Chapter 9

• EMMELINE
• ★★☆★★
• I woke up with one thing on my mind: today is the day Darius dies.
• I couldn’t let myself think about what happened yesterday—the shopping, his so-called kindness, his defense of me. It was all bullshit. A carefully orchestrated act to mess with my head, to make me feel something other than hatred for him. But I wasn’t that stupid.
• He wanted to make me feel like I owed him something for treating me kindly.
• The only thing I owed Darius was death. And I planned to deliver.
• After slipping out of bed, I pulled on one of the dresses he’d bought yesterday. I hated the feel of it against my skin, but I couldn’t go back to those damn slave rags. The maids had already started whispering, assuming I’d been officially made his concubine. Let them think that. It would only make my plan easier.
• I headed to the kitchen, my heart pounding very fast. Everything I needed was already in place. Last night, I stole some curry powder and mixed it with the Greenshade I’d found yesterday. The poison was set. A pinch in his soup, and it would be over.
• The head cook glanced up as I walked in, her eyes narrowing slightly. The way they looked at me had changed. It wasn’t the outright disdain I’d gotten used to when I first arrived, nor was it kindness. It was something in between…something like respect, though I wasn’t naive enough to think it was genuine.
• It had everything to do with the clothes I was wearing. I was no longer dressed in the clothes from the day before that screamed “slave.” Instead, the fine fabric of my new outfit, handpicked by Darius, marks me as someone of higher standing in his household.
• And besides, it wasn’t every day that Darius took someone shopping.
• The message is clear: the Alpha has claimed me as his concubine, and I was important to him.
• I know it comes with an unspoken authority. They became more careful around me, their actions more gentle.
• Let them believe what they want. If it means fewer eyes watching my every move, I’ll use it to my advantage. After all, the less they suspect my true intentions, the better my chances of escaping this nightmare.
• I didn’t bother with fake smiles or sucking up today. Instead, I went straight to the point. “Have you prepared Alpha Darius’s meal yet?”
• She nodded, motioning toward several covered dishes on the counter.
• “Good,” I said, forcing calm into my voice. I walked over and lifted the lids, pretending to inspect the food. My hands were steady, though my heart felt like it might burst through my ribs.
• While the cook’s back was turned, I slipped the poison into the soup and stirred it quickly.
• “Perfect,” I murmured, covering the bowl and stepping back.
• Before I could leave, the maids who served Darius entered, all smiles and chatter as they prepared to take the food to him.
• “Morning,” one of them said, barely glancing at me.
• I gave her a tight smile. “Morning.”
• As they loaded the trays, one of them paused and turned to me. “The Alpha wants to see you.”
• My stomach flipped. “Now?”
• She nodded.
• I sighed internally, forcing myself to stay calm. Why the hell did he want to see me? Was this part of his routine—summon me just to mess with my head?
• I followed the maid reluctantly, my nerves buzzing. The dining room was quiet when I arrived, but Darius was already seated, looking as calm and collected as ever.
• The food had been served. My eyes immediately went to the soup bowl in front of him. The poisoned soup.
• Wait.
• There were two portions of everything on the table.
• “Sit,” Darius ordered, his voice steady, almost gentle.
• My legs felt like jelly as I sank into the chair across from him. My heart was racing so fast that I was sure he could hear it. No. No way. There was absolutely no freaking way I just poisoned myself too. I was supposed to escape, not die with him!
• “I’m not hungry,” I blurted out. I tried to tell my hands to stop shaking, but they had a mind of their own.
• He leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on me like he could see straight through my skull. “You should eat.”
• “I—I already ate,” I stammered.
• Darius didn’t respond. Instead, he raised a hand, and a guard entered the room with a dog.
• I froze.
• I knew exactly what this meant. Poison detectors. I didn’t know he had the dogs.
• I was finished.
• What would happen when they detected the poison?
• I watched as the dog sniffed the air, its tail wagging as it approached the table.
• The dog sniffed the table, moving closer and closer to the soup bowls. My stomach churned. No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.
• My eyes flicked to Darius. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes… they were fixed on me, burning into me. Did he know? Had he seen through me?
• Sweat trickled down my back, cold and clammy. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst through my chest.
• The dog stopped in front of the bowl of soup. The poisoned soup. It barked once, then again, louder this time. It lunged forward, pulling against the leash, eyes fixated on… Darius’s bowl.
• Blood drained from my face.
• My heart sank into my stomach, and the room started to spin. I couldn’t breathe.
• I was caught. Dead to rights.