Page 157 of Nanny and the Beast

She sifts the mint leaves and pours the tea into two cups. The clean scent of mint infiltrates my lungs as she hands me a cup.

Just as I take the first sip, Klaus enters the greenhouse. His eyes are lost in some void as he pockets his phone.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

He blinks.

“Yeah,” he replies. I can tell by the haunted look in his eyes that everything is not okay, but I also know he won’t open up to me right now. I’ll have to ask him about it another time.

“Vera made me mint tea,” I say, taking another sip. “It’s delicious.”

Some of the tension leaves his shoulders as he rests his eyes on me.I pass him the teacup. Our fingers brush as he takes it from me.

He takes a sip and hands an empty cup back to me.

Vera giggles. “Rule number one. Never offer a man food or drink if you expect to have some left over for yourself.”

Klaus shrugs sheepishly. I smile at him. I don’t mind him eating all my food or finishing my drinks. I don’t mind anything as long as I get to keep him in my life.

But I can’t shake the feeling that our days together are numbered.

This bubble of illusion we built is going to pop any day. The fall might just devastate me completely.

Vera clears her throat. “The tea sample?”

I suck in a breath. It feels like being jolted awake from one of those dreams where you feel like you’re falling. But instead of everything being okay, I’m still falling.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the little glass jar.

“I hope I stored it correctly,” I say. “It’s an air-tight container, but it’s been weeks since I saved the sample.”

Vera holds the glass jar up to the light. It’s just tea sludge, but it makes every nerve ending in my body fire up, filling me with endless anxiety and dread.

“And you suspect that this tea was poisoned?” she asks.

My heart slams against my sternum. Blood rushes to my ears. My tongue feels like cotton in my mouth.

“Yes,” Klaus answers for me. “Her grandmother was in a coma for weeks after ingesting it.”

“And what made you think that the tea was poisoned?” Vera asks me.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“For whatever reason, your first instinct was to save a sample of the tea,” she says. “Did you see anything that made you suspect it might be contaminated?”

I can’t bring myself to speak. This incident happened weeks ago, but the fear never really went away.

I swallow, trying to get my throat to work.

Klaus takes my hands in his and squeezes them, giving me some of his strength.

“It’s okay,” he says.

My heart squeezes in my chest. It’s one thing for him to be gentle with me when it’s just the two of us. It’s another thing entirely for him to show affection in front of someone else. But his warmth is exactly what I need right now.

“I don’t remember,” I say. “It was just a gut feeling.”

“Something must have tipped you off, though,” Vera says. “If you can remember anything, it would help narrow it down.”

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