Bloodied Lilies

Chapter 23

The next two days were a flurry of preparations. Adelia diligently sharpened her blades and mixed her poisons. With her identity revealed, she could now enlist Peony's aid. Coming from the Lai tribe, her knowledge of poisons was far more advanced than Adelia's.

She'd spend her evenings with Leo, which still had its fair share of awkwardness because apparently the duke was not all that comfortable with having feelings that made you want to be nicer to a certain person.

But it wasn't as if Adelia knew what she was doing either. They just held hands and sat together in silence. Perhaps that was romantic. Adelia had no idea.

But now the time had come. Adelia sat in her room, her assassin's garbs fitted with all her best weapons and blades. It was still early evening but she was restless. She hadn't had a good fight since Wildflower, and though that hadn't ended so well, her blade yearned for blood again.

"Your tea, my lady." Peony handed Adelia a ceramic teacup with rich, honey-milk tea.

Adelia had vowed never to drink chamomile ever again.

"Thank you, Peony," replied Adelia as she took a small sip.

"Are you prepare for tonight?" Peony asked.

She took a seat beside Adelia on the bed and looked wistfully out the boarded up windows. Every door and window aside from the direct front had been barred and locked to ensure security.

"I am. Perhaps I am even excited," Adelia confessed.

This was dangerous, she knew. Leo's life was on the line, and even all the servants. It was serious and only Adelia and Fae had real experience going up skilled assassins, but she couldn't help the thrill humming under her skin. It was such a strange feeling.

Perhaps it stemmed from the notion that Adelia was now open about the fact that she'd been protecting Leo the whole time and had now properly vowed herself to him. It was a nice feeling indeed.

Adelia placed her finished teacup on the nightstand.

"Are you prepared?" she asked Peony.

Peony smiled but she looked so lonely.

"Yes. As much as I will ever be, my lady."

Adelia titled her head. "Then why do you look so sad?"

Peony looked down at her hands, clasping them tightly together.

"I simply miss my homeland too much. I miss it so much that it almost hurts." She pressed her clasped hands to her heart and closed her eyes. "And I fear that will doing anything to go back."

Adelia understood the feeling of homesickness. Even though she'd come to think of gloomy Rainford manor as her home, there were times when she missed Andrea and the Fairbrooke so much that it kept her up at night.

She rubbed her eyes, feeling drowsy. It wouldn't do to get sleepy now. There was eventful night ahead of them.

She opened her mouth to reassure Peony but a wave of tiredness came over her.

"Peony," she said softly, trying to blink away the dark spots in her vision. "Something is wrong."

"My lady?" Peony reached for her just as Adelia fell limp on the bed. She was so very, very sleepy.

But this was odd. She was fine before.

Adelia racked her tired brain for something. This wasn't any ordinary sleepiness. It was too strong. Too sudden.

An idea came to her foggy mind.

The tea. There was something in the tea.

Adelia struggled to blink at Peony. Her limbs were so heavy, like they'd been replaced with lumps of cast iron.

Peony just stood there, seeming mildly satisfied but she still looked sad.

"Peony... Why?" she whispered, her voice half lost in her throat.

Peony smiled. She looks so lost. She grabbed the blankets and tucked them gently around Adelia.

"I'm sorry, my lady. I really am. But trust is a delicate thing and the master does not trust easily. I had to wait for him to trust you, so he would come blindly if I said you were calling."

Adelia could barely believe her ears, as addled as she was.

This was Peony. Peony who sung her to sleep. Peony who didn't bat an eyelash when she came home bathed in blood. Peony who was her dearest friend in this manor.

"Kirié was my hero and I loved you as my mistress, my lady," Peony continued as she blew out the candles, one by one. "But your husband is a horrible man. You know you are in love with a monster but you are still in love and that love will blind you, so please forgive me for doing this. I just want to go home and I cannot go unless the master is gone, for it's under his name that I am forced to work."

Adelia's eyes had closed involuntarily by the time Peony's soothing voice stopped speaking. She felt warm and content in her bed, tucked to her chin. She couldn't fight the sleepiness that threatened to drown her.

No, she thought. No, no, no.

Leo was in danger.

The last thing Adelia heard was the click of a lock.

-

Author's Note: 

I'm so sorry this took so long. I'm sorry. My mental health has been really bad and I just haven't felt like writing at all. 

I don't know how my update schedule will work since I'm still not all here yet, but for now, I managed to produce a little bit. Well, I didn't even edit it. It's not much but I hope you like it.