THE FIFTH WORD

Elaris’s POV

Averic takes the silver clasp from my open palm without meeting my fingers.

He carries it towards the nearest lamp and considers the broken edge.

I watch him turn it over in his fingers, comparing it to the clasp already secured from beneath my tea tray. He traces the scratches along the metal and the small bit of wax still clinging to its underside.

We do not need to speak about the message I burned.

He understands I would never have destroyed it if I had not memorized it first.

“The words were five,” I say.

Averic continues studying the silver link.

I repeat them to him.

“Next time the blood will be yours.”

Averic finally looks up at me.

He wants to know where I found the note.

“Under my door.”

He instantly focuses on the guards stationed outside.

I tell him no one entered.

The note had simply appeared beneath the threshold.

His expression tightens.

The first threat was directed at the unborn child, but this one was aimed at me.

Averic orders the captain to sweep every corridor between my chamber and the outer courtyard and make records of the palace gates every hour until further notice.

The small silver link vanishes into Averic’s fingers.

For the first time I am beginning to understand how the threat has changed him, made him consider my safety with the same weight as any other security issue instead of another squabble between Virelle and I.

Averic orders the inner chamber secured from both sides.

The guards stationed outside are no longer enough.

Two warriors are posted inside the room, one near the window and the other beside the door.

I stare at them, then at Averic.

“You're locking me inside.”

" I am keeping anyone from reaching you."

"Those are not the same thing."

Averic does not argue.

That alone makes the words more threatening than if he had.

He tells me I will not be allowed to leave the chamber until the inquiry is complete or unless a healer or himself permits me to do so.

I ask if that includes Maevra.

He says Maevra will be brought to me if her condition allows.

I ask about the gardens.

No.

The library.

No.

The medical rooms.

No.

Each answer strips me of another freedom.

I remind him Virelle walks the palace corridors while I am being imprisoned within two doors.

He says the council's protection of her makes her circumstances different.

I ask if that is fair.

He says it is not.

Survival is.

The words should have comforted me, but instead I feel the walls of the chamber closing in.

Before he leaves, Averic instructs the guards that no one is to enter without his permission.

I watch the door close behind him.

I ask Averic if I might keep the clasp.

He says no.

I tell him I was the one who found it.

He says that is precisely why it must be secured.

Averic takes both silver pieces with him to his study, tucking them inside a locked evidence case.

I follow him as far as the chamber entrance allows before the guards stop me.

From my vantage point I watch Averic lay the clasps along with the other records of my "attack" - the altered medicine, the testimony from the kitchen and the notes I had made.

Everything is secured behind a single lock.

I ask him if I might keep a copy of the evidence.

He says the originals must remain untouched for the council.

I ask him who will know where the key is hidden.

"I will."

The key vanishes inside the folds of his coat.

I look at the case, at the proof of my innocence, and feel something inside my ribs twist uncomfortably.

If Averic fails to convince the council, I will not be able to produce the evidence myself.

I return to my room with empty hands.

For the first time I am realizing how being protected also means being imprisoned.

Neryss is allowed a brief visit.

Two warriors remain in the room while she talks.

She tells me the household is already repeating the story Virelle has practiced for them.

Some of the servants believe they heard an argument take place.

Others think they saw me confronting Virelle.

Neither is true, but the repetition of the lie has made it seem more real to them.

Neryss also tells me that a number of servants are taking alternate routes through the palace rather than passing my chamber.

They are growing fearful of being associated with me.

I ask if anyone has accused me outright.

She says not directly.

They do not need to.

Fear is contagious.

Neryss informs me one of the attendants warned another not to get involved because "the Alpha's household is changing sides."

I ask which side she meant.

Neryss does not know.

That is what concerns me.

I thank Neryss for coming to see me.

Before she goes, she squeezes my hand once - a brief pressure intended to reassure me despite the presence of the guards.

It is a small comfort, but it is enough to remind me that not everyone is willing to abandon their sense of right and wrong.

Averic returns after talking with the captain.

I ask what the second search revealed.

Nothing.

The west wing has been swept again and there is no additional poison, letters or entrance to my chamber.

Virelle, however, has been informed of the new threat.

Averic tells me she reacted precisely as expected.

She claimed to want to leave the palace on her own if doing so would "restore the peace."

I almost laughed.

"She knows she cannot simply leave."

"Yes."

"And the council would stop you from forcing her out."

"Yes."

Virelle has made an apparently generous offer while ensuring Averic cannot refuse without endangering his unborn child.

If he allows her to go, the council may blame him for threatening the pregnancy.

If he insists she remains, she has the protection of the palace.

Either way, Virelle wins another opportunity to play the martyr.

I tell Averic she is not offering peace.

"She is offering you another decision she can use against you."

He does not disagree.

That is always a bad sign.

I ask him one direct question.

"Do you believe the note is real?"

Averic studies the silver clasp he has retrieved from his study.

"The clasp is real."

I wait.

He does not add anything else.

I ask again.

"The threat?"

He tells me he cannot prove who wrote it.

I remind him the broken chain symbol links it to the rest of the evidence.

He says the connection is significant, but that does not prove the source.

I understand the difference.

Still, hearing him separate the object from the threat feels like another door shutting.

I tell him that someone knows enough about what took place inside this palace to forge a sequence of events no one outside the household should understand.

Averic says he knows.

I ask if that makes him believe me.

He says it makes him more concerned.

Not convinced.

Concerned.

I look away.

I am learning the difference between the words he is giving me and the words I am waiting to hear.

A healer arrives to examine the pregnancy.

The guards remain in the room while the healer looks me over.

