ley

h a new, complicated expression. She said nothing, but her deference w

ped in priceless dragon-scale gauze, but it fel

ysician had managed to reset her jaw, but it

l of soup, forcing a smile that was uglier than a grimace. "

d laughed inwardly, but my face remained im

. "I made this calming soup for you myself," she

tectable scent reached me. "Sleeping Vine,"

poisons was extraordinary. Clarissa

out. "How thoughtf

ioned, "Sister, on the eve of a wedding, our custom is to

piracy as she urged me to

ink the soup, then she would have me taken

hed. "I see. Thank y

he bait, Clariss

o change. Sleeping Vine was a pure herbal concoction, undetec

r and sprinkled it into the soup. "Backlash Dust." It doubles the effect

ct; it transformed the scent into a sweet, ir

r pain," I said with a saintly smile. "Take this soup back to her room. Tell

's ego. Receiving a "tribute" from the sister she just bullied

gown Clarissa had brought. It, to

he future bride's sister to bribe the perimeter guards, creating a temporary "blind spot" for her

the well. Preston Vance, a notorious playboy. Claris

Preston defile me, and ruin my marriage to the

. I hid in the sh

robbing pain in her jaw and the alluring scent of what she thought was a "surrender

stook Preston for some handsome

the drugged gown and Clarissa's aggressive advances, he q

oldly, feel

e lost in their sordid

g right beside them. They

e only her fading consciousness could hear, "I told y

. She seemed to hear me b

sing the same unguarded path Clarissa had prepared fo

knew, a grand dram

ornelius, would appear before