Chapter 2

In my past life, I believed every lie she told me. I drank that bowl every single day, right on time, for forty-nine days straight. There was nothing nourishing in it at all.

It was Desert Dreamleaf mixed with the ashes of burned talismans. Taken daily, it slowly scattered the soul, weakening the bond between spirit and body until her fate-stealing ritual had the perfect opening.

If she hadn't smugly told me the whole truth right before I died, I never would have known what really killed me.

I looked up at her, my tone flat.

"I'm not drinking it. Take it away."

The smile on Faye Palmer's face froze for a split second. It passed so fast most people would've missed it. Then she quickly put on a hurt expression, and her voice softened.

"Come on, Miss. Madam specifically told me to bring this. Your coming-of-age ceremony is only a month away. You can't afford to get sick."

The madam she meant was Lady Evelyn, my stepmother. My birth mother died young, and Faye Palmer, Lady Evelyn's orphaned distant relative, had been brought into the manor and placed at my side as my personal maid.

In my last life, Lady Evelyn's moment of pity brought a wolf right into our home.

I looked at Faye Palmer's fragile, pitiful act, and the hatred in my chest was damn near bursting out. For ten years, I treated her like a sister and gave her everything she needed.

And what did I get in return? My family destroyed, and my body cut down.

But now wasn't the time to rip the mask off. She had spent ten years plotting this, and she was suspicious by nature. If I reacted too strongly, she'd only strike early and ruin my plan.

I looked away, sat back down on the bed, and pretended to be tired.

"I'm exhausted. Leave. I'll drink it later."

Faye Palmer didn't move. Her eyes stayed lowered, her posture still meek, but she refused to leave.

"Miss, if it gets cold, it won't work. Why don't I stay and watch you drink it first, then head out to clean up?"

She was pressuring me. Pressuring me to drink this death sentence right now.

I raised my eyes to her. My tone sounded lazy, but it carried the natural authority of the eldest daughter of Grace Manor.

"What?"

"Since when do you get to decide whether I take my medicine, or when?"

Faye Palmer's face went pale.

She dropped to her knees with a thud, bowing her head so low her voice came out shaking.

"I wouldn't dare. I'm only worried Madam will blame me, and that you'll hurt your health..."

"If you don't dare, then get out."

I cut her off.

"I said I'll drink it later. Standing here and bothering me only makes me lose my appetite even more."

Faye Palmer didn't dare argue anymore. She could only bow and answer, "Yes," before setting the tray on the low table beside my bed and backing out. The door closed softly.

I slipped off the bed and pressed my ear to the crack in the door first. The footsteps outside moved farther away. But I knew she hadn't really left.

She had to be hiding around the corner of the corridor, staring at my door and waiting to see when I'd drink it.

I ignored her, turned around, and walked to the low table, picking up the bowl. The smell was sharp and bitter, with that bloody stink of spell ash hidden underneath.

First, I found a clean porcelain bottle and poured in a little less than half the liquid. Then I scraped up some of the dregs from the bottom, sealed them together, and hid the bottle in a secret compartment in my vanity.

That was evidence. Hard proof that Faye Palmer had been using forbidden magic on me.

As for the rest, I walked to the window, pushed it open, and poured every drop into the soil beneath the broad-leaf plant outside. The black liquid seeped into the dirt and vanished in seconds.