CORNERED IN THE RESIDENCE

Elaris’s POV

Harwin’s eyes moved over Maevra’s room, coming to rest on the empty wooden plate next to her bed.

Harwin frowned when he noticed that the morning tincture was not where it should be. Maevra lay still under her covers, breathing irregularly after her fit of coughing.

“Where is her morning medicine?” Harwin asked, immediately placing purification crystals around Maevra’s body.

“She cannot wait any longer for her next dose. The thing inside her body is spreading more quickly than I thought.”

My hands clenched around the bottle that I had taken from her room.

It had been for the sake of gathering evidence only, but now each passing second was making me look even more suspicious.

Reluctantly, I brought out the glass bottle and put it into Harwin’s outstretched hand.

“I was keeping it since I wanted to check the composition of the medicine,” I explained calmly. “The smell of this substance has changed from the previous day.”

Harwin glanced at me for a brief moment before studying the bottle in the light.

“Did you take something from a sick Luna’s room without asking anyone about it?”

“I was simply trying to determine the reason for her worsening condition.”

The sentence had hardly left my mouth before there came running steps along the corridor.

Virelle came bursting into the room, clutching at her heart as if she could not withstand the sight of Maevra’s body.

“What happened?”

Before long, the guards were gathering around.

Virelle’s eyes fell upon the bottle that Harwin had in his hands.

She paused.

“That was in Elaris’s care?”

I could hear the guards’ footsteps coming closer.

Virelle indicated towards me, her shaky finger giving her claim an unwilling look.

“What was the reason for you keeping Maevra’s medication in your possession, Elaris?”

“I wasn’t hiding it.”

“You were taking it away from her bed.”

“In order not to get it replaced!”

Virelle’s mouth dropped open in shocked disbelief.

“Who was going to replace it?”

Averic stood by his mother’s bedside, trapped between Harwin’s examination and the accusations that surrounded him. He looked directly at me.

For the first time since Maevra’s collapse, I couldn’t read anything from his eyes.

There was nothing but grief.

And now there was something else growing next to it – doubt.

“Elaris,” he said, his voice low, “why didn’t you tell me you had the bottle?”

“Someone has been tampering with your mother’s prescription.”

His face grew stern.

“Have you any proof?”

I paused in my answer.

The burned letter lay buried in some secret place, and the stopper Neryss had found was not enough to incriminate Virelle.

“I have more than enough evidence of something going wrong.”

“That’s not what I asked you.”

The question was more painful than a mere accusation would have been.

“I needed to know the truth while it was not yet destroyed,” I said. “If I had intended harm to your mother, why did I return the medicine bottle here?”

At once Virelle seized my words.

“Because you knew the doctor would have eventually found out anyway.”

I faced her directly.

“You sound sure enough about what is in that bottle.”

For just a moment, she lost her self-control.

Then she dropped her eyes to murmur, “I only fear for Maevra.”

Harwin removed the stopper.

He held the bottle up to his nose.

The color left his face almost instantly.

Seconds later he set it down on the table as if it were somehow no longer safe to handle.

“Everyone, stand clear of the bed.”

Averic started moving toward his mother.

“What is it?”

“Concentrated black aconite.”

The guards gasped.

“With this amount, you can kill a sick person.”

My stomach turned.

“No…”

I looked at the bottle.

“I haven’t done anything to it.”

Harwin looked from us.

“The poison was poured there intentionally.”

Virelle covered her mouth.

“Oh, Moon Goddess…”

I understood something then.

Her fingers were shaking.

Not out of fear.

There was a barely noticeable dark spot under her nail—exactly the same as the bitterness that I felt coming from the stopper.

Before I could say anything, Virelle hid her hand under her sleeve.

Suddenly Virelle burst out crying.

“She hated Caedmon,” she whispered, looking at Averic. “Because of him, she lost everything, and now she is using her hatred against your mother.”

“That’s a lie!” I yelled.

Virelle stepped back as if I slapped her.

Averic moved between us, blocking Maevra from my sight.

“Elaris…” He said, and for some reason, he sounded strange. “Don’t come closer to me anymore.”

I looked at him, not breathing.

Behind Averic's back, Harwin suddenly looked at the bottle again.

His face changed.

“Alpha…”

Averic turned his head.

Harwin indicated the bottom of the glass.

“Besides the aconite, there is another substance inside the glass.”

Silence filled the room.

“What?” Averic questioned.

The grip of Harwin on the bottle increased.

“It is added to the poison to give an impression that the poison is from the caretaker himself.”

I looked at Virelle.

She was looking at me.

And this time, she was not pretending to be scared.