Silent For Ten Years, Deadly When I Speak

Synopsis

I was born with a cursed mouth. Anyone I cursed to die would die. For Halbert Fowler, I kept it shut for ten years. I pretended to be mute so long that everyone believed it. The year he enlisted, the men in his camp mocked him for marrying a useless, mute wife. I heard every word, but I offered not a single defense. On the march, assassins lay in wait. I desperately tried to warn them with gestures until my throat burned raw and bled from the strain. Ten years later, Halbert was made a general and returned home in glory. That very day, he demoted me to a concubine and escorted his cousin, Unity Bowen, into the main hall as his lawful wife. She smiled as she brought me a bowl of medicine. "Lizzie, you've worked so hard all these years. This is a nourishing tonic my husband prepared for you." I looked at her false smile and slowly spoke. "Tell me, do you think someone in the General's household will die tomorrow?" Her face drained of all color.