Chapter II : A Potion and a Proposal

Rebecca's POV  

Lady Kalali thrust a jeweled finger toward me, her voice slicing the silence. 

“Her. Rebecca Rosewyn. Isabelle Rosewyn’s daughter, the Crown’s old potion maker. She runs her own shop now, doesn’t she? Of course she would know how to brew something forbidden.” 

A gasp rippled through the crowd. People recoiled, pressing closer to glimpse the scandal. 

Heat prickled under my skin. My entire body felt like it might collapse. 

Gideon said nothing. He merely watched me, his glacial eyes narrowed, like he was deciding whether to crush me or protect me.  

Maddie, breathless, elbowed her way through the crowd. "Hey! Leave her alone, Lady Kalali! She didn't even know what she was—" 

Lady Kalali spun on her, lips curling. “Silence. You’re nothing but her accomplice!”  

Maddie faltered under the weight of noble eyes, her voice dying. She tried again, softer. "She didn't mean any harm." 

Lady Kalali slapped the air dismissively. “Save your lies. The Queen must hear of this at once.”  

Before I could blink, Lady Kalali grabbed my wrist in a clawlike grip and dragged me toward the dais. She bent close to the Queen’s ear and whispered furiously. The Queen’s eyes flicked to me. They were sharp with fury. A chill swept the room. 

The Queen lifted her arms and called out in a voice that carried over the entire ballroom: “My beloved guests, I must attend to a private matter of state. Please continue your revelry. Drink and dance in honor of our knights. I shall return shortly.”  

She turned, robes swishing, and disappeared behind the velvet curtains at the rear of the dais.  

Lady Kalali yanked me along. Maddie scrambled to follow, trembling. Gideon strode after us in silence, his boots echoing against the marble floor.  

The moment the curtains fell closed behind us, royal guards sealed the entrance.  

We were ushered into a private chamber. There were banners on the walls and a long wooden table in the center. The Queen took the seat at the head of the table. Her presence was intense. 

Maddie tried to speak, but a guard blocked her with an armored arm.  

"Quiet," the Queen commanded. Her voice was soft and deadly. She glared at me. "Rebecca Rosewyn. Daughter of Isabelle Rosewyn. I remember your mother well. She was a potion master who served the Crown." 

I swallowed hard. “Yes, Your Majesty.”  

Lady Kalali slammed her palms on the table. "Your Majesty, this is treason! She brewed a love potion and intended it for your own knight commander. The law is clear. The penalty for such witchcraft is death." 

My vision blurred. I tried to speak, but Lady Kalali cut me off every time I opened my mouth. 

“She must be executed!” Lady Kalali cried. “This is no petty crime. She was plotting to manipulate a royal knight!”  

The Queen looked at me with ice in her stare. “Do you deny it?”  

I opened my mouth again. “I, I didn’t mean…” 

Lady Kalali screeched, “She admits it!”  

My knees nearly buckled. I felt myself sinking into hopeless silence. It was useless. Every word I tried to say was torn apart before it could even leave my lips.  

The Queen sighed. “Lady Kalali speaks the truth. The penalty for creating and administering a love potion is death. Especially when it targets one of my own knights.”  

My mouth was dry as dust. I tried one last time. “Please, Your Majesty, I didn’t mean for…” 

“Enough,” the Queen snapped. She turned to Gideon. “Commander Malik. You drank the potion. Are you… under its effects?”  

Gideon finally stepped forward, calm as ever. His voice was low, but carried through the chamber like thunder. "No, Your Majesty. I am unaffected. The potion was either too weak or poorly brewed. Perhaps Miss Rosewyn lacks her mother's talent." 

Lady Kalali hissed. "So what? She meant to enchant you. She should hang for it." 

But Gideon continued, undeterred. “Your Majesty, if I may, I propose a solution.”  

Everyone fell silent. Even Lady Kalali froze, her mouth half-open.  

The Queen's eyes narrowed. "Speak." 

"Rather than execution," he said, each word carefully placed, "allow me to take responsibility for Miss Rosewyn." 

Lady Kalali's breath hitched. "What exactly are you proposing?" 

Gideon's gaze remained fixed on the Queen. "I will marry her." 

The silence that followed was absolute. 

My ears roared. The room tilted. I blinked rapidly, convinced I must have misheard him. 

Lady Kalali's voice came out strangled. "Have you lost your mind?" 

Even the Queen seemed momentarily still, her expression unreadable. Then she leaned forward slightly. "You understand what you're proposing, Commander?" 

"I do." His voice was steady, but I saw the muscle in his jaw tick. "Executing her will raise questions. Suspicions. The people will talk of conspiracy and hidden agendas." He paused. "If I marry her, we frame this as a private engagement. One kept quiet until my return from the border. The people will celebrate. There will be no scandal to investigate." 

The Queen studied him like she was reading a military strategy, not a marriage proposal. 

Lady Kalali reeled back, her composure cracking. "You would bind yourself to a common potion maker? After everything? I have waited for you, Commander. For years." 

Gideon's eyes finally shifted to her. Just for a moment. "My decision stands." 

Lady Kalali's face contorted. "You cannot be serious! This girl is nobody. She has nothing! How dare you insult me like this!" 

But the Queen leaned back slowly in her chair. “A political marriage would indeed keep the matter quiet.” She considered me, eyes sharp as knives. “So be it. The marriage shall take place in two weeks. We will announce your engagement as a joyful union long desired. The kingdom will believe it was planned all along.”  

Lady Kalali stumbled back. "No! Your Majesty, you cannot allow this travesty!" 

The Queen raised a single finger. "Enough, Lady Kalali." She stood. "Make your preparations. The announcement will be made to the court tonight." She swept from the chamber, silk hissing against the floor. 

