WOLFSBANE

Elaris’s POV

Averic refuses to accept any but himself carrying the small pouch after his guards discover it beneath Elaris’s door. He takes the evidence himself, bundled in a clean cloth — and strides toward the senior healer’s chamber, with four warriors surrounding him.

I remained locked in the inner chamber as the evidence disappeared down the corridor.

“Is it really wolfsbane?” I ask as he pauses, but does not fully turn in my direction.

“We don’t know yet,” he says

“But you told me that the substance was real.”

“There is a real threat,” Averic amends. “We just aren’t sure what the name of it is.”

There is a difference. Averic does not treat the pouch as another note pretending to be a threat.

He orders the guards not to allow anyone into my chamber until the healer brings him his findings.

Before he goes, his gaze lingers on the swell of my stomach.

“No one touches you tonight.”

I nearly ask whether that means those currently inside his household. Instead, I say, “Then find out who put it there.”

Averic gives me a single, sharp nod before he follows the healer, and for the first time, I am convinced that even he is afraid of the answers.

The healer examines the petals behind a protective screen with Averic waiting nearby — not allowed to watch, but still listening.

I am not permitted to eavesdrop, exactly. But I can hear snippets of their conversation as the door opens just enough to let in the smell of the damp earth.

The seniormale finally emerges with the pouch re-packed in another container.

“It is genuine,” he declares.

Averic asks, “how dangerous?”

The senior healer explains that when properly steeped, the petals could rapidly weaken a wolf’s essence — and in someone already depleted, might outright cause collapse prior to the body managing to restore itself.

His gaze lingers on me. “For a pregnant woman, whose essence has already been severely compromised, the effects to her health would be greater.”

“How fast?” Averic asks

The healer hesitates, then says reluctantly, “Fast enough that by the time she understood what was happening, reversal might be difficult.”

Averic’s hand clenches around the edge of the table.

“Then everyone who has herbs in this palace is sealed.”

“Alpha—”

“Every. One.” Averic turns to his guards. “Not one leaf or bottle or root or powder or dried flower may so much as peek out of a cabinet without my written permission.”

The healer adds, “A small quantity of the petals would have been enough to take advantage of the situation. To create a poison.”

I swallow.

The threat is not merely paper and ink.

It is a vial of liquid that could have been in my tea.

After Averic’s initial questioning, I am allowed into the healer’s chambers, under heavy guard.

I watch the evidence laid out across a stone table — the pouch, the broken chain clasp, and the tiny strand of pale hair inside it.

I stare down at the strand of hair before touching anything. “That is mine.”

The healer asks, “Are you certain?”

“I’ve seen enough of my own hair,” I say.

Averic watches me across the table. “Don’t touch it.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

I lean in, but do not cross the invisible threshold.

Could the petals have come from another source? A garden outside the palace? Some other supplier?

The healer studies the sample again. “It’s possible. But highly unlikely.”

“What does that mean?” Averic asks.

“It takes cultivation.” The healer examines the petals again. “This kind in particular is cultivated for medicinal properties, inside the palace. It is available to the public gardens, but it requires specialized growing conditions before it is processed.”

That means

his gardens.

I see the implications before the healer mentions it

Your gardens,” I say quietly. “For the medicinal beds.”

The healer does not answer immediately

Averic turns to him

“Who has access?”

The healer lists off the senior healers and two of the medicinal attendants, Maevra’s long-tenured household assistant, and the Alpha’s staff. When Averic asks whether Virelle’s name was among them, the healer says, “No.”

I look at Averic.

“She couldn’t have taken advantage of it herself.” There’s no way she knew that Averic owned these beds. “Not without having taken anything from the gardens, at least.”

Averic’s expression darkens. “But someone could have given it to her.”

They both fall silent

Or, alternatively, someone wants us to think she was given it.

The healer retrieves an old cultivation record from a sealed cabinet and flips swiftly through it.

“This particular listing was last noted down in the gardens,” he says, reading over his shoulder.

He stops, tracing a single finger along the edge of the paper.

“Who has access?”

Averic asks the question again

The healer names off the potential culprits.

Senior attendants.

Two medicinal aides

Maevra’s long-time household aide.

The Alpha’s household staff.

“Virelle?” Averic asks.

