 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.
22:38The whip.
22:39My 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.
23:36Then 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, knelt beside her, checked her once, twice, three times.
23:53Then he knelt lower, very formal.
23:55My king, the 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.
24:16How 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.
24:43Just enough to hollow her out slowly, while 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.
24:58The 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.
25:10None 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
25:32in her body for months.
25:34They weren't looking for a slow extraction from a root that grows in gorges no court physician
25:39ever 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.
25:46One 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.
26:20Not 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
26:34pulled hair while dressing her.
26:36She swung between rage and weeping with nothing in between.
26:39When 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
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?
27:24I 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?
27:41Her 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.
27:55She 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.
28:11The 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,
28:47He 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.
29:26Under 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.
29:57Then, 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.
30:06One of the brother's men reached it first.
30:09The cloth held dried plant residue.
30:11Dark-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.
30:21Forbidden 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.
31:00You killed my son.
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