The servant freezes.
"Your highness…"
"You have three seconds." My expression doesn't shift.
The servant immediately takes out the poison.
"Grab the bowl as well."
She obeys.
"Now, for any question I ask, if you get the answer wrong, you add a dose to the bowl."
"Your highness… please, I fail to comprehend…"
"How do you know the servant that served me night tea if you weren't present when she did?"
"She told me she did." The servant still avoids my gaze.
"What was her name?"
"Uhh… Ezlra…"
"Add a dose."
"Wait, please, your highness…"
"How did the tea I was sipping minutes ago reach my side table? And why did you make a fool of me when I asked who served me?"
"Believe me, your highness. I didn't know how it got there and I wouldn't dare make a fool of you."
"Two lies. Add two doses." I continue. "You added some of my mother's hallucinogenic potion to my tea because I don't possess any reverse magic to suppress the effects. Isn't that right?"
"No, your highness. I would never think that low of you."
I can't help but giggle. "Add three doses."
"No, no, please, your highness…"
"And lastly, what were you doing in one of my organized wardrobes?"
The servant's face dulls. The kind of dullness that appears on a child's face when they're caught with stolen candy.
"Am I speaking to a deaf person?" I ask, crossing my legs.
"I… I… don't know…"
"How cute. Her voice is gone." I mock her. "Weren't you so confident serving me this drugged night tea? So confident it wouldn't wear off so soon."
"I'm so sorry, your highness. It was a mistake. I was possessed by the devil."
"What devil? Isn't she sitting before you? The one you go about broadcasting to other servants?" I pause. "Oh well, I have something else. Drop the bowl for a moment."
The servant does. She knows better than to protest. Hallucinogenic potions are only stored in my mother's experimental chambers. I wonder how a lowlife like her got access to those.
"Carefully bring out every accessory you stole from my closet and place them on my side table."
The servant knows better than to resist. Night guards are outside my bed chambers. One call and they're here.
She layers them out. One after the other.
My jewelry and royal hairclips sit on the side table.
I clap and smile like a tutor whose student finished her project correctly.
"Well done," I say. "Kneel before me."
The servant silently kneels, bowing so low her forehead touches the ground.
"I am truly, truly sorry, your highness. I promise it won't happen again."
Lies.
"It's okay. I won't punish you. Punishment is reserved for those who live." I uncross my legs.
I stand and move to the side table. I lift the bottle of purple poison and pour the remaining dose into the bowl. Then I lift the bowl now filled with poison.
"Raise your head and open your mouth."
The servant hesitates. Shakes her head out of fear.
I exhale, frustrated. Move away from the kneeling servant. Cross to the large oak doors of my bedroom and open them.
I peek out at the two night guards standing on either side.
I turn to the one on the left. Raise my index finger.
"You. Come with me."
The guard prostrates before following me back inside.
"How may I serve, your highness?"
I gesture toward the bowl of purple poison. He understands.
"If you let her disturb my ears, the distance to your grave will be shortened."
The guard prostrates again. "Understood, your highness."
He swiftly unsheathes his sword and moves to the kneeling servant.
She looks up, ready to open her mouth. Probably to plead. But she's immediately silenced with the hilt of the guard's sword crossed firmly between her teeth.
Then slowly he pours the liquid into her hilt-breached mouth. Careful enough not to let a drop hit the floor. Finally, he eases away, retrieving his sword hilt from her mouth.
I watch blankly as the girl's dead body topples to the floor.
Smiling widely, I step forward and pat his back.
"Good job. Take her body…"
My knees crumple, interrupting my statement. A pulsating motion sizzles through my body, creating an overstimulating sensation.
The guard rushes forward. "Your highness, what can I do to help?"
I hold up a hand, signaling him to stand in place.
We can see you. You now belong to us.
Voices begin to ring in my mind. Similar to the ones I faced when I was half asleep, but these invite something more eerie. Gut-wrenching.
Come with us, Adanna. We are waiting.
A loud, eerie tone that feels like a shout in my ear. I shiver.
"Ugh! My head, my head, my head." My hands find my hair, clutching tightly, hoping it will ease the pain somehow. It doesn't.
Despite my diminishing focus, I force my body up from the floor.
My guard watches, resisting the urge to assist without an order.
I quickly move to my side cabinet. I open all three drawers, ransacking each one with heavy desperation.
Crap. I'm out of painkillers and healing potions.
Without turning, I yell at my guard. "Hurry and fetch me painkillers and healing potions."
The guard doesn't move.
Consumed by impatience, I turn toward him.
"I'm talking to you…" I freeze.
The guard isn't being intentionally disobedient. He's cautiously staring at something on my body. I'm not sure what.
"What are you looking at?"
KNOCK KNOCK.
My brows furrow.
At this time of night?
A familiar playful voice rings out from the other side of my bedroom door.
"It's me, Adanna. I'm here with my escort!"
Maluchi.
The mere thought of my twin brother leaves an unpleasant impression in my mind.
"It's late. What do you want?" I ask, audibly annoyed.
The pain in my head is still lingering, adding to the frustration building in my chest.
"I have the painkiller to subside your headache," Maluchi says, not losing his playful tone.
This boy.
"I don't have the time for your… wait. You sent someone to spy on me?"
Maluchi giggles softly. Still audible enough despite the closed door between us.
We will get you soon, Adanna. It won't be long.
Screeches consume my mind again. Overwhelmed, I blurt out.
"Come in. Come in."
The doors creak open. Maluchi steps inside, clothed in his night robe.
His escort follows close behind.
"Tell me what you're seeing," Maluchi instructs his companion.
"The royal princess's night guard and what seems to be an unconscious female servant on her floor."
"She's dead," I announce.
"Woah, fourth one this month?" Maluchi chuckles softly, rubbing his chin. "What did this one do?"
"Hand me the painkillers you claimed you brought me," I say. "If you came with none, the door is behind you."
"Relax, relax. My escort is carrying them." Maluchi waves me off. "Your guard seems terrified of you. His rapid heartbeat is quite hard to miss."
Maluchi points to the window. "Hey, servant?"
His escort calmly redirects his hand to my night guard. "He's right here, your highness."
Maluchi sighs. "Oh, right. Does ugh… my sister terrify you?"
I hold my forehead, resisting the urge to nag at my blind brother. I don't want more yelling to worsen my headache.
My guard hesitates but gives a reluctant answer. "Yes… your highness."
"She sounds a mess, doesn't she?"
Oh my god.
"I think so… Ugh!"
Maluchi thrusts his sharp walking stick straight into the night guard's throat. I hear the crack of neck bones and a faint sound of splashed blood.
My guard's neck is gone.