The woman's face had lost color. "My lord, I am grateful for everything—"
"I do not want your gratitude." Varn's voice remained pleasant. "I want your assistance. A small thing. Trivial, really."
He picked up a small pouch from the table beside him.
It clinked softly.
"Tomorrow, the human woman will eat breakfast in her room. She always does. The kitchen prepares her tray, the maids deliver it." He held out the pouch. "Put this in her food."
The woman stared at the pouch, but she did not immediately reach for it.
"What... what is this, my lord?"
"Something that will make her sick. Uncomfortable. Perhaps she will lose the baby." He shrugged. "Perhaps not. Either way, my cousin suffers. That is the goal."
The woman's hands trembled. "My lord, I cannot—if I am caught—"
"You will not be caught. You are too careful. Too skilled. Eighteen years in the kitchens and not a single complaint." His eyes hardened. "And even if you were caught, think of your son. Your daughter. Your husband. All those things I have done for them... they could be undone. As quickly as they were given.."
The woman said nothing. Her face had gone completely white.
Varn leaned forward, his voice dropping to something almost gentle.
"Put this in her food tomorrow. Then, after you have done it, be a dear and kill yourself."
The woman's breath caught audibly.
"Nothing messy." Varn continued. "The kitchens have many sharp implements. A moment of pain, then peace. Your family will be provided for. Generously. I will see to it personally." He smiled. "That is the least you can do for me after everything I have done for you."
Silence filled the room.
The woman stared at the pouch in his outstretched hand.
At his pleasant face.
At the fire crackling behind him.
"My cousin does not deserve a child," Varn said quietly. "How can I sit here while he attains happiness? While he plays at being a father with his little human pet? It would be simply... out of character."
The woman's hand moved.
She took the pouch.
Making Varn's smile widen.
"Good. You have always been my favorite."
The woman left without another word.
Her footsteps echoed down the corridor, fading into nothing.
Varn turned back to the fire, alone with his thoughts and the flames.
"Out of character," he repeated to himself. "Yes. That is exactly what it would be."
He leaned back in his chair and finally, finally began to relax.
Morning came cold and grey.
Kaela stood over the preparation table in the palace kitchen, her hands moving automatically as she arranged the breakfast tray with fresh bread, sliced meat, and a pitcher of water, all the things the human woman had come to expect over the past two days.
The pouch sat heavy in her pocket.
She couldn't sleep and had kept shifting and turning all through the night.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her children's faces, her son in his guard uniform, her daughter on her wedding day, her husband before the debts and the illness and the death that had left her alone with nothing but Varn's generosity.
She had thought about running, about confessing, about a hundred different paths, but none of them led to anywhere safe.
The kitchen bustled around her with cooks calling orders and servants hurrying past with trays, and no one noticed the middle aged woman with the tired eyes and the trembling hands.
Kaela looked at the tray and looked at the pouch in her pocket and looked at the door that led out of the kitchen, out of the palace, out of this nightmare, and she thought of her daughter and her son, the only family she had left.
Her hand moved.
The powder dissolved instantly in the water with no color, no smell, no trace of if something had entered inside.
Kaela picked up the tray and carried it to the waiting maid. "For the human woman." she said, her voice steady.
The maid nodded and left, carrying the tray toward the guest wing.
Kaela stood there for a long moment, watching the girl disappear down the corridor.
Then she turned and walked toward the back of the kitchen where the knives were kept.
Varn had asked her to kill herself after.
She had eighteen years of practice doing what she was told.
Her hand reached for the sharpest blade.
The maid entered the medical wing quietly, carrying the breakfast tray. Lin Yue was already awake, sitting up in bed with her hand resting on her rounded stomach. She looked better this morning, the fever gone, some color returned to her cheeks.
"Good morning." the maid said softly, setting the tray on the table beside the bed. "Physician Vethra said you should eat well today. The baby will need strength for the next growth phase."
Lin Yue smiled. "Thank you."
The maid bowed and left.
Lin Yue looked at the tray.
Fresh bread.
Sliced meat.
A pitcher of water.
Her stomach growled in response.
[BREAKFAST LOOKS GOOD. PROTEIN INTAKE IS CRITICAL TODAY. YOU WILL BE GROWING SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS.]
"I know, I know." She reached for the water first, her throat dry from sleep. "Meat. Always meat."
She raised the cup to her lips.
[WAIT.]
Lin Yue froze. "What?"
[SCAN THE WATER. SOMETHING FEELS OFF.]
Her heart stuttered.
She looked at the cup in her hand, at the clear liquid inside, at the tray that had come from the palace kitchens.
"MS, you're scaring me.."
[JUST SCAN IT. USE THE FUNCTION I GAVE YOU YESTERDAY.]
Lin Yue focused on the cup the way MS had taught her, calling up the analysis function.
The screen flickered and displayed a series of readings.
Then the results appeared in red.
[CONTAMINANT DETECTED. UNKNOWN COMPOUND. TOXIC TO HUMANS. LETHAL TO FETUS.]
The cup slipped from her fingers and crashed to the floor.
The maid, who had been turning to leave, spun back around at the sound. "Ma'am? Are you alright?"
Lin Yue stared at the shards of ceramic, at the water spreading across the stone, at the red warning still glowing in her vision. Her heart pounded so hard she could feel it in her throat.
[DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING ELSE. DO NOT EAT THE FOOD. THE WATER HAS BEEN POISONED.]
She forced herself to breathe.
To think.
Years of customer service work had taught her how to keep calm when everything went wrong.
"I felt dizzy as soon as I drank it." Her voice came out steadier than she expected. "I think there is something wrong with the water."
The maid's face went pale. "What? How can you tell?"