“No.”

The word hangs in the air between us. I look at Averic again

She wasn’t doing it herself

“Not of the gardens,” he agrees. “But someone could have gotten her something to put in that vial.”

His dark eyes narrow. “Or someone does want you to blame Virelle.”

The healer lowers the cultivation journal.

“Only a few people could have legally accessed that garden.”

Averic immediately orders for the access records to be brought to him

I realize something

Virelle may still be dangerous

It just might not be because she wanted to kill me. Virelle might not have been the one to slip the poison into the palace. Someone opened doors for her.

Every single senior attendant who worked in the private wing was summoned to his chamber.

Averic does not ask them in front of me, but I am allowed to remain in the adjoining chamber while the door is left open, and I can hear everything.

“Averic,” one of the attending healers says when one of his questions fails to elicit a name.

“There has not been anyone else recently,” another says. “The last time I accessed the beds was when she came out of her rooms.”

A third heals says, “I have not entered the gardens since the beginning of this month.”

“I’ve heard those same words,” I realize

It sends a chill down my spine

These are the people who knew my routines, who knew when I would be available, who knew which passages I used

I shift in my chair. They stop

“Are you all right?” one of the guards asks me.

“Yes.” I glance toward the open doorway. “It just makes me wonder when someone was watching me.”

The questioning continues.

Averic does not ask them again.

I understand why

but I also feel accused

A senior attendant finally breaks. “I am not the one you are looking for,” she says, beginning to sob.

Her name is Mara, and Maevra’s household staff has known her for several years.

“I took care of you before, my lady,” Mara said quietly.

Averic asks, “you entered the medicinal beds?”

Mara lowers her chaste head. “Once.”

“When?”

“Two nights ago.”

“Why?” Averic asks.

“I was told to collect calming herbs.”

“By whom?”

Mara hesitates

Averic moves toward the table. “Tell me

It was a woman.”

“A woman?” Averic asks

“Which woman?”

“I did not know who she was,” Mara said hastily

He stiffened his posture, his voice like winter wind. “You expect me to believe you don’t know the woman who ordered an agent into my mother’s private wing?”

“She spoke as if she had authority,” Mara whispered.

“What did she look like?”

Mara glanced toward Averic then away again. “Pale cloak, covered hair, and perfume. Nothing else.”

I lean close to listen.

“What did she give you?” Averic asked.

“A small packet.”

“Where is it now?” Averic asked

Mara gestured toward the servants' storage corridor. “Left it where she told me to.”

Averic ordered for the area to be searched

Mara sobs, “I did not know it was poison.”

“You will be,” Averic replied

After the attendants were dismissed Averic remains in the corridor while the guards take care of the servants area. I am finally granted an audience with him.

He looks tired

“The council needs to know about the wolfsbane," he says

"Then tell them."

"I will."

"And Virelle?"

"She will say the same thing she has said every time. That someone wanted to destroy her because she was carrying my child."

I look sharply at Averic

"And if she says you planted the wolfsbane?"

"She will have witnesses to say so."

The politics of the accusation was almost as dangerous as the wolfsbane itself

"The moment I accuse her without proof the council will be saying I am trying to use the investigation to get rid of a woman they thought had a leg to stand on."

"She threatened me."

"I know"

"She poisoned your mother."

"We suspect that is what she has done."

"you suspect."

"She has," his eyes meet mine

His words are like daggers.

"But now I suspect someone within this palace is supporting the claim."

I ask to see Maevra.

Averic refuses me at first

"Tonight she is weaker. Perhaps she can have enough strength to know something."

"She may know who has access to the garden."

"She needs her rest."

"She may know who has access to the garden."

She studies me before conceding at last. "Ten minutes."

The visit takes place in great protection.

Two healers flanking her bier, while two warriors stand guard at the doorway. I sit beside Maevra's bed.

"You shouldn't have come." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"I needed to see you."

Her fingers drifted listlessly against the blanket, then she looked at the armed guards in the doorway. "The hands that open the garden gate are not always the hands that write the notes."

I stared blankly at her.

"What does that mean?"

Her eyes fluttered shut briefly as the words left her lips. "Don't listen just to the woman everyone expects you to see."

Averic asks her urgently, "Mother, who are you talking about?"

