Page 40 of A Pact of Blood

“We’ll see the truth of that soon enough.” Marclinus flicks his hand in an upward motion. “I hope you’re enjoying the wine while we’re at it. It’s an excellent vintage.”

Aurelia smiles in agreement. “Very good.” She brings the cup back to her lips.

Marclinus tilts toward the rest of us with a clap of his hands. “Let’s get on with it then. I suppose we could start with you all sharing?—”

Aurelia suddenly sways to the side, her goblet wobbling in her fingers. My gut lurches.

Her husband turns to consider her, a thin smile playing across his mouth. “Ah. It didn’t take long at all.”

Aurelia blinks at him. Her arm shakes harder, and she sets her goblet down on the table with a clunk. “What?—?”

Her question is cut off with a wheeze. She clutches at her chest.

Then her limbs slacken. Her shoulders shudder and buckle.

Her body crumples right off the chair, her head narrowly missing the edge of the table before it thumps against the rug.

Horror jerks at my gut, but the satisfied glint inMarclinus’s eyes holds me in my seat. This is some kind of sick game he’s playing.

Lorenzo, tender heart that he is, has jumped to his feet. He stares at Marclinus, emitting an urgent noise.

Raul cocks his head, but his shoulders have tensed. “It seems your wife could use some assistance,” he says in an even tone that only shows a bit of strain.

“Oh, indeed she does.” Marclinus flashes a grin at us. “Her goblet had a rather vicious poison in it, I’m afraid. She has perhaps ten minutes before it shuts down all her essential organs.”

On the floor, Aurelia sucks a breath through her teeth with a hiss that sounds as furious as it does desperate. Her sleeve rustles across the carpet with a groping of her arm.

My heart hammers at my ribs. What under the god’s gaze is this psychopath actually after?

I yank my gaze away from Aurelia’s form sprawled by the table and find that our emperor is watching the four ofus, not his wife.

A rush of cold prickles over my skin.

He’s testing us. Evaluating our reactions to her distress.

Why?

As my thoughts whirl, I will my stance to stay loose, my expression merely confused. Does he think we’ll reveal approval at the idea of her death… or a deeper concern than he’d expect from mere acquaintances in court?

Every twitch of her limbs and ragged breath brings me back to the night she collapsed in front of us in her bedroom, afterIpoisoned her, if mostly accidentally. Guilt knots my stomach.

What does Marclinus want from us? What’s the right response that’ll have him save her?

Gods smite him, does he even intend to?

Aurelia’s pale hand twists against the rug, the motioncatching my attention. She repeats the brief gesture once more, swift but clear.

It’s Lorenzo’s sign to say all’s well. She’s telling us not to intervene. To pretend there’s nothing horribly wrong with the entire situation.

She’d know best what her husband is after, wouldn’t she?

Neven’s voice quavers. “Why are you doing this to her?”

Raul speaks up before Marclinus needs to answer, in a wry but firm tone that I’m sure is controlling a more fraught emotion. “She must have offended the empire or our emperor in some unforgiveable way. In which case, our foster brother is completely justified.”

It’s the perfect explanation for his lack of action without leaning too far into concern or rancor. I stiffen my spine. “Absolutely. Nothing good comes of violating Dariu’s laws.”

Lorenzo’s jaw is still clenched, but after a glance around at us, he sits himself back down. His expression stays grim but not outright frantic.

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