The Assassin Princess

Poison in the Veins

“I wish she had told me,” he heard Alaric respond to something Calira must’ve said, but her voice was too soft for Wesley to hear. He wondered briefly whom the pair were speaking of. He had never thought to ask the Princess about her relationship with Alaric before their sudden engagement. He sensed the two had a history, but what sort he didn’t know. He thought about leaving the two to talk, but gut-wrenching  sounds of coughing and wheezing filled the air. He knocked before he opened the door to find Calira clutching her fiancée’s shirt as she struggled to breath. Alaric looked up in hope and he sighed in relief when he saw who stood in the doorway.

“Wesley, the doctor. Please fetch him,” Alaric ordered softly before he returned his attention to his wheezing betrothed. Wesley heard him whisper soothing words against her curls before he looked up and their eyes met. Wesley nodded before he turned and practically ran to the physician’s quarters. The doctor already up and bustling about with his herbs and medicines looked up in surprise when Wesley burst into the room.

“The princess, she can’t breathe,” he announced as the doctor stared at him before nodding and grabbing a bag full of tools and medicines. The two men walked back to Calira’s room just as a guard approached them.

“His Majesty would like a word with His Grace,” the guard announced as Wesley nodded his head.

“I will tell the King just as soon as I see to the Princess,” Wesley replied as the doctor shuffled around the pair. The guard nodded before he walked past the bodyguard. Wesley frowned. He turned quickly and easily deflected an attack from the guard. The man drew his sword but Wesley had him on the ground before he could waste another breath. The sword hit the stone with a loud clang and Wesley knocked the man unconscious just as Alaric slammed the door to Calira’s room open. The new King stared at the incapacitated guard and Wesley, who stood quickly before he approached his fiancée’s bodyguard.

“What happened?” Alaric questioned. Wesley frowned.

“The guard, he attacked me. Where’s the doctor?” Just as Alaric went to answer, a yell echoed through the hall from Calira’s open door as loud barking filled the air. The two men rushed into the room, prepared to defend the Princess with every fiber of their being. They were shocked to find the doctor frozen in fear as Calira pinned him to the bed and stabbed a needle into his chest.

“Tell me who hired you,” she hissed, her voice hoarse from the coughing that had racked her body just moments ago. The doctor whimpered as Calira held her fingers against the plunger.

“Tell me who hired you and maybe you live. If you don’t, I will fill your body with the poison I know you intended to kill me with,” her words registered with her fiancée and bodyguard differently. Alaric knew even if the man told Calira who hired him, he would still die. Not by Calira’s hand or Wesley’s (possibly). No, Alaric would have the man executed for treason. Wesley didn’t care if the man surrendered his knowledge or not; he would slit the man’s throat himself for endangering the life of his princess.

“I don’t know his name! He paid me a fortune to kill you and make it look like an accident,” the doctor whispered as he stared at the blonde in complete terror of what she planned to do with the needle still embedded in his chest.

“Treason,” Calira whispered before she depressed the plunger and sent the contents of the needle into the man’s body. It was sudden. First his eyes widened; he opened his mouth to scream in protest, but his body started to seize and foam filled his mouth. Then he went limp. Calira released her hold on the needle before she struggled to push the man away from her. Leopold continued to bark until a quiet shush and gentle pat on the head silenced him. Wesley took three strides before he was ripping the man from the bed and carrying him from the room, rage filling his features. Alaric stood silent and stunned for only a moment before he was pulling Calira into a tight embrace. Calira struggled for a moment before she relaxed into his hold.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He growled as he pulled away to face her. She looked worn-out, but her eyes were shifting from side to side as if she was expecting the next attack. Alaric felt anger swell in his gut at the thought.

“He was trying to poison me. I let that idiot touch me while I was visiting your father. I’ve built up tolerance for most poisons,” Calira tried to explain in short bursts as she fought to control her breathing again. It was then Alaric realized. The only reason Calira was still alive was because of her assassin upbringing; she was prepared for whatever the enemy would throw at her.

“What’s the antidote?” he asked softly as Calira pointed at one of the leather bags hanging in her closet.

“Red vial with a black label: yungleaf,” Calira explained just as Wesley reentered the room. Alaric nodded toward the closet as Wesley bowed his head and searched for the vial Calira had described.

***

Calira slept and honestly, neither Alaric nor Wesley could blame her. She had fought against a deadly poison for almost a week before incapacitating and killing a man when she had no strength left. It was a wonder she was even alive.  While she slept, Alaric and Wesley determined what the next step would be.

“If we postpone the wedding…”

“Postponing the wedding will not do anything other than make it harder for your father to attend. You and I both know she would hate us if His Grace wasn’t able to attend. She worships him,” Wesley replied. Alaric groaned as he ran his hand through his hair.

“We should tell my father about this attempt. He may know what to do,” Alaric remarked as he glanced down the hall he knew led to his father’s room before his eyes shifted back to the Calira’s bedroom door. Wesley watched the unease cross the King’s face as he motioned his head to urge the man to visit his father.

“Go. No one will touch the Princess. I swear it.”