DANGEROUS INTENTIONS

Elaris’s POV

The impact of fear filled my chest as I found myself staring at Virelle standing in the darkness of my chamber, with the dark bottle hanging over my water pitcher.

For a few moments, we did not move.

The sound of the rain hit the balcony behind her, while the flash of the lightning showed the expression on her face.

She wasn’t afraid.

She looked delighted.

I took a look at the black fluid before me.

"What is it?"

Virelle chuckled.

"Something you do not want to know."

My stomach clenched.

"You intended to pour that into my water."

"I considered it."

I got shivers along my spine from her calm answer.

"Move back from there," I said, trying to speak firmly, even though my hands were shaking.

She lifted an eyebrow.

"Now you are giving orders?"

"This is my room."

"Are you sure?"

She glanced around.

"Where I am standing, you are a guest here."

I was not ready to step back.

"Leave the vial alone."

Her smile faded from her lips.

For a brief second, I saw viciousness in her eyes.

And then she laughed.

"You have more courage than I thought."

"You've seen worse than this before."

Her face was set.

"Have you?"

There was something menacing in the question.

Virelle withdrew the vial with ease, putting it in the sleeve of her silk robe while emitting an amused laugh which made me shiver.

"You're very nervous."

"I didn't enter your room with your permission."

"Yet you're the one trembling."

I looked at her.

"You threatened my child."

Her eyes fell down on my belly.

"So you admit there is a child."

I knew my mistake.

My heart sank.

Virelle's smile was back.

"Fascinating."

I cursed myself internally.

She had managed to extract the information she was sure about from me.

"How long have you known?"

"Long enough."

She moved closer to me.

"Long enough to understand that your little secret can get very troublesome for me."

"You should watch yourself, Elaris," she said, moving closer to me in an aggressive manner. "A fragile, homeless wolf like you can get very ill very quickly."

I could feel the chill down my spine.

"You're threatening me."

"No."

She smiled.

"I'm only warning you."

"There's any difference?"

"Warning means giving the person a chance to correct themselves."

She moved around the table.

"A threat always comes after they refuse."

I looked at her hard.

"What do you want?"

"Very simple."

She stared me in the eye.

"I want you gone."

"And what if I refuse?"

Her eyes were merciless.

"Then things become complicated."

I stood my ground and glared at her.

"Averic won't stand for it if you threaten his guests in his palace."

Virelle laughed.

"You still don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"This has nothing to do with whether Averic tolerates me."

She stepped nearer.

"This is about whether the pack tolerates me."

I frowned.

But Virelle pressed on.

"Being pregnant with potential Alpha blood makes me untouchable."

"And so am I."

"Are you?"

She tilted her head.

"You have no standing here."

The insult struck home.

"You're trying to intimidate me."

"No."

She smiled.

"I'm just explaining how easily the palace could turn on you."

Virelle leaned near and hissed in my ear that Averic was hers and anything he dragged in would be swept out.

“You are temporary.”

I stiffened.

“Averic doesn’t belong to anyone.”

“He will.”

Her fingers grazed my shoulder.

“When he learns that his first child is mine, everything will be different.”

I stepped back from her.

“You don’t know how he feels.”

“I know how he felt before you came along.”

My heart clenched.

Virelle gave a small smile.

“You confused his kindness for love.”

I kept my silence.

She leaned closer to me.

“And when he makes the choice between his family and you, you will see just how little you have to protect yourself.”

I stared at her.

“You are afraid of my baby.”

Her eyes darkened.

“I am not afraid of anything.”

Yet her look told a different story.

Before I could say anything, she purposely dropped the pitcher of water on my table, letting it fall with a crash and shatter into pieces on the floor.

The noise filled the air.

Water splashed everywhere.

Glass pieces littered the floor under our feet.

I stared at her in shock.

“You did that intentionally.”

Instantly, Virelle pressed a hand to her chest.

“I slipped.”

“You are lying.”

“I would never do such a thing.”

Her voice weakened instantly.

I knew what she was trying to do now.

This time, she wasn’t trying to poison me.

She wanted to make a case.

She wanted to make a case against me.

