Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 37

A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!

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Piper thought she wouldn't regret letting Dylan drink the poisoned wine, no matter what kind of poison it was. In just a few moments after Dylan enthusiastically drank the wine, Piper realized that yes, there was still no regret after she had seen the effects of the drug wine come into play.

Dylan lay moaning against the wall, his face flushed and chest labored with heavy breathing. The wine did not contain poison after all, but it had been an aphrodisiac. She easily recognized the effects of such a drug. Cythera produced such products as a substantial part of its main economy, after all. Piper's own mother, Queen Aphrodite, often indulged in those drugs with her male consorts, albeit in milder forms. This type of drug, however, seemed to work in just a few moments, and Piper didn't recognize a form of the drug that was so fast-acting. Such drugs were banned in Cythera.

Piper scoffed for what seemed to be the nth time of that night. So that had been Medea's plan. Have her be separated from Jason, drink the aphrodisiac and then have her former fiance assault her? Medea wouldn't even need a long time, for all it would take would be a few more minutes for Dylan and her to be in a compromising position and for some witnesses for the word to get out. Or perhaps, the Colchis princess hoped that Piper would be in heat right in the middle of the ballroom and make a fool of herself right in front of the Cuoran nobility and ruin her reputation.

"Your Highness, come to me..."

Disgusted, Piper stepped back, avoiding Dylan's outstretched hand and whacking at him with her fan.

"No, please, I can't take the heat anymore...." Dylan panted, his eyes reddening as the heat overtook him.

Piper whacked at him with her fan again, but not before her secret guards rushed in and pushed Dylan to the ground.

"Don't touch, Princess."

Her shoulders were pulled until her back met a warm chest. She turned around to see the coldest and angriest expression on Prince Jason's face.

Still in the drug induced hallucination combined with Piper's fascination magic, Dylan babbled nonsensically before frothing in his mouth.

Jason stepped in front of her, blocking Dylan from seeing her. Piper didn't miss the way Jason deliberately stepped on Dylan's hand as Dylan tried to reach for her, still pinned down by the knights.

"It's dirty."

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The annual Winter Ball retired early, a first for the Cuoran nobility. Much of the rumors centered on Lady Kelli Chase, who had dared to callously pour wine on the influential Duke Perseus Jackson. No one respectable would want to encounter Lady Kelli Chase now.

Back at her quarters, Princess Medea slammed her teacup onto the floor after hearing that Lady Eris had failed in her pursuit to ensnare the Duke Perseus Jackson, and that it was her very own lady-in-waiting, Kelli Chase, who had wrecked the plan.

"Useless wench!" Medea spat.

She had raised the Chase relative by her side with hopes of accessing the Chase wealth and having a firm hold over the Castellan influence. Who knew that not only had Kelli somehow lost the favor of Count Luke Castellan when Castellan had showed up with a rumored new fiancee to the winter ball, Kelli would end up ruining another one of Medea's carefully crafted plan? How was Marquis Ares supposed to use the Ducal house's influence now?

Medea gritted her teeth. She regretted choosing the wrong Chase aristocrat. Annabeth Chase had engaged herself with Duke Perseus Jackson, and Malcolm Chase was a mere scholar who did not involve himself politically.