Page 115 of Fragile Oath

Gracie’s blade slowly bit into my skin. Warm droplets of blood spilled from the wound, down my chest and onto my gown, but I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Her hand twitched, driving the knife further in, and it took everything I had not to whimper, not to make this worse for Davin.

He lunged and Malishka followed, but I knew it wouldn’t be soon enough. They were still on the other side of the vast room.

Everything had gone to hell so quickly.

I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking about all of the time we had wasted. How many nights we hadn’t spent together, how many days I had wasted being angry about something that no longer mattered.

How many times we could have fixed things between us, but we had been too stubborn to take that first step.

I thought about the family I wanted to have with him. Did he want that, too? Would I ever get the chance to ask? Was it one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of regrets between us?

I had been so close. Close to having this life. Close to stopping Gracie before she could ruin it all.

For a single, heart-stopping moment, I had believed it was enough.

I had been so careful when I added the bitterbloom leaf to the tea, but maybe it hadn’t been enough. Maybe Gracie had found a way to make herself immune to some poisons after all. I supposed it didn’t matter now. Not with her knife at my throat and little left to lose.

She was smart, smarter than anyone had ever given her credit for. She had to know this was it for her, that she wasn’t leaving this room alive.

So why would she let me?

Would this be her last act as the Viper? To kill me while Davin watched?

I took a stilted breath, waiting for the moment she would finally snap and dig the blade in deeper, knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop her.

Then, Gracie’s hand twitched, the blade scraping the open skin and making the wound a little deeper.

My skin burned. The wound ignited every nerve ending in my neck like a raging inferno. But, if Alexei had taught me nothing else, it was the art of enduring pain. I could sit in perfect stillness, a façade of demure composure, while I bided my time for the pain to end.

That’s what I would do now. I would wait for death to come, never giving her the satisfaction of hearing me scream. At least it was one nightmare I would save Davin from.

When the serrated edge of the knife dug further in, I saw nothing but blinding, white-hot stars. But I was still conscious.

The blade had stopped.

“Gracie?” The way Davin said her name was somewhere between a warning and a question.

She stumbled forward. This time, the knife slipped from her grasp, falling first to my lap before clanging against the floor.

The bitterbloom had worked. The herb was used to calm the nerves in small doses but acted as a paralytic when consumed in larger quantities. And more than that could lead to death. It wasn’t the most efficient poison, but it was the only one that could be masked by the citrusy flavor of orange spiced tea.

And it had finally taken effect on Gracie.

Several things happened in the space between one heartbeat and the next.

I lunged for the knife while Davin stepped forward, neatly unleashing a dagger of his own. By the time I made it to my feet, Malishka’s jaw was locked on to Gracie’s arm. She growled and bit and dug her teeth into Gracie’s skin until blood stained her white muzzle, but it didn’t matter.

Davin’s blade was in Gracie’s chest.

ChapterFifty

DAVIN

I stoodin the Assembly room as the official proclamation was read, clearing me of all accusations. Then another one, listing out Gracie’s charges in harrowing detail.

It hadn’t been hard to unravel once we started following the thread. We found the maid who killed Tavish under Gracie’s orders, once he was weakened by tea. That explained why he had been poisoned first, since the maid could just barely hold a sword.

The cufflinks, of course, had been taken after one of mine and Gracie’s liaisons. One by one, the pieces had fallen into place. Everything except for why.

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