Black Rose | Complete |

| eight |

She draws near, plush lips whispering into his ear.

"She's plotting against you, my King."

The fire is lit and his rage begins to bubble below the surface. He turns to her, grey eyes cutting silver daggers into her blanched complexion. She flicks her gaze ever so slightly upwards, glancing towards the black swathed figure hidden away in the balcony box.

"How do you know this?"

His honeyed voice grows acuate, attracting the attention of those dancing nearby. Their eyes flit briefly to him as they make their way away from their monarch, sensing a private conversation.

"She told me herself," Kyra murmurs. "I was to draw you out into the garden, and she would hit you over the head with a rock and dump your body in the river."

 The pot is brought to a boil, hatred pressing against the lid of a perfect coiffure. His hand tightens around the wrist of his Queen, and he doesn't feel how she struggles against his grip.

"Treasonous bitch," he hisses. "Once wasn't enough for her, was it?"

Obsidian orbs peer up at him, watery with tears. She says something about wanting to help him but he cannot hear her words. Silently, he storms out of the golden ballroom, not loosening his hold on her as she is dragged along beside him.

Something cool is pressed into his palm.

"I brought you poison, my King, from beyond the kingdom borders."

He stops, and Kyra wraps his hands around a glass vial. Inside a clear liquid sparkles with the intensity of muted starlight, glinting dangerously in the candlelight.

"It is tasteless, odorless, and thoroughly deadly, yet causes the most excruciating pain when consumed."

"Why do you have this?"

The question is sharp and distrustful, as the malignancy begins to seep through his words.

"Because I want her dead too."