Page 116 of The Study of Poisons
“White Fright.”
“What about Butterfly’s Dust?” she asked.
“Doesn’t exist. I made it up. It sounded good. I needed some threat to keep the food tasters from running away without using guards or locked doors.”
“Does the Commander know it’s a ruse?” she asked with panic in her voice.
“No. He believes you’ve been poisoned.” Thank fate.
Yelena’s sigh of relief turned into another retching session. Valek stood as close to her cell as possible as she screamed and endured the excruciating cramps. One of his agents compared it to childbirth, saying White Fright withdrawal was worse. Once again, he wished for magical powers. He’d do anything to stop her suffering. It would be far easier for Valek to experience the pain than to helplessly listen to his love writhe in agony. Perhaps this was his punishment for not telling Yelena sooner about the White Fright.
Sometime during that awful night, Brazell and Mogkan arrived. They stood by her bars and gloated, taking pleasure in her condition. Valek glared at them, thinking of multiple and creative ways he would kill each. They would suffer for days. He’d slowly leak the life from their bodies.
After they left, he lay on the floor and reached through the bars. “You’re not alone, love. Hold my hand,” he coaxed.
She grasped his fingers, clutching hard. He squeezed back and talked to her in soothing tones. Valek had no idea what he said, but eventually she relaxed and fell asleep. Keeping hold of her hand, he dozed off.
* * *
Yelena’s fingers twitched,waking him.
Concerned that she was having another bout of cramps, Valek asked, “Yelena, are you alright?”
“I think so,” she rasped.
He sagged with relief.
The metallic clank of a door being unlocked sounded.
“Play dead,” Valek whispered, reluctantly releasing her hand. “Try to get them close to my cell.”
She pulled her hand away and replaced it with her left one. Valek stood, brushing the straw and dirt from his clothes as the two guards entered the prison.
“Damn! The stench down here’s worse than the latrine after a brew party,” said the guard holding the lantern.
“You think she’s dead?” his companion asked.
The one with the lantern swung it in an arc and then reached down to touch Yelena’s hand. “Cold as snow-cat piss. Let’s drag her out before she starts to rot. You think it smells bad now…” The lock snapped open, and he wrenched Yelena’s cell door wide. It squealed.
Valek noted which pocket he tucked the keys into as his partner grabbed Yelena’s ankles and dragged her out. Lantern guard took point, lighting the way to the exit. As soon as Yelena was no longer in the lantern light, she seized Valek’s bars.
“Ugh. Hold up, she’s stuck.”
“On what?” the lantern guard asked.
“I don’t know. Come back here with that bloody light.”
She released her grip and hooked an arm inside his cell.Well done, love.
“Back off,” the lantern guard warned Valek.
He stepped back until the guard’s attention switched to his partner, who tugged at Yelena’s elbow. At that moment, he moved. Reaching through the bars, he latched onto the opposite sides of the man’s head and twisted, snapping his neck. The guard grunted and collapsed. The lantern extinguished as it fell to the ground.
“What the hell?” the other man swore.
The sound of Yelena being dragged away filled the darkness. He hadn’t let go of her ankles.
Your turn, love.Remember your self-defense lessons.
