Chapter 144

Dane The torchlight flickered in my chambers, throwing snarling shadows on the stone walls; I stood there with arms crossed, my jaw tightly clenched with barely parting fury. Lusia was sitting on the bed, her sweat was a damp shift sticking to her skin, twisting her hands in her lap, and our minds were still agitated by the vial. The rabbit had been poisoned—blue, shriveled, crumbling to dust before our eyes—and here it was: someone was playing a deadly game beneath my roof, and I would be damned if they'd get away with murder. My gaze flicked to Lusia, her face pale, her trembling lips marking her guilt from hiding the masked woman’s entry. I had no reason to blame her—not really—but betraying trust is most piercing when it stings itself, thus reminding me that trust is an unholy luxury. "Bring in the maidservants," I snapped to the guard at the door, my voice as hard as iron and sharper than any blade. "All of them. Now!" He nodded and trotted off, and I turned back to Lusia, softeni