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I tried turning her onto her side, but she convulsed, and foamed bubbled out of her mouth. Her eyes became bloodshot, widening, and rolled around wildly in her sockets. She flailed, grabbing for something—anything—that could anchor her. I grabbed her hand and tried to keep her calm, but her eyes filled with fear, and her face turned a strange ashen color.
“Oh, no, back away, my lady,” the messenger said, grabbing me around the shoulders and pulling me back. I refused to let go of her, and I was torn between the servant at my back and Bessie. “That’s not choking. That’s poison.”
“What?” I watched as Bessie’s body went limp. My throat squeezed shut, and my eyes burned. “How is that possible?” My words came out choked.
I looked at the plate of food she’d been salting, and the spoon she’d used to taste if it was right. I was sick to my stomach. “Why would someone do such a thing?”
The messenger circled the plate of food as if it could jump up and bite him. He took the spoon and carefully sniffed the food.
“Why would someone take out a servant?” I asked again. I was in a daze. “I don’t understand…”
“The poison wasn’t meant for our Bessie here,” the messenger said, his face solemn. “It was meant for you.”
His words hit me like punches. Who would try to poison me?
The messenger left the room, taking the plate with him, and I stood in the corner, staring at Bessie’s body. She would get up at any moment now, I told myself. This was just some kind of sick joke, a prank the other warriors were playing on me because I was new to the team. This wasn’t real.
When Rainier and Nylah came into the room, their faces were grim. Nylah came to me and led me away while the King took care of whatever needed to be done.
“We’ll find you a new servant,” Nylah said.
I shook my head. “I don’t want a new servant.”
“Ellie…”
“You can’t just replace us, Nylah!” I snapped. “We’re not disposable. Humans, I mean, you can’t just replace us without a second thought.”
“I didn’t mean that you are,” she said.
I nodded deftly. It had been too close, and Bessie was gone.
“This was another assassination attempt,” I said, finally. “Someone is trying to kill me.”
Nylah nodded. “We won’t let that happen.”
“Bessie was just salting my food. If she wasn’t so attentive, if she didn’t care if I liked it or not, or if I ate in the hall with the others and something like this happened…” I took a deep breath. “I could be dead. Now, someone else is dead because of me—someone with a giant heart and a kind soul.” I looked at Nylah. The full weight of what I was saying hit me. “Nylah, what’s going on?”
My head spun. Someone wanted me dead. Someone had tried very hard to take me out. It hadn’t been the first attempt on my life.
“What if it was Lucia?” I asked.
Nylah pursed her lips. “It wasn’t Lucia.”
“How do you know? She tried to kill me before.”
“You can’t talk like that. It’s treason.”
“Why are you defending her when you know what she tried to do to me that day in training?”
She kept shaking her head, her jaw clenched. “Lucia wouldn’t poison you. If she wanted to kill you, she would do it herself.”
How reassuring.
“And risk losing Rainier over it? Or doesn’t it matter all that much because I’m just a human, anyway? You can all afford to lose me, right? No harm, no foul.”
I was angry.
“Stop it, Ellie,” Nylah scolded me. “Let’s just find out what’s going on, okay? I’ll suggest to Rainier that he should investigate Lucia.”
