Chapter 68

Adolph stopped at the door of the west parlor and forced himself to take a deep breath before entering. The first thing he noticed was that Tina was nervous. Everything about her movements and the shifting of her eyes said she was nervous. Adolph observed her as he walked to the table and sat across from her.

"Tell me what you did today, starting from this morning."

"Y-Your Majesty, for all the years of my service-"

"Spare me," Adolph hissed. "Do not speak if you don't intend to tell me what I want to know."

She nodded and seemed to steady herself, starting with her duties in the morning. She'd reported to the kitchens and was assigned to manage the food delivery to the lunar and azalea rooms. She'd taken the cart meant for Laurel's room and pushed it there before serving the food. After brunch, she'd returned to the kitchens and helped with the banquet preparations.

"Then, I returned to my room."

Adolph tilted his head, "And?"

"That's all, Your Majesty."

"My knights reported that you were with Delia when they went to retrieve her and bring her back to the lunar parlor."

She flinched, "Oh, well, yes."

"Are you and Delia close?"

"Yes," she said, proudly. "She's said that she wouldn't want anyone else to care for Prince Basil's son."

Adolph eyed her carefully. That hadn't been a real answer to his question, but he passed over it. To Tina, a connection to the royal family, in any manner, was a sign of closeness. She might have even thought it would get her some measure of leniency when he made her confess.

"Why were you in her rooms?"

"I often go there on my breaks and when I am done for the day to check on her." She sniffed, "I don't believe her handmaidens treat her with due respect."

Adolph was certain she hadn't outright lied yet, but there was something he had yet to start checking.

"How did you know which cart to take to Laurel's room?"

Tina frowned, "What do you mean? They were identical."

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't true. Anyone who had been a part of the planned roster of servants would be able to tell the carts apart by the discreet azalea and lunar engravings on the handles.

"Laurel's tray had lunar flowers on the handles. Mine bore azaleas."

"Well, that wasn't explained to me. Seems like Maria should stick to making jam instead of trying to run the kitchens!"

Adolph watched her carefully, the words poking at his memories. He knew she'd been in the room with Raven before being brought here, but had she been there long enough for Raven to plant this idea in her head, or had she thought of this herself?

"There was a reason I was made head maid, after all," Tina scoffed. "To forget to specify which tray was made for who is a mistake I never would have made."

Her eyes seemed to grow more steady and upset. The rigidness in her posture faded as she kept on. It was clear that Tina resented being under Maria's direction now. She thought herself better than Maria because Maria had been the head maid after running the kitchens for years while Tina had been hand-picked by Gavin and served Olivia for years before coming to the palace.

It was nonsense, but he was glad that Tina was affirming Maria's testimony.

"As I remember, when I went took control of the cart, there wasn't even a bowl on it!" Tina said, relief and confidence filling her eyes. "She should be fired at least for using poisonous flowers to make the imperial jam!"

The jam used for both brunches were equal halves of the same batch of the imperial jam. The recipe was different from the royal petal jam usually served with meals, and no one would know that there was a difference, or even what it was called, unless they had been a part of the preparations. According to Maria, Tina wasn't a part of the preparations in any way. She wasn't even allowed to help cook or gather ingredients for normal meals.

Tina also hadn't been in the room when the priestess said that Laurel had been poisoned with oleander and wolfsbane, so how did she know the type of poison used enough to point to the jam as the method of poisoning?

Raven had planted the idea in Tina's head and, as always, been right in her suspicions. Tina was responsible for at least one of the poisons. He tightened his fist and forced himself to remain calm.

Who could have known that the games he and Raven played to suss out traitors in the palace were still useful? He wanted to jump across the table, but he focused on getting whatever else he could out of her.

"How did you know that the poison came from a flower?"

She gasped and her eyes widened, "Y-Your Majesty, please, I haven't. I didn't-I don't--"

She broke off as he snarled at her, pale and frightened. The door opened and Chasel entered with a parchment. He glanced at Tina with a scowl.

"Lily states that both carts left the kitchen fully loaded. The servants chosen to deliver the food went back inside the kitchen to get the other carts ready. When they returned the lunar cart was missing as were both bowls of soup." Chasel met his gaze, "The luna's fifth bowl was found in a hallway in another part of the castle."

Tina seemed confused and Adolph glared at Tina, "You haven't answered the question, Tina."

"I-I didn't! I don't." She shook her head. "I just-"

"The soup served to all the guests, including myself and Laurel, came from the same pot, and the pot has been already been tested for poison and found clean."

"W-Well t-the bowl-"

"Which you confess to being the only one in possession of?" Adolph said; she flinched. "You just said when you took the cart, you took the bowl off the other cart and placed it on the cart you took to Laurel."

"Your M-Majesty, I-"

"Confess and I may show you mercy," Adolph asked.

"I-" She shut her mouth and trembled, drooping her head. "I Yes. I-I poisoned her soup."

"Who were you working with?"

"No one! I swear. I" Tina sniffled. "That wretched girl can't take my mistress' place!"

Adolph glared at her, "You were planning to kill a young woman for your delusions!"

"I-I swore to her that I would never see another woman in her place," Tina gasped. "I promised her. And she's hardly a woman! She's a seventeen-year-old girl!"

Chasel sneered, "What a twisted promise. You should have just left the palace!"

"I couldn't!" She cried, "I couldn't just let it happen. I-I had planned to take the poison, but I don't deserve to die! That girl doesn't deserve to sit where my mistress sat! She isn't worthy!"

"Where is the bottle you had the poison in?" Chasel asked. "Where did you get it from?'

"Luna Olivia gave it to me," she said, trembling and pulling out a small ornate bottle Adolph recognized from years ago. "She said it was made of oleander."

He picked it up, sneering at the vial and handing it to Chasel, "Have it tested to be sure, and take her to the dungeons to await sentencing."

She wailed in panic, "No! Your Majesty, please! Think of my mistress! Think of her!"

The guards hauled her onto her feet and dragged her out of the room as Adolph turned over her testimony. He'd use this against Gavin in the coming days, but there was something else troubling. Oleander was much easier to get than wolfsbane, and where had Laurel's actual bol gone?

It was clear that there was someone else involved who was not involved with the preparations or wanted to seem as though they weren't involved in the preparations. But who?

"What are you thinking?" Chasel asked.

"There was more than one attempt at assassination today."

Chasel frowned, "What do you mean?"

"One of the poisons was meant for me the other was meant for Laurel."

Tina hadn't come upon the idea to poison Laurel without some push, but even if she did, she was being used as a cover for someone else.

Who was pulling Tina's strings?

Gavin? Basil? Delia?

It was too early to tell for sure, but Tina was his best chance to lure the other culprit out. Once they realized that they had failed, they would try again so long as they felt it safe enough to do so.

"Keep the details a secret," Adolph said. "They won't try again if they don't think it's safe to."

"Of course," Chasel said. "What is your will regarding Tina?"

He considered it and smirked. He needed to test his ministry. They knew they were all on thin ice with him.

"The ministers need to work," he smirked. "We'll hold a formal trial."

With any luck, he'd glean an idea of where to look for the other culprit.