Hellebore choked on the sip she’d been taking. She lurched forward to set the glass down as she coughed. A chair screeched and a warm hand was on her back as she pressed her napkin to her mouth while her body convulsed with a few more coughs. She looked over her shoulder to see Taiyo crouching beside her, having abandoned his chair.
“Are you alright?”
“Sunshine?”
Taiyo grinned, hand still on her back, only now it moved up and down, and Hellebore’s heart kept racing. “What? You don’t think it fits?”
Hellebore shoved at his shoulder, knocking him off balance, and he fell back against his chair with a laugh. “I see why you keep doing this. It’s not your court that’s insufferable. It’s you.”
The servants attending them exchanged a few glances, but none of them stepped in.
“Oh, you wound me so.” Taiyo clasped a hand to his heart. His fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt as he grabbedthe chair with his other hand and stumbled back to his feet. Hellebore glanced at his glass. He’d only had one, so he couldn’t be drunk.
“Just sit back down and tell me what exactly this thing is so I can be certain you’re not secretly trying to poison me.” Hellebore pointed to the foreign vegetable on her plate she had not yet touched.
Taiyo sank into his chair before pulling it back up, closer to her side than before. “Don’t worry, I ensured everything you’re fed is safe for you to consume. Unlike some, I’m not in the business of accidentally poisoning people.”
“If you don’t let it go, the next one won’t be an accident.”
“Believe me, sunshine, you’re not going to be the thing that kills me.”
She stabbed at her food. Obviously. Elves and their ridiculous lifespans.
A month and a half into her research, Hellebore came back to her room, having long since dismissed Phoebe and Elaine for the evening. Taiyo hadn’t extended her an invitation to eat with him, so she decided to press on with her work. She'd been deep in her experiment that involved the rotting irises and samples of the other plants being affected by the rot as well and needed to get her observations recorded, specifically for the request she was about to make.
But when she entered her room, she spotted a little bit of light underneath the door connecting her room to Taiyo's. So he was still awake. She started for the door, but the sound of voices on the other side stopped her from opening it.
“—nity! Don't be foolish.”
Princess Haruko.
“She's been here over a month now and has done nothing but what she said she would. She's different, granted it may not be by much, but enough.”
“You've thought that before.”
Were they talking about the last time Taiyo had had any significant interactions with an alchemist?
“Yes, and I learned my lesson, but this time I have nothing left to lose.”
Was it more than just a poor first impression with Aunt Palladia?
What more weren't they telling her? Did it have anything to do with her solving the rot? How could they expect her to solve the problem if they didn't give her all the information?
Their voices lowered and Hellebore had to strain to hear anything, and even then she couldn’t make anything more out.
Then, Haruko said, “Please, don’t look for something that’s not there. She’s a tool to be used. Nothing more.”
Taiyo said nothing in response. Another door opened and shut. Hellebore waited approximately five seconds before she flung the door connecting their rooms open.
Taiyo jumped from his spot on his bed, catching himself on one of the four posts, eyes widening, skin paling, and face falling as he looked at her.
“Hellebore—”
But she was looking at the bottles on his nightstand beside the bed, stepping into his room for the first time. Interesting. What were they for? She waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry. I’m not about to start screaming and throwing things at you.”
“How long were you there?” Taiyo asked, still gripping the post so tightly his knuckles looked ready to fracture.
She breezed right past him, picking up the first bottle and looking over her shoulder. “Not long. I learned nothing new other than the fact that there’s something you’re not telling me. I already know you’re desperate and that you arranged this marriage for the sole purpose of using me as a tool.”
