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Jaskier frowned. "But she is not dead."
"Yet." The Queen added and smiled. "I can promise you she will not leave this room breathing."
I swallowed hard. Even though I knew this moment had been waiting for me, it was still hard to imagine. It was not fear that rose inside me, it was the uncertainty what was going to happen after. Where would I go? And what would Mirela do to Geralt and Jaskier? I imagined the worst, this woman was so cruel. Hopefully, they would get far away from her, so she was not able to reach them.
"You can not just kill her," Jaskier said and made a few steps forward. "What are the people going to say? Everybody in the kingdom loves Davina! How will you explain that to the citizens?"
"I will make something up, do not worry about that, that is not my concern. The biggest problem is that these people never forget the beautiful people on this earth. It will take decades until they are going to stop talking about their princess who fell to the dark side that cost her life. She will be remembered, in all her glory and with all the awful things she has 'done'. And every single time they end their stories about Davina, they will sigh and say that she was always damned – Destiny just caught up to her."
Geralt shook his head. "The beautiful people are not just remembered because of their looks – What they did and said is what counts. You can never talk bad about Davina and think that the citizens will believe you. They know how caring and protective she is over the ones she loves. It does not matter what lies you make up, the people will always stand by Davina's side."
"You are right, Witcher. It will take a lot to convince the people that their precious princess did something bad to deserve death. But trust me, I am going to make them believe ... Davina is damned, even demons are after her." Mirela slowly walked over to me and reached out to touch my hair, but I backed away from her.
"Do not you dare touch her," Geralt said and got closer to the throne. He stopped when she turned her hand over to him, her index finger was raised up in the air like she told him not to come one step closer or she will do something to me. "She is not damned, and she will never die through your hand."
Mirela smiled at him in malicious joy. "She is not going to die through my hand."
She napped her fingers and a green apple appeared in her hand.
"Do you remember how your father ate an apple a day?" The Queen asked, turning the apple around in her hands as if she was making sure it was ready to be eaten. "He always said it was great for his health ... Eating apples did not protect him from death. Some might say they even caused it."
She threw it over to me. I did not want to catch it, but my reflexes kicked in and I caught the fruit. It looked like a normal green apple, maybe the colour was a little bit more intense, but there was surely something wrong with it. My father did eat one a day, he always said it made him feel fresh and energised. He even ate one on the morning he died ...
This would be the thing that would take my life away ... I always imagined dying through a sword in a fight, defending one of my friends. Or getting stabbed with a knife because I was a thread to the kingdom's throne, just like it should have happened according to Mirela's plan a year ago. But it was a simple green apple.
"Eat it."
As I looked up, I saw Mirela starring down at the fruit in my hand. She had been waiting for this moment to come along and she could not wait until I took a bite and dropped down dead to the ground. Her new plan would have worked then and she was one step closer to her goal in saving the throne for her and her daughters. I knew something bad was going to happen if I did not do what Mirela wanted. Jaskier and Geralt would end up dead, Mirela would burn the castle and the people in it down, and then take her rage to the villagers. And she knew I did not want that to happen. Hopefully, she would have mercy on the others and spare their lives.
"Thank you, for all the help," I gave Geralt and Jaskier a sad smile. "It was an honour meeting the two of you."
Geralt's hand was on his sword. "Davina - no."
He knew I would do it. There was no way around it. Either me, or the people of the kingdom along with the Witcher and the bard would die. "We are all damned, Geralt."
I closed my eyes and took a bite.
"No!" Geralt yelled.
There was no need for me the chew on the piece of apple in my mouth, I could taste the bitterness right away. Mirela must have drenched the fruit in the liquid venom to make sure it would do its duty right away. It cancelled out the sweetness of the apple and complimented it in some sort.
After a few seconds, I felt the poison kick in. My breaths were heavy as I trembled down the stairs to get away from Mirela. After I had left the last step and stood on the floor, I dropped down to my knees. I tried to support myself with my arms, but I was already too weak. The venom quickly rushed into every single part of my body. I felt the chemicals burn in my bloodstream. The wolf inside me howled in pain and tried to fight the toxin off. Without any success.
My lunges rebelled against the poison and I knew they would give in every second from now on. I rolled down to the ground and laid on my back to make breathing easier. My vision was getting blurry, and I knew it was just a matter of time now until my body gave up on living, the venom was just too strong.
The last thing I saw was the door busting open and seven dwarfs leading a mob entering the throne room. My eyes fell shut and the apple rolled out of my hand onto the marble floor. The dwarfs were yelling, Jaskier cried out, Geralt's voice was somewhere near me. And then, my mind slipped into darkness.
