She blinked to steady her vision, but everything was fuzzy and disjointed. “I am not well.”
Sima knelt next to her but made no move to help, no move to smother the coals smoking on the beautiful wood floor. “Answer my question.”
Sima’s hands were right in front of Lilette’s face. She stared at the ring on the woman’s finger. A curving dragon, its scales bright gold, its face impossibly detailed with emerald chips for eyes. But what stunned her most was the dragon’s claws—five of them. Only the royal family could wear a dragon with five claws.
Sima bent down and clenched Lilette’s jaw in her impossibly smooth hands. “He’s risked a war for you. I want to know why.”
This close, Lilette could smell the woman’s pear-blossom perfume. Servants wouldn’t wear something as lavish as perfume. And the eunuchs served the harem. A different sort of fear reared up inside Lilette. “Who are you?” But she didn’t wait for her answer. “The woman on the elephant.” Chen’s wife.
Han had warned Lilette to be afraid. Her stomach cramped. “What have you done to me?”
Sima’s hold tightened, bruising Lilette’s jaw. “I will give you the antidote if you tell me why.”
“But . . .” Lilette sputtered before clamping her mouth shut. She’d only had one bite of the spring roll. Surely that wasn’t enough to kill her, yet her body told her otherwise. Lilette’s heart raced, pumping the poison faster through her veins. She did not want to die.
“Because I am a witch. His father tried to take my mother when I was a child. I was meant for Chen.”
The woman’s expression turned to disgust. “Did he think to sire his own private choir of witches? It would never work. The witches always find their own.” Sima laughed suddenly. “Well then, his destruction will be easy to orchestrate. I won’t even have to kill him. The witches will do it for me.”
Lilette’s head ached. “The antidote.”
Sima’s gaze narrowed. “One more thing. What was your mother’s name?”
Lilette wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her wrist. “Lellan. Her name was Lellan.”
Sima scrutinized her for a long moment. She gave a small nod of satisfaction before releasing her and gathering the food and tea. Lilette’s hand shot out, trying to grab her arm, but there were two arms now, and she’d reached for the wrong one. The woman easily batted her away and started toward the silk screen.
“Wait! The antidote!”
The woman chuckled dryly as she tossed the food and the remainder of the tea into the soil. “There isn’t one. Never was.” She stepped out of sight.
“Should we wait until it is finished?” came a man’s deep voice. Definitely not a eunuch.
“It’s too risky. Besides, it only takes one bite, and the whole plate was empty. No one could survive that,” Sima answered tartly.
One bite was still one bite too many. Lilette stopped fighting her nausea and vomited onto the fine silk cushions. She reached into her robes and tossed the towel of mangled food onto the floor. She had to get out of the house, get help. She struggled to her feet, using the wall to shore herself up until she peeked out the door.
Sima and the man were gone. It was nearly dark. Lilette put her hands out for balance and started forward, but promptly tumbled down the steps. She lay gasping, her heart flopping in her chest like a dying fish. She pressed the heel of her hand against her ribs to keep it from beating out of her chest.
She rolled to her side and came face to face with the monkey she’d thrown the spring roll to. It was lying under a shrub, dead. Looking past the carcass, Lilette fixed her gaze on the gate. She had to reach it. Years of balancing on Fa’s fishing boat were the only reason she made it to her feet and kept her balance all the way to the gate.
Lilette’s hands were numb and tingling, her shaking limbs impossibly heavy, but she managed to grab the latch and pull it open. She lurched through the gate. Everything tipped and swayed around her. Leaning on the wall, she threw up bile. She pressed the back of her cold wrist to her mouth and followed the wall back the way she’d come.
Her heart finally started to slow down. For a moment, she felt better. Her vision cleared and she was able to move without clutching onto something for support. Her pace picked up measurably. It didn’t last long enough, though. Everything was surrounded by a halo, like each object was backed by its very own sun. She swayed and stumbled like someone deep in her cups. She bumped into something, reeled back, and looked up, up, up.
Through her muddy thoughts, she recognized the ramparts. She’d gone the wrong way. Filling her lungs, she screamed for help. Silence answered her. With tears in her eyes, she faced the way she’d come. She could feel her body shutting down. See death teasing her along the outer curve of her vision. Already it was too late.