Court of Snakes: This Desert Cage

Lovestruck - The Palace | July of the Third Year

"I have to do it."

"But it's... weird. And gross."

"It's necessary."

"But—"

"Don't."

Parisa put her hands on her hips and gripped the bottle of wine and glasses in her hands. "You know it's the only way for me to see if he does anything suspicious when night falls. Besides, you're just being jealous."

Perseus crossed his arms and frowned, the corners of his mouth pulling down to the bottom of his face. "If you weren't so damn pretty, maybe I wouldn't be."

Parisa kissed him on the cheek and pushed him around the corner. "You're too sweet. Now go!"

After knocking on the door, Parisa waited a moment. She heard some hurried shuffling and the opening and closing of drawers, which took too long in her opinion. She was already suspicious. Rune answered with a pleasant smile of surprise on his face. "Ah! Parisa. What brings you here so late at night?"

Parisa leaned onto the doorframe and replied, "I just came from my father... and I felt I should apologize for the way that I acted about us being married. I was being selfish. You're a great man and I'm lucky to even have the opportunity."

Rune's eyebrow twitched and he scanned the hallway with nervous eyes. "Well. I'm glad you changed your mind."

Parisa adjusted her collar and batted her eyelashes. She wore one of the formal gowns she had been given by her father, and while it was still modest, she hoped it was cute enough. He had to take the bait. "I brought some wine to apologize."

"Aren't you too young to drink?" he cooed.

"Do you really care?"

Rune nodded in the direction of his bedroom and went inside, not giving an answer one way or another. Parisa closed the door with a click after she entered, her heart pounding. The game now was to enact her plan without letting him go too far. Rune moved the book he had gotten for his last birthday from the bed. The lights on each of the bedside tables were on and Parisa started to uncork the wine as he sat on the edge of his bed. "My father sends his blessings with the wine."

Rune watched her struggle with the cork, and he stood and put his hand on hers, aiding her in getting the bottle open. She nearly flinched at his touch. The last few times he touched her, she had reacted so violently. She could not retreat now and did not want to blow her cover.

The wine bottle opened with a resounding, hollow thunk. Parisa smiled and turned her body away from his as he settled back onto the bed, pouring the glass in her lap. Quickly, with hands as fast as lightning, she pulled something from her sleeve, a small pill hardly detectable. With deft fingers, she opened the capsule and dumped its powdered contents into Rune's wine.

"Doing all right over there, Lieutenant?"

"Oh, just fine!" Parisa lied. "There was a smudge on your glass, but it's gone now."

And with that, she poured the wine. The powder in Rune's glass dissolved instantly, and the two glasses looked almost indistinguishable. She handed his glass carefully as she turned on the bed. "Thank you for helping."

"It's no trouble. Wine bottles can be tricky adversaries," he teased and took a sip from his wine.

Perfect.

"I've never uncorked wine before."

"So... what made you change your mind?"

"What?"

"You're like a flickering, old light bulb. Some days you like me, and others you don't. I must be doing something wrong."

"I suppose..." Parisa said, sipping her own drink. "I suppose there are some things I do like about you. Like—"

"You don't like me."

"I do so!"

Rune laughed so vigorously it shook the bed and nearly made Parisa tip her wine glass. Parisa's eyebrows furrowed as she watched him. His mannerisms did not match. Rune Guildenhart was gone and he was someone else. "You're denying it. You loathe me. I know it... I know it very well. I scare you a little, I think. Living with me scares you. I'm too much like your father, and besides, you like that other boy. I can see it in your eyes. I'll never get you from him. You're too wild. It's not a bad quality, not at all, but I know we don't belong together romantically."

Parisa was astounded. She did not know quite what to say.

"It is as I said at the ball. I know something's wrong, and I disagree with your father and the way he rules. I fortunately can speak my mind in the comfort of my own room. However, I do not wish to get exiled to the wastes. I never planned on becoming Sovereign. I... I feel like we could get used to it, though. Couldn't we?"

Parisa put down her glass of wine. She was not sure she wanted it anymore. After a moment of thinking, she turned in the bed and kissed him on the cheek. It was not the same as with Perseus, where the kisses were something wonderful and glorious, but it was not... bad. It was different, and she had to play along. He, unexpectedly, did not kiss her back. He smiled at her sweetly and moved away to take another sip of wine. Once he had finished his glass, it was only a matter of moments until he fell into a deep, deep sleep.

After she was sure that the valerian had taken its full effect, Parisa slipped silently from the bed and reached underneath it to reveal one of her uniforms and her dagger that she had concealed there. It had been easy enough to slip into Rune's room while he ran errands. After she had changed, she drew her dagger and waited.