Chapter 26

                                        

                                              
Almost inevitably, likely due to all the stress and overwork, Emberlee awoke and found herself miserably sick. Her body felt parched and feverish, her bones didn't sit in her skin right, and her heartbeat raced to push sluggish blood around her veins. The only sign she had that this wasn't a simple illness was that her Fairy self felt just as sickly, so she was weakly wondering if it could be a reaction to enduring Méabh's power the day before instead of overworking. Regardless of the cause, when Helene, the maid sent by Empress Clara, found her in bed sick she decided it was a perfect opportunity to enact her Mistress' order. The older woman had no problem taking one of the pillows from Emberlee's bed and pushing it down to smother her while she was too weak to fight. 
Emberlee's body was already so heavy and cumbersome, that the maid on top of her pushing the pillow down made it impossible to breathe. There was no Mirror in the room to save her with Fairy Magic, and she couldn't even swing Need to save herself. For the first time in too long, she was all but helpless. Except that Emberlee had been Blessed by the Beloved and there were tiny plants as decoration in the room.
The weight of the maid was suddenly gone, Emberlee weakly gasping for breath, pulling the pillow off her face even as horrified screaming started. Unlike listening to Deirdre's agony through a reflection, this was more immediate as Helene's fear and pain viscerally shrieked out. Vines the size of a ship's ropes had wrapped around the maid's body and limbs, the thorns shredding skin as they bound her fast. The door to her room slammed open, Sir Ludwig charging in to rescue her, only to stop in his tracks as the gore that had once been maid Helene splattered the room, her body pulled into six different pieces as torso and head were wrenched from limbs. Emberlee was as liberally coated as her Knight, and in the hallway, Sir Eloise's professional demeanour cracked as she stared in surprise. Behind the experienced Knight, Prince Damien looked furious that another assassination attempt had occurred and yet he watched in fascination as the bloodied vine extended itself towards Emberlee like a pet seeking affection for a job well done. As she stroked the bloodied coil of the massive vine, a small length wound itself around her and detached from the plant itself. 
She felt the serpentine length of vine slither across her skin without tearing, and settle around her neck like a collar of thorns. Her body still felt weak and slow, but it also felt immensely better than it had moments ago as if using her Blessing helped restore her a little. 
"Mistress?" Sir Ludwig's moment of hesitation was over and despite the gore on them both he carefully checked her for injury. 
"Empress Clara's recommended maid just tried to smother me with a pillow," Emberlee's voice sounded hoarse still, "I'm sick; she saw an opportunity." 
"Take her to my room, she can use the bath there," Prince Damien ordered, using the already filthy Knight to carry the equally unpleasantly wretched Emberlee. "Sir Eloise will guard her while you go clean yourself and inform Oberon of what has transpired, then return," he dismissed her Knight pre-emptively. 
This was the second time she'd been attacked in her bedroom, though this time had clearly been an attempt of opportunity instead of carefully planned, it might still be better to select a female Knight who could sleep in her room until she married Prince Damien. She'd always intended to discard Sir Ludwig once it suited her, regardless of his easy obedience now. Even as the Knight carried her carefully into Prince Damien's room and gently set her down inside the bathroom she contemplated when he'd be expended. 
"You may go," she didn't contradict Prince Damien's orders. 
Now she stood alone with Prince Damien, in his bathroom covered in the gore from the assassin his stepmother had sent with her. Today he wore dark blue and it brought a golden glow to his hazel eyes, and he remained immaculate even as she desecrated the marble floors with filth. And if she wasn't trembling with fatigue still she'd chase him out, but both of them seemed to know that she was too weak to bathe herself and unsure how to ask for help,