Of Blood & Power

S I C K N E S S II

ADRIAN HADN'T MINCED ANY WORDS.

It didn't take long for the illness to become significantly worse. The specks of blood became became handfuls. The coughs began to hurt. Slowly, as each hour passed, it felt like her lungs were collapsing in on each other. Erienne retired to her bedroom, frantic. She couldn't die this way! Not beat at her own game before twentieth birthday!

But what could she do? She had no allies here. No friends. And she was in no condition to search the castle for an antidote. Erienne locked every one of the doors and settled on her bed. Octavia appeared out of thin air.

"Are you ill, Your Imperial Majesty?"

Erienne looked her maid in the eye and suppressed a cough.

"Yes. Fetch me some mint tea from the kitchen."

Octavia eyed her mistress suspiciously, but Erienne made her face like stone.

"Just what the hell are you waiting for?" Erienne snapped. The words set her in motion, and Octavia left her chambers in seconds. Erienne looked the door behind her.

She knew that rumors of her illness must've circulated around the palace by now. It'd been a few hours since the banquet, and despite midnight's approach, everyone would be abuzz. It wouldn't be soon before the her servant girl learned that her despised mistress was dying.

Erienne knew the girl would like nothing better than to slit her throat and make off with as much of her jewels and wealth as she could. She couldn't let that happen. Erienne squeezed her eyes shut

Think.

Suicide was incredibly tempting. The pain was beginning to become unbearable, and Erienne knew it was only a matter of time before angry royals would burst through the door, eager to taunt or taste her blood in her weakened taste. But she couldn't take her life. It would make her look guilty. The act would put the finishing touches on Adrian's story of her crime.
Erienne could not leave this world looking guilty.

She could hear footsteps making their way from...somewhere. There must be a secret entrance to her chambers. That made sense. Royal palaces always had their secret tunnels. Erienne cursed herself for not memorizing Weiss' layout sooner. Erienne felt for the dagger she'd expertly tucked underneath her mattress. At the very least, she would leave this world fighting. A panel in the wall opened abruptly. Erienne morning gripped the dagger. The panel shifted and opened.

And, to her surprise, entered Taryl. She had a vial in her hand. The lady curtsied before Erienne. "Your Imperial Majesty." Erienne couldn't resist the laugh that sprang from her lips. It ended in a bloody cough.

"You know I'm not that anymore."

"Not if you don't get this." Taryl set down the vial on the bed. "The antidote." Erienne eyed the container suspiciously.

"That could be poison for all I know." Taryl laughed emptily.

"Why would I poison you, Your Imperial Majesty?"

"To make it look like a suicide. That act seals my guilt."

"It's not poison."

"How would I know? What would you ever gain in seeing me live?"

There was a brief pause.

"I've heard the rumors. I've heard how your father neglected you, stripped you of all your birthrights just so you could pay for his mistakes. How you lived in the lap of luxury but never got the affection you deserved." Taryl cleared her throat. "I know what that's like. I wasn't born a bastard. I was a child born from a real marriage, the first born. Then my father fell in love with one of the house girls and decided not only to divorce my mother, but declare me illegitimate. It was a move to please his new witch of a wife. And despite her being common, despite me being the rightful heir, my younger siblings get everything. And I get to be a lady."