"Daniel, stop slouching!" Luna Queen Cara demanded; his face reddened as he sat straight; his eyes locked on his plate. I couldn't take my eyes away from him.
I couldn't believe it.
David, the friend I made in the palace, was actually Prince Daniel.
"Doris." Cara turned her icy gaze toward me. "My son, Daniel, needs a refill."
She motioned for his glass; I cleared my throat and bowed my head at her.
"Of course, your majesty," I said as I shuffled toward him nervously. He kept his eyes locked on his plate as I poured his glass of wine; I took in a shaky breath, still not sure what I was seeing. Eventually, he stole a glance in my direction; his eyes laced with a fear I didn't recognize, and his breathing matched mine.
"I'm so sorry..." he said under his breath.
I said nothing as I pulled away from him; I wasn't sure what to say.
He was a prince for crying out loud. He lied to me this entire time and all I wanted to do was curl up and burst into tears.
"Honestly, Daniel..." Cara muttered, turning away from him. "Why can't you be more like your brothers?"
Daniel didn't answer; he stared sheepishly down at his plate; ashamed.
None of this was making sense. Why would he lie to me? Why wouldn't he tell me?
It's not like I could say anything to him; if I did then the others would know that we've met before and have become friends. I couldn't put Prince Daniel at risk like that; I couldn't put myself at risk like that.
I didn't have time to think much more about it though; Mr. Carson came through the doors with another maid pushing a serving table. On the table were bowls of soup. He glanced in my direction and motioned for me to join them on the other side of the dining hall.
"Help serve the soup," he ordered as I approached.
"Yes sir," I said, nodding.
Each bowl of soup had a name card in front of it for each of the royal party. My stomach growled as the aroma went through my nose; with all the excitement of the day, I completely forgot to eat this morning. It was going to be torture watching them eat.
As I grabbed the bowls, I started going around the table and placing each bowl in its rightful spot. I could still feel William's eyes periodically, and now I was feeling Daniel's eyes on me as well. I refused to look at either of them. I was still majorly hurt that Daniel would go out of his way to lie to me.
It made sense as to why he followed me to the library and asked if I was working the party; he was probably making sure I wasn't going to be here so he could keep up his lie. I just don't understand what the point of that was though.
I went back to the serving table to grab a couple more bowls when I noticed there was something different inside Luna Queen Cara's soup. Unlike everyone else, she had a small flower hidden in hers. I frowned as I stared at it; it resembled an Aconitum flower.
All servants around the palace knew that Luna Queen Cara was highly allergic to Aconitum flowers. Someone in the kitchen must have put it in her soup to try and kill her.
But who would do such a thing? Who would risk something like that?
It was a stupid attempt and I nearly scoffed; it was so obviously there that anyone with eyes would be able to see it right away. I took Melody's name card and switched it with Cara's. Melody wasn't allergic to this flower so I knew there would be no harm done to her.
I was glad that I saw that before serving the soup because that would have looked so bad on my end. I made a mental note to make sure to check each dish as they arrive for the rest of the evening. I couldn't be too careful, and I did not doubt in my mind that if they tried to kill her once this evening, they were definitely going to try to kill her again.
Especially once they got word that this attempt didn't work.
Mr. Carson was waiting in the foyer, directing some other servants while the royal party ate their starting soup. I wasn't going to cause a frenzy by alerting anyone of this attempt; at least not yet. Once the party was over, I'll pull Mr. Carson aside to let him know what I found in Cara's soup. He will probably get the guards and search for everyone in the kitchen.
I felt a nervousness creeping into my stomach, but I had to push the feeling away and continue with my job. I couldn't let them see me in a panic because they would know something was wrong. I planted a smile on my face as I grabbed the last two bowls of soup, one for Lady Melody and the other for Luna Queen Cara.
I placed it in front of each of them and the other maid left with the serving table to collect the next courses. I went back to my spot against the wall on the far side of the dining hall. I glanced at each cup to make sure they were still full. I topped off the wine that looked a little low and returned to my spot.
Melody was in the middle of discussing something with William; he had finally pulled his eyes away from me and was addressing his lady. I felt a sigh of relief that the pressure was off me, at least for a little while.
I don't know why he affected me so much; he made it painfully obvious he wanted nothing to do with me and that he hated me. Yet he still stares at me like I had slapped him across the face, and he was planning his revenge.
Daniel kept stealing small glances at me; he was worried that I was angry with him. To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was feeling toward him. I just wanted to know why he would lie to me like this.
I glanced over at Martin who was watching me from his spot at the table, Lady Grace paying no attention. I straightened my stance and smiled at him. He returned the smile and kept his eyes locked on mine for what felt like an eternity. He looked as if he wanted to say a thousand things to me but of course, he couldn't with his family surrounding him.
I finally broke eye contact and stared down at my feet
I was startled by the sounds of coughing and the clattering of a spoon as it hit the ground. I looked at the table and noticed that Melody was leaning back in her chair and away from the table; her face was red, and her hand was on her chest as she gasped for air.
Her coughing caused small bits of mucus to come out of her mouth which visibly disgusted the women at the table. Everyone was silent as they turned their direction to Melody.
For a moment, I thought she was choking on something, and I wondered why nobody was moving to help her. But then I saw, what looked like, foam coming out of her mouth.
I gasped as her face turned a darker shade of red; she couldn't breathe.
Blood started to come out of her nose and her body trembled uncontrollably.
"Someone get the medic!" Martin yelled as he quickly stood.
William also jumped to his feet and ran toward the door; he pushed it open to yell for Mr. Carson.
"Get the medic," William ordered him.
Mr. Carson looked confused for a moment, he glanced around the table and his eyes spotted Melody who was still gagging for breath, foaming at her mouth, and bleeding through her nose.
He gasped and ran in the opposite direction to get some help.
My body was shaking; it must have been the soup. It wasn't just the flower that was in it; they must have poisoned it too.
Melody fell to her knees; her body collapsing to the ground. She was no longer coughing.
The room was met with silence as they stared at Melody; everybody was stunned.
I sucked in a shaky breath.
I killed her.