Page 6 of Poison Nights & Twilight Alchemy

Dulce sat up straighter, her attention arrested at once. Her mother had always refused to tell her why differentiating between teas was so important.

Mama was serious, with no hint of mischief in her eyes now. “This will be a secret between you and me. One you must promise not to tell anyone,” she said. “Do you understand?”

“Not even Papa?” Dulce always told Papa everything, especially when he was teaching her new songs on the piano.

“Papa is the only exception.” Mama laughed, draping her long,dark hair over one shoulder. “Because he knows about this secret already.”

“What about Nanny Vesta and Sylvie?”

“Nanny Vesta and Sylvan are both trustworthy and know most of this, yet not the entirety,” Mama assured her gently. “Sometimes we must keep things to ourselves to protect those we love. Like carrying a burden for them, something too heavy that they don’t need to carry themselves.”

Dulce thought hard. “Like the time Papa cleaned up Sylvie’s spoiled cabbage and replaced it with fresh ones from the garden before he returned from the market? No one told him because Sylvie would feel bad for Papa’s spending money and doing work he thinks only he should be in charge of.”

Mama ruffled her hair with a smile. “Exactly like that, yes.”

“I understand.” Dulce pressed a finger to her mouth and glanced at Mr. Fox. “It’s a secret.”

Her mother took in a deep breath and let it out gradually.

Dulce chewed on her lip. She had never seen Mama this serious.

“I’ve been poisoning you, duckling.”

Dulce blinked, hugging Mr. Fox tightly as her tiny heart thundered inside her chest, nearly cracking her ribcage.

“You want me dead, Mama?”

Her mother stood, rounding the table, and knelt beside Dulce, her silk skirts making that wonderful Mama sound they always made. She took Dulce’s hand in hers, her golden-brown eyes unwavering. “I would never harm you, my love. I’m giving you these poisons because I want you to be strong. There are dangerous people in this world, people who would try to hurt you because of who you are, and the wealth you will one day inherit. Poisoning is their favorite method of reaching their greedy and grasping ends. If poison cannot hurt you, it will instead protect you. Do you understand now why this game is so important?”

Dulce didn’t understand, but she slowly nodded anyway, trying hard to imagine anyone wicked enough to poison her. Were the monsters in the storybooks real? One thing she understood was that she trusted her mother completely.

“I started with small doses, introducing your body to various poisons,” Mama continued. “Only the teeniest drop each fortnight before gradually adding a little more. This is why at first you felt tired and needed to take a morning nap—do you remember? This slow building of tolerance against them will help you gain immunity from poison.” She stood. “Now that you’re old enough, I’m letting you decide for yourself. Do you want to continue?”

Dulce nodded eagerly. A body tolerant of poisons sounded positively magical. She would become like the mongoose, able to resist even a viper’s venom. Impervious as a honey badger or hedgehog. There would be no poison-peddling assassin that could defeat her.

“Our games will grow more challenging, duckling. Especially since you’re a witch. Like me.”

“A witch?” Dulce blinked, squeezing Mr. Fox’s arm.

“Yes. A secret that we keep to ourselves from the villagers in Moonglade. Your grandmother once sent me far away to hone my skills as a child and through most of my adolescent years, yet I will teach you myself, without the cold and harsh ways of old.”

Dulce mulled over all the surprises that had been revealed. “I want to learn more.”

“And you will.” Mama smiled. “Now, let’s go out into the garden and play, shall we? We’ll resume our secret games tomorrow.”

Dulce jumped to her feet in delight. “You hide, and I’ll count!”

The garden was bathed in sunlight, marigolds and daisies in full bloom, and Dulce ran through the door, Mr. Fox in tow, forgetting to eat her last bit of chocolate slowly.

A dull ache thrummed at the back of Dulce’s head, radiating across her temples, and she opened her eyes to utter and complete darkness. Darkness as she’d never experienced it before, a thick blanket of onyx seeping down to her bones.

Rubbing her temples, she went to sit up when her head struck something hard.

“Ow,” Dulce croaked, her voice muffled as she touched her forehead, then trailed her fingers across the surface above her. Smooth folds of silky material over something hard.

Dulce rapped her knuckles against it, feeling its dimensions, a foot beyond her head and to each side.

Cold realization crashed into her like a raging storm.

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