She checks the child's essence, my blood flow and the bond along my abdomen.

The child is strong.

That should be enough to put some weight behind my relief, but instead the healer's next words make me feel even more uneasy.

My own essence is becoming too thin too quickly.

Fear, lack of sleep, the limited movement allowed and the attacks have taken a toll that will not be easy to repair given the strain of the extraction I have survived.

The healer warns me that continued stress could take a similar toll on the pregnancy if the child itself is not weakened first.

Averic remains for the examination.

He asks what can be done.

The healer suggests regular nourishment, rest, calm and fewer disturbances.

I almost told him that none of those things were available inside the palace anymore.

Instead I ask how much time I have before the strain becomes deadly.

The healer will not give me a specific prediction.

"It depends on what happens next."

I look at Averic.

We both know what that means.

The blood moon is coming, as is the hearing before the council.

After the healer leaves, Averic remains where he is, at the foot of my bed.

He tells me the council hearing has been set for three days from now.

He will present the records of the altered medicine, the two silver clasps, the kitchen testimony and the evidence from the previous attacks.

I ask him if the council will believe him.

He says he does not know.

I ask him what happens if they do not.

There is a pause before he answers.

Then he says the child will not be left exposed.

I tell him I am tired of hearing about the child as if I am nothing more than a vessel for containing it.

His expression changes, but he does not attempt to defend himself.

I am explaining that every promise of protection stops short of me.

He is telling me that he is trying to protect both of us.

"Then say both."

He does.

"I will protect you."

The words should have more meaning, but he does not promise me the council will not turn against me.

He does not promise me he will not be overruled by Virelle.

He does not promise that his position before the council will hold up under scrutiny.

But still, it is the first time since the fall that he has said the words.

I hold on to them without pretending they mean more than they do.

I ask for permission to prepare my own statement.

Every incident, every date I can remember, every name associated with the altered medicine, every instance of Virelle's intrusion and every threat I have received.

I want my version of the events to be considered before anyone else's opinion can be mistaken for fact.

Averic agrees, but places conditions on my request.

The statement will be kept with the rest of the evidence.

I will not be allowed to make a second copy.

I tell him that makes me uncomfortable.

He says the council needs an untouched version of my statement.

I sit down at the desk and begin writing.

I describe Maevra's tampering with the medicine, the tea, the broken clasp, the fall, the witnesses, the threats and the evidence.

I do not make accusations without proof and I carefully distinguish between what I saw and what Neryss or another servant saw.

When I finish I read it over twice before signing my name at the end.

Averic takes the pages from me.

He does not alter a single word.

He seals them with the rest of the evidence.

As the lock closes over the case I realize my own account has become yet another thing I am not permitted to possess.

But at least it is no longer contained only inside my memory.

Night washes over the inner chamber.

The two guards remain awake.

I lie on my side with one hand resting over my stomach as I go over the events of the past few days in chronological order.

The notes, the medicine, the tea, the staged injury, the latest threat.

Individually they seem disconnected, but as a whole they create a pattern.

Virelle is not simply trying to remove me.

She is eliminating everyone who might oppose her.

Neryss is frightened, the kitchen girl is frightened and the attendants are speaking in hushed tones inside the palace corridors.

Averic is being forced to deal with the council.

Maevra is too weak to do anything at all.

And I am trapped inside a chamber.

Virelle has everything she needs to accuse me while ensuring I will not have anyone to stand beside me when the council demands an answer.

I wonder if that is why the attacks have become so very public.

She does not want me dead quite yet.

She wants me isolated.

Once the final accusation is made, there will be no allies remaining to argue against it.

I close my eyes.

Perhaps the next attack is not meant for me at all.

Perhaps it is meant for Averic.

Just before dawn one of the warriors near the door stiffens.

I hear him breathe.

"What is that?"

The second guard moves closer to the threshold.

A scent reaches me from the other side of the door.

Wolfsbane, mixed with crushed garden herbs.

The fragrance is unmistakable.

I sit upright.

The guards exchange a glance, but do not open the door.

The first warrior calls for the captain.

I ask if there is anyone outside.

There is no answer.

The corridor beyond the door is unnaturally silent.

The scent grows stronger for a few seconds before it begins to fade.

Averic is summoned at once.

I remain in the chamber while the guards examine the threshold from the protected side.

No one has passed through, but there is something in the doorway that should not be there.

One warrior notices a small pouch of cloth tucked against the far side of the passage.

He refuses to touch it.

The captain is called and the entire corridor is cleared of objects.

Whatever was left there had been placed there deliberately.

And whoever did it had come close enough to my sealed chamber to do so.

Averic arrives before the pouch is opened.

He orders the others to return while the captain investigates the corridor.

The cloth is still warm.

That means whoever dropped it could not have been gone for long.

Inside the pouch are three dried petals of wolfsbane.

Pressed beneath them is a single strand of pale hair.

Mine.

I stare through the doorway as the evidence is placed on a piece of cloth for closer inspection.

Someone has taken something from me.

Hair, a thread, a strand of anything that can be used to personalize the threat.

Then the captain finds a folded scrap of paper pinned beneath the pouch.

A silver clasp has been impressed into the wax.

The same broken chain symbol.

Averic reads the message.

His expression is unreadable.

I ask what it says.

He looks up at me through the space between the guards.

"The blood moon will finish what the cup began."

I look at the three wolfsbane petals.

At the strand of my hair.

The cup was merely an attempt, the fall was only preparation, the threats were warnings and now someone has infiltrated the corridor outside the room that was meant to be impenetrable.

The blood moon is no longer merely an arbitrary deadline set by the council. It is a date someone has chosen for my death.