The Empress's Revenge

Chapter 30

Obviously, I wasn't on the staircase anymore. The fire crackled and someone gripped my hand in theirs.

I had the urge to ask them to extinguish the fire, for it was roasting in the room and I was uncomfortably warm.

"I should've noticed."

A voice growled from beside my bed, as they rubbed their thumb on my hand.

Noticed what? I hadn't felt ill until this morning.

"Now, things are going to change drastically."

Of course they were. A war was brewing between the cold, brittle North and the regal East.

"Im sorry for doing this to you..." The low voice trailed off as it broke.

Was Dankish the one that poisoned me?

Apparently the food sent to me was from him, so of course I ate it with no objections.

Who I assumed was Dankish stood and leaned over me to press his lips against my forehead. They felt cool.

"Keep a cloth compresses against her forehead." He said.

I felt chilly as someone put a damp cloth on my forehead and it eased the heat from my body.

I needed to get up and be productive. A war and a wedding were going on, and I was the future queen.

My eyes felt dry as I tried to open them. The dark stone ceiling loomed above me and I blinked a few times.

"My lady?"

A maid poked her face over me as I licked my lips.

"What day is it?"

The maid thought for a minute before telling me the date- two days before the wedding.

I started to sit up and the maid backed away nervously. My nausea had gone away and I needed to get dressed.

"Ring for the fabricators. Lets fit my dress."

The maid paled then muttered something I couldn't hear before leaving the room.

Strange, but I brushed it off.

A few moments later, the maids appeared holding white fabrics and lace, looking at each other nervously.

I stood up and they instructed me to a makeshift dais where they wrapped a large white cloth around my waist and started making the dress.

It felt as though they were studying me, assessing me, and it was slightly unnerving.

Soon, my skirt was done and they started with the upper half of the dress, making it a shoulderless dress, but had long lace peasant sleeves that ran down my arms.

The whole dress was just white and it turned out this was the mold for me and the rest of the dress would be made later.

The whole process took 2 hours, and by the time the maids left, I was starving.

The last thing I had eaten was the food which poisoned me, so I was slightly scared to ring for food, in case the same thing happened.

I pushed away the thought of hunger and dressed into a bloodred dress with a large skirt and elbow length sleeves and I slid into a pair of flat black shoes.

I was going to climb those stairs.

As I stepped out into the hallway, I looked up and down the corridor for anyone, but the halls were deserted.

Odd.

But I quickly made my way to the bottom of the mages tower and I climbed the stairs with success.