Maevra tries to speak, but the healers intervene, saying that had said enough

I leave, with the phrase still rolling around in my head. Hands that do not write the notes. A secret.

Four warriors bring me back through the private wing.

They say little

Servants make way when they see us.

A maid bringing linens lowered her head so quickly that she nearly fell on her backside. Another servant turns away into a different corridor completely. I have always sensed a certain apprehension from the household servants, but lately they seem to be afraid

afraid of me

I test it quickly

"Do you think I did it?" one of the guards asks

The man said nothing at all. That seemed to be enough of a reply

At the next doorway, I pass the servants entrance to the medicinal gardens. The door was locked. A new guard stood by the side. I studied the key ring at his belt.

"Who had that key before?" I ask.

He looked rather uncomfortable

"I am not certain, Lady Elaris."

"You should," I say

His gaze flits to the key ring. "We were told to replace him."

Old guard. The words catch my ear. I continue walking.

Inside my chamber Averic informs me of the formal inquiry.

"The wolfsbane is included in the evidence."

"And what of the attendant?" I ask.

"She will be grilled once they search the passageways. Until that is done, no one will be questioning the servants." His voice was grim. "Virelle will be questioned. We will tell the council she lied to us both times."

"And what if she protests she did not know it was poison?"

"Then she will have witnesses who heard what she said."

He was going to cover every piece of it

I watched him closely. "Even if it makes you look weak?"

He did not answer straight away.

"No, she did know she was delivering poison to your mother's bed. She just thought you blamed her for it."

He looked surprised. "You suspect it as well."

"I have always suspected that someone has been taking advantage of the house's routines."

His jaw tightened. "But I can't lie to the council, no matter what."

"I suspect you'll find other people to lie to before you reach yours," I said

He met my eyes again with something close to amusement in his. "A promise not to take vengeance is not worth keeping as long as I am standing in this room."

After Averic leaves I settle at the small writing table with the guards still on the other side of the chamber.

I piece all the events together in my mind.

The first altered medicine. The second bottle. The tea. The fall. The notes. The broken chain. Then the Wolfsbane itself. Then Mara's confession. They all fit together. I write a reminder of each event, placing every name next to a note or a date that it may relate to. I add in the nights I did not tend to Maevra or that Virelle was last seen in the private wing. All the servants who had access to everything. When I am done, I read the pages carefully, twice. I find no single dramatic revelation among them. Just the impression of a woman who has taken her routine against us. I fold the pages up, and one of the guards opens the door as Averic enters.

He takes the bundle of pages without looking at them there. "You kept everything?"

"Everything I remember"

He puts each set of pages together in a closed folder. "You should keep a copy of this."

I shake my head. "If the castle searched my room, I would not want for them to find another version of the evidence."

His eyes flicker with something unreadable. "You're learning"

"I had a good teacher."

He understood that I was not telling him he was a good teacher.

Averic arrives just before midnight. I rise as he comes in

"What happened?"

He does not say anything at first. He looks behind himself, and then leans against the room door. "The captain found the garden access log."

My heart stopped. "Which night?"

He sets the register down on the table. "Both of them."

He turned the page. "The night the first threatening note appeared..." He frowned at the page. "...and the night the wolfsbane was left in your chamber."

I leaned forward to see.

The same name had been written down against both incidents.

Mara. The one who had broken and confessed.

The woman who had said she had not known what was in her arms when she left the private wing.

Averic looks down at the pages. I wait for something else to come with it, but the expression on his face darkens instead as he reads the next entry.

"Where is she?" I ask

"She was to be under guard in her quarters."

"Was?" Averic's mouth tightens. "The captain went to bring her back for questioning."

He opened the door and glanced out. "She's gone."

I stare at him

"Dead or alive?'

__

“We don’t know.”

Averic looks back at the register

"She disappeared after we began to ask about the garden"

Then

"The captain."

It only took seconds for the phrase to leave his lips.

"Alpha." The captain stepped inside. He looked pale. "We searched her rooms."

"What did you find?

"A second key to the Medicinal garden," he said after a moment. "And a piece of parchment."

Averic took it. He scanned the first line. Then he looked at me

The words were simple. There was only one written across the page

"You are looking for the wrong woman."