Raine speaks up. “Did you know, in medieval France, some women would poison their husbands all the time? No, really. They’d poison them in the morning.” She points her finger and stares at it like she’s zoned out and lost her train of thought. She’s feeling the weed.
“And?” I prompt.
“And give them the antidote when they came home. Kept them faithful.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” I fist-bump her.
“I almost feel sorry for Kaiser,” Honey says.
“Don’t. He can handle himself.”
“But he doesn’t have to.” Raine hugs the bear’s head. “Because now he has you to handle him.”
“Good job, and that’s right,” I say, because she worked hard on that delivery, and dirty jokes should be encouraged. “I can definitely handle him. A little poison goes a long way.”
“Do it for the plot,” Honey says.
21
Bella
* * *
At dawn, my eyes ping open.
There’s a chill in the air, and I’m grateful for the big black blanket I have covering me. All the white candles in the fireplace are out, burned down.
Raine’s on the floor, still snuggling with the bear’s head. Honey’s asleep in the big armchair. I took the couch, and the springs weren’t so great on my back. No wonder I’m awake.
Then again, no matter how late I fall asleep, I tend to wake up early. I love the quiet hours before the sun rises.
I get up and wrap myself in the blanket, which turns out to be a robe of some sort. I put it on and sneak out of the drawing room, tiptoeing over the creaky floorboards and down the hall toward the grand staircase in the front of the house. I find a window and look out over the fields. This early, with the light glinting on the dew on the long grasses, reminds me of mornings at our family farm. My mother liked to stay up late reading or painting, and then sleep in. My father and I liked to rise early. “You keep farmer’s hours,” Mom always said. Those were the happy days before we lost her.
I sink my hands into the big black robe that Raine found last night.
It’s actually an executioner’s hood.
I feel something in my pocket. She must have put the bottle of Aqua Tofana in there before she took it off.
I hold it up to the light.
Fun fact: Belladonna is almost tasteless. Even slightly sweet. You can poison someone slowly, and they’d never know it. Like the unsuspecting husbands who lived in Rome during the Italian Renaissance.
I know exactly what I’m going to do with Kaiser. I won’t kill him—no, that’d be too easy.
He thinks that might makes right. Those are his rules. Supervillain Rule #2: It’s easy to beat an opponent who plays by the rules. He’s confident in his height and his weight and his physical strength, but physical strength is only part of it.
He thinks that he can overpower me, but there are many forms of power.
Even when you are smaller, you can still win.
I’m going to seduce him. All the dressing up last night gave me an idea. The best offense is a good disguise. I’ve been pretending to be a good girl, and it’s working. He’s opening up. I’m going to turn it up to eleven. He thinks he’s training me, but I’ll be training him.
He’ll think he’s in control, but I’ll make him obsessed with me. I want him to lose his mind. Once he’s feral for me, I’ll have the upper hand. He will be in my thrall and do anything for me.
I will make Fraternitas regret this marriage.
But by then, it’ll be too late. They’ll have lost Kaiser’s loyalty.
