LUCIEN'S POV:
I didn't sleep.
Not even when the sky shifted from deep indigo to ash gray and the palace roosters crowed faintly in the distance.
Not when the candles guttered out and i had to relight them.
Not when Elise, her eyes rimmed red, sat in the corner like a stone carving, whispering silent prayers with every shallow breath Seraphine took.
I sat by the bed, unmoving.
She hadn't stirred.
The physician came thrice in the night, each time with another tincture, another poultice, another attempt to draw the poison out faster than it could sink deeper.
I watched his every move like a hawk poised over a battlefield, waiting for the tide to turn.
It never did.
Not yet.
Not until her body decided it wanted to stay.
And even then, the choice would be hers.
I looked at her now.
Her skin still pale, but less ghostly.
Her breath still uneven, but not desperate.
The blood had dried at the corners of her lips.
I had cleaned them more times than i could count.
She lay in my bed.
In my chamber.
And I—
I, who had sworn to never let her in. I, who had told myself i would keep my distance.
A rustle behind me. Elise rising to her feet.
She approached quietly and knelt beside the bed, pressing the back of her hand to Seraphine's brow.
Still warm.
Still here.
She looked up at me, voice brittle. "Your Highness… you should rest."
"I'm fine."
"You've been awake for—"
"I said i'm fine."
She flinched but didn't press further.
We waited.
We listened to the quiet rasp of breathing. The occasional clink of medicine vials cooling on the side tray. The wind rattling the window lattice.
The poison had nearly taken her.
Foxglove.
The name coiled in my head like a curse.
The royal physician said it had to be administered within the hour before symptoms appeared, meaning the poison had been slipped into her cup at the banquet itself.
By someone close.
Someone trusted.
Someone who knew exactly when she would raise her goblet to drink.
I didn't trust anyone.
I trusted even less now.
But whoever did this—
They were bold.
They meant to silence her in front of everyone.
The King had summoned investigators, but i already knew it was useless. The evidence would be swept. The servants would forget what they saw. No name would surface.
And Seraphine—
She'd wake up to a world where someone had tried to kill her, and no one could or would, tell her who.
My jaw clenched.
This is what i feared.
What i always knew could happen.
This palace would eat her alive.
I should've sent her away when i had the chance.
But you didn't.
Because you wanted her here.
Because you wanted her near.
Because even in her silence, even in her coldness, she burned brighter than every torch in this wretched place.
She moved.
A flicker.
Barely there.
Then a twitch of fingers. A flutter of lashes.
"Elise," I said sharply.
She was already leaning forward. "Seraphine?"
I stood.
Her brow furrowed, the faintest trace of a wince as her body tried to fight its way back into consciousness.
Then her eyes opened.
Not wide.
Just a slit.
But it was enough.
Enough to know she was still herself.
Alive.
"my Lady," Elise whispered, voice breaking. "You're safe. You're all right."
The girl reached for her hand, squeezing it gently.
Seraphine blinked again.
Her gaze moved slowly. Glazed. Unfocused.
Then it landed on me.
She stared.
Confused.
Still groggy.
And then—
The confusion shifted.
Sharpened.
"Why am i here?" Her voice came out like ash—dry and weak, but laced with frost. "This isn't my room."
"No," I said, stepping forward. "You're in mine."
Her eyes narrowed despite the exhaustion. "Why?"
"You collapsed. You were poisoned."
"I remember the goblet," she said faintly. "The wine… it tasted strange."
She looked down at herself.
At the silk sheets.
At the high, carved frame of the bed.
Then at Elise.
"Elise. Why am i in his chambers?"
"You nearly died, Princess," Elise said softly. "His Highness brought you here himself. He wouldn't let anyone else touch you."
Her gaze snapped back to mine.
And now it was cold.
Sharp.
"You should've taken me to my own chambers."
"No," I said simply.
"You overstep."
"You were dying."
"You still overstep."
I stepped closer.
"You were poisoned under your own roof," I said, voice even. "Under our roof. In front of the entire court. That is not a minor incident, Seraphine."
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"You'll stay here from now on."
Her brows rose, incredulous. "Excuse me?"
"This wing is guarded by my men. Personally. No one gets past them without my order."
"You think i'll stay here like some, some kept girl in the prince's quarters?"
"I think you'll stay alive."
She tried to sit up then, too fast, her body rebelling against the motion.
Elise and I moved at once, me to steady her shoulders, Elise to support her back.
"Let go of me."
I did.
But slowly.
"You can glare all you want," I said, my voice a fraction lower. "But the fact remains, someone tried to kill you. Not quietly. Not secretly. But at the King's table. In full view of nobles, generals, and diplomats."
"And now i'm the woman who fainted like a weakling in front of all of them."
"You're alive."
"For now."
"And as long as you are," I said, "you'll be guarded. Even if that means i have to watch you myself."
A beat of silence.
Then, bitterly: "Why do you care?"
The words hung in the air like a blade.
She meant it.
She didn't know.
She didn't understand.
I looked at her. At the fire beneath the fatigue. At the woman who had survived the courts, the Empress, and now foxglove, all with her dignity intact.
I couldn't tell her.
Not now.
Not with her eyes like daggers and her pride like iron.
So i said nothing.
She leaned back slowly, breathing shallow.
"Fine," she said. "If it pleases Your Highness to play the role of jailer, then so be it. But do not mistake my presence here for obedience."
"I wouldn't dream of it."
She turned her face away.
As if the very sight of me offended her.
Elise dabbed a cool cloth on her forehead, whispering reassurances, checking the bruises on her wrist from the collapse.
I stood over them both.
Silent.
Guarded.
Torn.
Because i could keep her alive.
I could surround her with guards.
I could vet her food.
I could place her in the safest room in the empire.
But i couldn't protect her from the thing most dangerous to her.
This palace.
This crown.
This war.
And—
Me.