Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 22

A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!

****************

The young woman barely had the strength to sit up, wallowing in filth and her own blood. She had been quite a pretty little thing, but the guards were immune to her charms and pitying looks. At first glance, the maid didn't look like she was much of a threat with her hands and feet shackled and her hair so unkempt. Her eyes were soulless but looked up beseechingly as Prince Jason entered her cell, as if wondering why she was being withheld in the dungeons.

Jason looked unfazed back at her. In all the numerous attempts on his life, he had quickly learned not to pity others based on appearance. The moment he let his guard down, a sword would be aimed at his back, and Jason had the scars to prove it. He had only let one person pass through those walls, and one person was enough to fill the space behind those walls.

"Mmmph. Mmmph!"

Jason gripped the maid's chin tightly. She was the same maid from the dining room who dared to poison their food. More specifically, just the food prepared for Princess Piper. Jason's body could handle most poisons, as per Cuora royal education dictated. In fact, most of the Cuora royal children were subjected to the cruel poisonings, and many passed away from not tolerating the doses. King Zeus deemed those children weak, so Jason and Thalia could be considered lucky to have even lived past the first poison dosage. But he wasn't sure the Cytheran princess had undergone the same harsh poison immunizations he had.

"Mmmph. Mmmph." The maid pleaded again, but no words would ever leave her mouth again. Her tongue had been cut out.

"If you wanted to talk, you should have spoken the truth earlier." Jason said, simply. "Perhaps your body would have been still intact."

The maid stilled. Even under torture she had not given up her Master but the prince had found out anyways through the network of spies.

The maid had been sent by Marquis Ares, a distant relative of the royal family. No doubt the Marquise harbored ambitions towards the crown. But Ares would have to kill the current King Zeus, Crown Princess Thalia, Prince Jason himself, Archduke Poseidon, Duke Triton, and Duke Percy, before the next in line was Duke Ares.

Perhaps the Marquis planned to manipulate the throne behind the scenes as the second best choice. Ares already hated the crown princess with a passion, and had not-so-subtly hinted towards Jason that the Marquis would be willing to support the second prince. But the Marquis had overstepped his bounds by trying to poison the Cythera princess in an effort for Jason to choose the Colchis princess as a bride.

The evidence came from the type of poison that had been used, where the poison came from a form of nightshade that was not grown in Cuora but found in the neighboring countries which included Inferis and Cythera. The nightshade was virtually tasteless and would be hard to detect in the body when consumed. Had not Jason instructed poison testing to take place for all of Princess Piper's meals, she would have been dead in an hour.

"I wonder if the Marquis would still like you without all your limbs attached." Jason quietly murmured.

The maid stopped her annoying squirming, dropping her pitiful act and glaring at Jason with hatred. This was her true face without all the pretense. Through the information gathered Jason's knights had gathered, Marquis Ares had trained this woman in seduction and assassination techniques, while probably bedding the maid himself. But what kinds of seduction techniques had Jason not seen throughout his life? This maid was so laughably weak in comparison to some of the plays Jason had experienced.

"I'll leave her to you." Jason instructed to the guards outside the cell.

By the time Jason had arrived for his politic lessons, the cell was already empty and bloodstains cleaned as though no one had ever been there.