CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

~ • FLASHBACK • ~

A cold, biting wind whipped at Marissa’s dark traveling cloak as she slipped back into the Thompson estate through a small, hidden servants’ entrance. Lily, her face pale with terror, had met her at the rendezvous point, her carriage hidden in a grove of trees just off the main road. The "exile" had lasted only two hours. Lily had given her information about everything in a whisper.

Marissa moved through the sleeping, shadowed halls like a ghost. She did not go to her own chambers. She went straight to the nursery wing. The guards Lorena had posted were gone, having been dismissed after the Dowager left. The room was dark, the only light a single, flickering candle by the bed.

As she stepped inside, the door creaked open again behind her. It was Derek. He must have followed her from the entrance. "Lily found me," he whispered, his voice a low, angry growl. "She said it was life or death. What is this?"

He stopped as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. He saw Ryan, the family’s heir, lying perfectly still in the large bed, his face a waxy, bloodless pale. Marissa was already at the bedside, her hand on Ryan’s small, cold forehead. She didn’t look up. "He’s been poisoned," she said, her voice a flat, cold whisper.

She saw the dark, bloody trickle that had come from the corner of his mouth. She took a small, empty glass vial from a pocket in her cloak and used a clean linen edge to carefully swab a sample of the blood, sealing it inside. Then, from the intricate coils of her hair, she pulled a single, long, ornate silver pin.

Derek stared. "A hair pin?" he asked, his voice rough with confusion.

"One can never be too careful," Marissa murmured, her eyes fixed on her task. "I have been poisoned more than once in my life, saved only in the nick of time. I learned to carry a pure silver pin with me everywhere I go."

She dipped the polished silver tip into the blood on the linen. The effect was immediate and horrifying. The bright silver tarnished, turning a sick, dark, blackish-grey in a matter of seconds.

"She dared to poison a child," Marissa whispered, her voice shaking with a rage so profound it was almost silent. "Had this been discovered even an hour later, he would have left this world." She stood up, her mind a sharp, clear instrument of focused purpose. "I need a bowl of clean, warm water, some towels, and my small leather medical kit. It is in the luggage I packed for the temple. Send someone for it. Now."

Derek, stunned into obedience by her absolute authority, relayed the orders to Ian, who was waiting in the hall. In moments, the items were brought. Derek watched, his fists clenched, as she opened the small case, revealing neat rows of dried herbs, tinctures, and small, sharp tools. He reached out, his hand closing over her wrist as she selected a bundle of dark, dried leaves.

"Are you sure you can do this?" he asked, his voice strained.

Marissa looked at his hand on her arm, then up to his face. A small, tired, and incredibly bitter smile touched her lips. She gently removed his hand. "When my mother died," she said, her voice soft but steady, "I was sent to the commoner’s part of the kingdom to stay with my Aunt. Her husband is the local doctor, a true healer. I learned a lot from him, more than just herbs and tonics. So don’t you worry, Your Grace. Trust me."

He saw not a "shrew" or a "duchess," but a woman of terrifying, unexpected capability. He nodded once, stepping back to give her space.

Her movements were deft and certain. She crushed the herbs into a fine powder with a small pestle, mixing them with the warm water to create a dark, potent-smelling tonic. She gently lifted Ryan’s small, limp head, prying his lips open and carefully pouring a small amount of the bitter liquid down his throat, massaging his neck to make him swallow. When she was done, she sat back, a sheen of sweat on her forehead from the sheer, agonizing tension.

Derek, seeing it, silently offered his own clean handkerchief. "Thank you," he said, her voice tight.

She took it and dabbed at her face, her eyes never leaving the child. "Don’t thank me yet. This is not a gentle cure. The tonic is designed to fight the poison, to expel it. He will... he will likely vomit." She took a ragged breath. "It will probably be more bloody. And he might even... stop breathing temporarily."

Derek’s face went white. "Stop breathing?"

"It’s alright," she said quickly, her voice a sharp, reassuring command. "It is a side effect of the herbs fighting a toxin this strong. It is a violent process. But he will live." She clutched the handkerchief in her fist. "But he is not safe, and the culprit has not been found."

"Lorena," Derek growled.

"Lorena couldn’t have given this to him," Marissa said, her mind piecing it all together. "Whatever that ’exorcist’ provided must have been a mistake or he gave her something else. But this..." she held up the blackened silver pin, "this is a different poison. A lethal one. Lorena is cruel, but she loves Ryan. I do not believe she intended to kill him. Someone else is involved. Someone who used her as a cover."

"What do you have in mind?" Derek asked, his voice cold as steel.

"A trap," Marissa said. "Lorena thinks the boy is sleeping. What will she do when she finds him not just asleep, but cold, pale, and not breathing from the tonic’s side effects? She will think he is dead. She will panic."

"And when she panics?"

"She will run straight to the only person she thinks can help her, or the person she blames," Marissa said. "The exorcist. We just need to be there first and make her confess. We’ll get some information from it like what she actually gave Ryan and so on." A dark, dangerous light entered her eyes. "Will you cooperate with me, Your Grace?"

~ • FLASHBACK ENDS •