“Please,” the cook begged, his frantic gaze passing from the guards to the emperor to Drusilla. “I swear, on my life, I’ve done no wrong.”
Gaius surveyed him with cold disgust. He thrust a hand at the remains of the stuffed dates. “Tell me. What is that?”
The man stared at the food. “S-stuffed dates? Please, is there some issue with them?”
“Issue,” Gaius spat in contemptuous mockery. “You have adulterated my sister’s food with walnuts.”
The man went white.
“Are walnuts not forbidden within these walls?” Gaius hissed.
“Yes,” the cook admitted. “I know they make Julia Drusilla ill.”
Gaius took a step closer, and the cook, still on his knees, cringed away, shoulders hunched and gaze on the floor. “Did someone put you up to this? Now that my sister has been named my heir, someone wants to kill her? To do away with our entire line?”
The man lifted his gaze to Gaius’s for a moment in shock. “No! I swear, it was only a mistake.” The cook wrung his hands in despair. “A bag of walnuts was included in our last food delivery by mistake,” he confessed, hanging his head. “I didn’t wish them to go to waste, so I’ve been using them in meals for the staff. We have some new people in the kitchens, it’s possible one of them forgot and used the walnuts by mistake. But I should have noticed. It was my fault. Please, my lady”—his attention turned to Drusilla—“forgive me. I never meant to harm you.”
Kallias instantly respected the man for taking the blame; it would have been all too easy for him to sell out one of his underlings.
Gaius’s jaw twitched as he surveyed the cook, and Kallias tensed, a pit growing in his stomach even though he wasn’t the one facing the emperor’s wrath.
“Who delivered these walnuts?” Gaius demanded.
“Ah—er—I believe the merchant’s name is Publius Varus,” the cook stammered.
Gaius shifted his gaze to the Praetorians. “See if his story changes with the proper inducement. We must discover once and for all if this was an intentional act. And find this merchant. I want him at my feet before dawn.”
The guards saluted and dragged the cook away as he babbled fruitless pleas for mercy.
Icy horror crawled down Kallias’s spine. He spared another glance at Sextus, whose face now bore a frozen expression of terror. Kallias regretted bringing Sextus here to witness all this, but he hadn’t expected the scene to devolve into an innocent man being tortured. And possibly a second man, if the Praetorians succeeded in getting their hands on the merchant.
“Sir,” Kallias attempted, forcing his voice to remain even. “I believe the cook that no harm was intended. I fear harsh treatment will accomplish nothing.”
Gaius made a careless gesture. “Slaves only tell the truth under coercion. Besides, no matter what they do to him, I trust you can put him back together again.”
Drusilla shot a grim look at Kallias, then focused on her brother. Her tight jaw relaxed, and a soft, beseeching expression filled her face. “Gaius, would you agree that since I’m the one who has been harmed, I should have some say in their fate?”
“Do you wish them exiled? Killed? Say the word and it’ll be done.”
Kallias flinched.
Drusilla shook her head. “I don’t wish anyone to suffer on my account. I want you to release the cook and call your guards off pursuing the merchant.”
“This was an attempt on your life!”
“Anyone who knows of my reaction to walnuts also knows it doesn’t cause any actual harm. If someone wanted to poison me, they went about it in a very ineffective way.”
“But they caused you harm. They deserve to suffer,” Gaius insisted.
“That may be your decision, but it isn’t mine.” She held out a hand to him, and took it, handling it like it was made of gold.
“It would pain me greatly if I believed any harm came to them,” Drusilla said. “You don’t wish to hurt me, do you?”
Gaius’s lips pressed together. “Are you sure…just abitof torture? To make absolutely certain no one put them up to it?”
“No,” Drusilla said firmly. “Release the cook. Don’t hunt the merchant. That is my desire.”
Gaius stared at her for a long moment. Then, he gave a reluctant nod. “As you wish.” He signaled to one of the remaining guards, and the man saluted and then left the room.