Gideon didn’t move at first. He stood rooted, like stone. Then he turned and followed her without a word. His jaw was tight and his back was stiff. He did not look back at me. 

Not even once.  

I stood there, frozen, my pulse pounding in my ears.  

Lady Kalali's laugh slithered through the silence, low and sharp. "Well," she said, circling me like a vulture, "you must be so very proud. One love potion and you've ensnared the most powerful man in the kingdom. Your mother would be mortified." 

"Leave her alone!" Maddie snapped. She stepped in front of me again, trembling with rage. 

Lady Kalali sneered. "The little mouse has a voice. Tell me, is it loyalty or plain foolishness?" 

Maddie’s hands curled into fists. "At least I don't throw myself at men who've already rejected me." 

Lady Kalali's expression twisted. "He didn't choose her, you naive girl. He sacrificed himself. This marriage is nothing but pity. Damage control. No man of real power would ever truly want a girl who peddles kitchen herbs and illegal brews." 

The words hit like stones. I tried not to flinch.  

Maddie’s voice cracked. "You know nothing about her." 

Lady Kalali leaned in, eyes glittering. "I know she's a pale shadow of her mother. And now she'll spend the rest of her miserable life trapped in a palace where she doesn't belong, married to a man who sees her as a liability, not a wife." 

That landed. 

Hard.  

Because deep down, a part of me wondered if it was true.  

But Maddie stepped closer, her voice barely above a whisper. "Say whatever helps you sleep at night. You lost. That's what really eats at you, isn't it?" 

Lady Kalali’s smile sharpened. “Oh, darling.” She stepped back, smoothing her gown. “This isn't over. Not remotely. Do you honestly think the palace nobles will welcome some potion-brewing nobody as their Commander's bride? There are games being played that you haven't even begun to comprehend." 

She turned to me, her voice like poisoned silk. "Enjoy your victory while it lasts, Miss Rosewyn. Every step you take in this palace will be on broken glass." 

Then she swept from the chamber with a flourish of violet silk, the guards parting to let her pass. 

Silence fell. 

Maddie slumped beside me, breathing hard. “Gods,” She whispered. “She’s a demon.”  

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.  

Everything felt far away. Unbelievable.  

“I’m so sorry, Becca,” Maddie said, softer now, her voice tight with guilt. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.”  

I shook my head numbly. “It’s not your fault.”  

"It is," Maddie said. "I pushed you. Now you are trapped with him." 

My breath caught.  

Trapped.  

The guards moved like shadows, silent and firm. One of them stepped toward Maddie. “By order of the Queen,” He said, “you are to be escorted from the palace grounds immediately. You are not to return unless summoned.”  

Maddie flinched. "But she needs..." 

“I’ll be fine,” I said, voice barely a whisper.  

Maddie turned to me, eyes wide and wet, lip trembling like she might protest anyway.  

“I mean it,” I said. “It’s better if you go before they drag you.”  

Maddie threw her arms around me. Her voice was muffled against my shoulder. "I'll find a way to help you, Becca. I swear it. Just hold on, all right?" 

I nodded, even though I didn’t believe it. Her warmth was the last real thing I felt before the guard peeled her away.  

Silence returned. Cold and suffocating.  

I stepped back into the ballroom. My heart thudded. The music had started again. The nobles were laughing. The Queen stood on the dais in her red robes. She held a goblet high. 

The guards didn't let me hesitate. I was escorted forward, toward the dais, where I was meant to stand beside... 

A hand reached out. Caught mine. 

Gideon. 

His grip was steady. Infuriatingly warm.  

I looked up at him, startled. He didn’t glance at me, didn’t smile or frown. He just held my hand like it was a formality. Like he didn’t know it had just become the most confusing moment of my life.  

Then the Queen's voice soared above the murmurs of the crowd. “Noble guests,” She declared, her tone honeyed but cold beneath it, “tonight we celebrate more than a victory. We rejoice in love long hidden and at last revealed.”  

A murmur rippled through the crowd.  

“The Knight Commander of the Crown, Gideon Malik,” the Queen said, “has returned from the border victorious. And with him… a long-awaited secret.”  

She gestured toward us.  

“Tonight, I am honored to announce the betrothal of Commander Malik to Rebecca Rosewyn, daughter of Isabelle Rosewyn. Their union, forged in devotion and years of silence, shall bring strength and unity to the realm.”  

A wave of applause rose through the ballroom, hesitant, confused, some forced. I didn’t hear any of it because someone had just entered. 

Rhys. 

He was halfway through the doors when he stopped. His gaze flicked toward the Queen, who was gesturing toward us. Toward me standing beside Gideon. 

His expression remained calm, almost unreadable, but there was a flicker in his eyes, a subtle shift that I couldn’t miss. 

He lingered for a heartbeat, then looked away. He did not storm out or make a scene. He simply left, quietly, quickly, as if he had seen enough. And somehow that was worse. 

My throat tightened. Gideon’s hand still held mine, steady and warm, but it did nothing to soothe the hollow ache spreading through my chest. Something inside me cracked, though I didn’t notice at first. I only realized I was shaking when Gideon squeezed my hand gently, just enough to ground me. 

The Queen lifted her goblet again, and the crowd resumed their polite clapping, none the wiser to the mess unraveling beneath their feet.  

Then it was over. The Queen stepped down from the dais with a rustle of silk and a smirk like she’d won.  

“Commander,” the Queen said smoothly, "since you're so eager to protect her, then protect her well. She'll be moved into your quarters. As of this moment, she answers to you." 

I couldn’t breathe. His quarters?  

Gideon bowed his head. “As you command.”  

Then without waiting for permission, he led me away, our hands still joined.