And then there were loud thuds on the other side of the room.

Virelle gave the door a glance.

She cracked a smile.

Guards immediately ran towards the room, bursting inside with their weapons ready.

“What’s going on?”

The captain’s eyes ran over the scene.

Crushed glass.

Wet flooring.

Virelle by the table.

And myself several feet away.

“Lower your weapons,” I commanded.

There was a pause.

Virelle suddenly fell backwards, screaming that I had attacked her.

“My lady!”

That was enough for me.

“She did not attack me.”

The captain’s eyes ran between us.

“Lady Virelle, tell us what happened here.”

“She became enraged when I told her that I was pregnant with the Alpha’s child.”

“That is a lie.”

Virelle quickly brought her hands up to cover her face.

“I was trying to calm her down.”

The captain frowned.

“Has she hit you?”

Virelle gave me a look.

Shook her head slowly.

“She threatened me.”

Without hesitation, she fell on her knees, among the glass pieces, sobbing with fake tears saying that I attacked her in a rage of jealous feelings.

"I only came to talk to her."

She was stuttering.

"She said that I stole the Alpha."

"I never touched you!"

Virelle gasped dramatically.

The guards quickly came near me.

"Stay where you are."

My heart thumped.

"This is staged."

"Of course, she will say that."

She bowed her head.

"I do not want any trouble."

Those words were innocent.

However, looking at me through her long, blonde lashes, I noticed the truth – she was waiting for some reaction.

She was expecting me to lose my calmness.

And I was not going to let her win the battle.

The guards looked alternately between the sobbing Virelle and me, standing there silently, suspicious glances growing in their faces.

The captain of the guards crouched next to Virelle.

"Are you hurt?"

"I do not know."

She stared at her hands.

"There are cuts."

There was a little piece of glass cutting her hand.

I felt sick.

She put herself on purpose among those pieces.

The face of the captain became darker.

"Did you throw the pitcher?"

"No."

"Did you threaten her?"

"No."

Virelle whispered, "She doesn't have to admit it."

The captain glanced at her.

"What happened before the glass broke?"

Virelle paused for a second.

Just a second.

Then she started crying once more.

"I can't remember everything."

I almost burst out laughing in surprise.

She remembered well enough to lie.

I wouldn't stoop so low to raise my voice and shame myself while she lied; I kept my head high as the guard captain offered to take Virelle to the medical bay.

"I should be examined."

"Of course."

The captain turned to the two guards.

"Guard her."

While Virelle got to her feet, she looked at me.

It lasted for an instant only.

And all the tears vanished from her eyes.

She had a triumphant smile on her face.

But then she said softly, under her breath.

"You'll not save yourself through silence."

I stared into her eyes.

"So will you with your lies."

She lost her smile.

The guards took her away.

I waited till they were gone.

Then I looked at the broken floor.

Something shone under the rug.

A small glass stopper.

Carefully, I squatted down and picked it up.

As soon as I removed the cork, an unfamiliar herbal aroma came to me.

The blood froze in my veins.

I knew that smell.

When the guards led Virelle away, she quietly kicked the small, unmarked glass stopper under the rug, and as I squatted down to examine it, I understood with horror that the smell of the substance on the stopper was exactly the same as the rare potion Maevra drinks every day.

My grip on the stopper tightened.

“No…”

I had made Maevra's medicine thousands of times.

I knew each herb.

Each tincture.

Each scent.

It wasn't by chance.

Virelle hadn't come to threaten me just to threaten me.

She had been near Maevra's medicine.

My thoughts whirled.

What if the black substance wasn't intended for me?

What if the broken pitcher had served to distract me?

An awful thought came to my mind.

Virelle had already managed to contaminate Maevra's treatment.

I ran towards the door.

Stopped.

If Virelle had thought it through well enough, she must now be waiting for me to reveal myself by making accusations without any evidence.

My fingers wrapped around the plug.

I required proof.

But I required it quickly before she had her next dose.

For should Virelle have done something to poison the concoction, her tea of this evening would only be the start of something much worse than simple competition.

It would be the beginning of the end for the woman who was my mother surrogate.