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