Page 39

Chapter 39

Laude

I have never wanted to leap off a couch and wrap Beatriz in a hug more than now. A look of pure betrayal crept into Beatriz’s rounded eyes and her petite nose flared. Her lips scrunched tight, and her fists balled tighter. I thought she might take those invisible talons and slash me to pieces.

How I wished to release more than a whisper of fire from my fingertip. If I could, I’d tell Beatriz that I haven’t been able to get the poison into Whyzer Patro’s wine and that he had me change dresses and kept me close. He hadn’t used the branding on my shoulder, and I kept praying he wouldn’t bother me. I’d tell her to find Jaime and get Minerva to teleport them all away where Whyzer Patro couldn’t use him, or any of them, against me.

Whyzer Patro stormed to the door, and his wicked smile twisted down at the edges. “I’ll be back to discuss our plans. Minerva can’t be held just anywhere.” He followed the parade out, leaving me alone.

I rushed to watch my friends being escorted into the stairwell that led to the dungeons. Zichri glanced at me with a blank expression. I hoped he knew I’d never betray him or Jaime. Their footsteps echoed through the passage and disappeared.

Then, I slipped the vial out from under my bodice and covered the tiny bottle in my gloved palm. If anyone came back too soon, no one would see what I had uncorked.

Aiming for the pewter mug Whyzer Patro had been nursing, I dripped in several drops of the clear liquid. Whyzer Patro would die in a matter of minutes should he return to his drink. But I wasn’t done yet. I padded to the wine bottle he’d uncorked and let a drop fall into the liquid with the tip of my hand.

What else could I do? I dropped into the cushioned chair with silky stitching embroidered in a floral pattern. The shelves on the back walls had no drinks; the two window walls overlooking the fields had nothing to offer me. Didn’t Whyzer Patro say I could go the kitchens any time I’d like? So, I did.

Since arriving in the castle, I’d been ushered into a beautiful suite but never left a moment alone. Even adapting this dress to include a hidden pocket had been a challenge with a maid’s keen eye on me. I may have ripped a hem for her to fix, and torn a small hole while she was busy giving me a tongue-lashing. A smile played on my lips when I escaped into the kitchen.

The smell of cooking meat and fried plantains made me wish this were a taste-testing visit and not part of my scheme, Queen Cottia’s scheme. None of this felt real, though the consequences could be deadly.

“Senorita, what are you doing in here?” asked a portly woman in an apron and headband.

“I came to ask if you could bring food to the solarium.” My teeth bit into my bottom lip, and then I remembered myself and stopped gnawing on my skin. That might give me away as the worst assassin of the Agata Sea.

The woman wiped her forehead, sweat soaked into her dress sleeve. “Whyzer Patro gave me strict orders to prepare a meal to serve in the dining room. He doesn’t like to eat elsewhere.” She gestured to the prepared food cart.

“Forgive me. I just thought to help with him being occupied and all, and you know how things get …” I hadn’t a clue what I meant to say, but I tiptoed nearer the food and the wine, “down in the under parts of the castle and …”

“Surely, Whyzer Patro wouldn’t want his guest in the kitchen like a common maid.” The woman met my gaze with a forced smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

I lifted a covering, and the cook’s eyes narrowed from across the room.

“That is the whyzer’s plate. He won’t be happy if his food cools down.”

“Does he have a special dish that we don’t get to eat?” I swallowed to stop myself from rambling on and giving my intentions away. The plan was too important.

“Yes, why don’t you go back to the study? I’ll ring the bell when all is ready.”

How would I get this woman to leave the trays? I stared at the plantains frying in a pan at the stove. “Look, look at those crispy tostones . Are you making a sauce to put on top?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, but do you want one?”

“Yes, of course.” I danced on my toes, too excited to get this woman focused on something else besides me and the dishes on the food cart.

“Let me go see what’s in the storeroom.” The cook disappeared through a doorway. “For such a big place, the whyzer needs more maids.”

I uncorked the poison and lifted the lid of the whyzer’s tray. A plate with choice meat, roots, and veggies sat there with steam twirling about. I tipped my vial over the veggies, then let a couple drops fall on each food on the plate.

The lady continued to speak, but I couldn’t hear past my heartbeat thundering in my ears. What if someone caught me? I peered over my shoulder, but the kitchen was empty.

Food sizzled in the background. A water pitcher with its silver edges shone before me. Should I also let a couple drops fall into the water? What if I got thirsty? I couldn’t trust anything that came out of that pitcher and didn’t want to mistakenly poison anyone but the whyzer. I corked the small vial and stuffed it back under my bodice to hide the evidence. Whyzer Patro mustn’t survive such an ordeal, so I’d have to think of another way to ensure Queen Cottia’s plan worked.

His mark still burned on my shoulder where his staff had branded my skin. A surge of energy pulsed through my veins with something dangerous and forbidden just out of reach. I slipped out of the kitchen and back into the brightly lit corridor with tall ceiling windows reflecting the pulsing heat. Or maybe my nerves caused the temperature to bound to new, uncomfortable levels with this ostentatious dress suffocating my lungs.

The woven shoes pinched my toes as I leaned against the wall by the study. Footsteps echoed in the stairwell, and I raced for dear life into the bright doorway. I was dismayed to find the back of a man with broad shoulders clothed in a fine black doublet blocking my way as he poured himself a goblet of wine.

My teeth slammed into my bottom lip, biting back the warning I wanted to scream. The man spun at hearing a squeak escape my throat.

His dark hair had been smoothed back with wayward strands curling at his temples. The perfect slope of his nose flared at the end and his full lips parted into a smirk. “So, we meet again.” Prince Hugo put the goblet to his lips and downed the contents of his cup.