Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
“Three a.m.”
Still the middle of the night. I touch my hair. It’s still in the fancy updo I styled to match the dress. My gloves are gone, though. I took those off. “What happened?” What I mean is, what happened after you drugged my wine?
“You know what happened.” Kaiser clicks on the light. I wince, holding up a hand to block it until my eyes adjust.
Kaiser looks at me like I’m a stranger. Like I’m the enemy.
I feel a deep sadness, mixed with relief. It’ll be easier if Kaiser’s the villain. “We were at the party. I fell asleep.”
“I drugged you.”
“I know.” I could taste the additive when I drank it down. It made me a little drowsy, but it was nothing I couldn’t fight. I decided I wouldn’t fight it, though. I lay down and let sleep take me.
“I don’t know how you did it, but I know you did,” Kaiser says.
“What are you talking about?” I feel a stab of glee. Like I used to feel. I stuff it down.
He stands and steps toward me. His shadow falls over my face. “It’s you,” he says. “You’re the Poisoner.”
34
Bella
“You figured it out.” I shouldn’t feel so good about it, but I do. The way Kaiser’s looking at me, with fascination tinged with fear, is so satisfying. “How?”
“The senator died at midnight. Minutes after you shook his hand. You poisoned him. How?”
I lift my hand and inspect my palm. “A little of this, a little of that.” Kaiser moves so he’s blocking the light. His hair blazes gold, but I can’t see his expression. My heart beats faster recognizing the power move. The predator in the dark.
“He’s not the first. You’ve done this before. How many?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” I scoot to the edge of the bed. “The first was when I was eight. Papa finally let me go to a sleepover, and I was so excited. That night, my friend told me her stepfather was mean to her mother. That he hit her. She showed me bruises where he’d hit her, too. I wanted to tell Papa, but she begged me not to. Her stepfather was a judge. No one could touch him. But the next time I went to her house for a sleepover, I was prepared.”
“You poisoned him.”
“It was easy. A little monkshood sprinkled on his cake, and he was done for.”
“No one suspected?”
“He had a weak heart. He was overworked. My friend was relieved. No one suspected a thing. But then I did it again. My friend introduced me to another girl in my school who said her father was hurting her. That he sometimes came into her room at night. She told a teacher, but her father was powerful and had just been elected mayor. So we planned another sleepover. I used a slower-acting method that time. I made it last a few weeks. I was learning.
“See, my father, he doesn’t kill people. He prefers more subtle methods. A stroke that leaves you paralyzed. A sickness that lingers. A long, slow decline until your heart stops. Something that looks natural.”
“But you killed them.”
“I did what needed to be done. A weak man can still hurt his daughter.”
Kaiser blows out a breath. “The judge, the mayor elect.” He counts on his fingers. “Who else?”
“One more. The principal of my elementary school was touching students. He told them not to tell anyone, that they’d be punished if they did. So I punished him. I used bloodroot to rot his skin and a compound from narcissus to torture him. And finally, I used belladonna to kill him. It was slow and painful. Everything that he deserved.” I clench my hands into fists. I’m not sorry. I’ll never be. No one can make me regret what I’ve done.
If I could do it all over, I wouldn’t change a thing.
“He was the third. Then you stopped.”
“Papa found out and pulled me out of school. Hired tutors and bodyguards. He locked me down as long as he could. But when I turned eighteen, he knew he couldn’t control me anymore.”
“That’s why he made the alliance with us.”
“Yes. You were meant to be my bodyguard. A man who could finally control me. But you can’t, can you? You won’t do anything to me.” Because the poison I gave him didn’t kill him. It bonded him to me.
Kaiser shifts closer. My heart skips a beat. He’s still dangerous. “This is why you weren’t afraid of me. You’ve been poisoning people since you were a child. You’re lethal and no one knows.”
“The best offense is a good disguise.”
“I knew you were dangerous.”
“Mmm, you did, didn’t you? Your instincts were right. You came so close to beating me, Kaiser. I had to come up with new ways to poison people because of you.” I want to tell him about the lotions I developed. The way I coated my skin to absorb the contents into my body. How I went into the bathroom, took off my gloves, and coated my palm with poisonous balm before I shook the senator’s hand.