My laugh cut her off. Trefor trembled at the sound, caught between humiliation and twisted ecstasy. My hand went into my satchel and produced a small, blue vial.
“Put this into Lady Angharad’s drink, Trefor.” I took my feet from him, and he sat up. Angharad widened her eyes and lunged for him, but I kicked forward and stopped her. “You stay in your chair.”
Angharad collapsed back into her seat. She watched her husband take the vial with shaking hands, uncorking it and tipping its contents into her whiskey.
“Alana, please—” she tried, cutting herself off as I sipped my drink. Her gaze turned frantically to her husband. “Trefor? I don’t know what she’s done to you, but you must think of our children. You cannot do this.”
“Give her the glass.”
He put it in her hands. His fingers trembled, some small part of him fighting against my command, but my voice hollowed him out.
Angharad stared hopelessly at her husband, then at me. “You can’t.”
“Can’t I?” My eyes narrowed. “You went to Taran. You’re the reason Florence died. For what?”
“She was a witch!” Angharad yelled.
“You had her burned alive because she humbled you.” I leaned forward. “Drink.”
“My children!”
“Trefor.”
He lifted the glass to her lips. “Please, Angharad.”
She shook her head. The marquis took hold of her face and forced her lips open, pouring the drink into her mouth. The whiskey disappeared, its empty glass clattering to the table.
Angharad clutched her throat, staring at me with wide eyes.
“Good. Let’s talk,” I said.
That broke her. She lurched forward, claws out, but Trefor held her back, confining her to her seat. She screamed like a wildcat. “Fuck! I should have killed you myself!”
“Angharad—” Trefor attempted, but she thrashed so violently against him that he struggled to form words.
“I should have taken matters into my own hands! Some upstart, somenobody, claiming the throne?! Claiming Nicolas?!” She nearly escaped Trefor’s hold, but he pinned her arms behind her back and pulled her into the seat. “How did you do it? With the same spell you’ve used to curse my worthless husband?”
Angharad clutched her stomach, but I knew the poison wasn’t acting yet.
“That Hadrian oaf couldn’t take care of you,” she snarled. At first, I thought she meant Quinn, but then I recalled the assailant in my chambers. My heart skipped. “I decided I’d have to befriend you, get you on my side… But do you have any idea how many doors closed for us, how many courtiers were fucked over by your presence? Some woodland rubbish infesting our halls, mocking centuries of culture?!”
My heart pounded. I fought to keep control of my expression, but something must have shown; Angharad’s lips curled with savage pleasure.
“You sent the assailant?” I asked. “Not Percy?”
“Everyone wanted you gone!” Angharad cackled with mounting hysteria. “Queen Adelaide believed you were a nuisance the rest of us would sort out. The other courtiers were outraged, playing nice with the common filth infiltrating our court. So, I hired the man. I thought you’d figured it out, that you were avoiding me because somehow, you knew. But youconfidedin me! And poor, stupid Percy…no one questioned when I pointed the finger his way.”
I clutched my glass. “You killed an innocent man.”
“No; I believe that was you,” she replied, sweat beading alongher forehead. She swiped it away. “You killed him with magic, didn’t you? And poor Florence took the fall! It’syourfault she burned! You wanted Percy dead, so you brought her here!”
I slammed my glass on the table, shaking with enough fury to silence her.
“Let me tell you what was in that vial,” I murmured, regarding Angharad with newfound resentment. “Hellfire. I wanted you to feel what Florence experienced. And it must be starting now. Look at you.”
Angharad clutched her chest, gasping for air. Soon, the burning would spread from within, her nerves screaming as if flames licked at them.
Those pale features began to redden, then blistered, bursting from heat. She screamed, begging me to make it stop, else kill her now and let it be done.
