Raine reached the steps of the main house just as her strength began to thin dangerously.
She gripped the railing, struggling to breathe. She tried to brace herself. If she collapsed here, everything would unravel.
Nobody stopped her, even though some of them looked at her with curiosity. Raine knew she must have looked terrible.
Some wounds were invisible, even though most of them were hidden in her dress. Thankfully, Brianna had tended her with utmost care. She had even changed her half-torn dress from the lashing, which was stained with blood, for a clean one.
However, some unhealed wounds reopened, and some blood penetrated her dress.
She entered the house. Inside, she smelled herbs faintly and something sharper. Another healer’s work. Her jaw tightened. She moved down the familiar corridor toward Landon’s room, each step echoing loudly in her ears.
In front of Landon’s room door, she heard voices murmuring inside. Two voices. She stopped and recognized one of them. Alpha Janson. She didn’t recognize the other voice. The new healer, she believed.
"How is he?" Alpha Janson asked.
"Unstable," came the new healer’s voice. "But weaker than before. I am going to give him this potion to stabilize his pulse and fever."
Raine’s heart stuttered. Weaker than before...
She opened the door.
The moment Raine stepped into the room, she knew something was wrong. It wasn’t Landon’s breathing because even though it was shallow, it was steady. And the arrangement of herbs on the table looked ordinary enough.
But she caught the smell. There was something in that smell that made her feel uneasy: too sharp and too sweet, hidden beneath the bitterness of the potion.
Her gaze caught the unfamiliar healer standing beside the bed, a porcelain cup raised carefully in both hands. He leaned over toward Landon, who was lying still on his bed.
"Wait," Raine said. The word wasn’t loud, but it stopped every movement in the room.
The new healer stiffened. The cup paused inches from Landon’s lips.
Alpha Janson turned slowly, and the fury in his expression was immediate and violent. "You," he said, his voice dropping into something dangerously quiet. "Who allowed you out of the dungeon?"
Raine ignored him. She crossed the distance between herself and the new healer in a few uneven steps, pain flashing white-hot beneath her skin with every movement, but she did not slow down. "What is in that?" she demanded.
The healer frowned. "A restorative potion."
"With what base?"
The healer hesitated only briefly before responding with precision. "Mountain thistle for circulation, starroot for cellular repair, and dried bark of ashthorn for his fever."
Raine grabbed the cup. And the room erupted.
"How dare you!" the healer shouted, trying to reclaim it.
Alpha Janson’s chair scraped harshly against the floor as he stood. "Put that down immediately!"
But Raine had already lifted the cup to her nose. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the shouting from both men, and trying to ignore the way her hands trembled from blood loss and exhaustion.
"Focus, Raine." She whispered to herself. She caught the smell of thistle, which was fine, and starroot, which was also a good ingredient to add to the potion. And the bark was also harmless. Everything was as the new healer said before. But beneath it—there. There was a subtle residue. It wasn’t part of the potion. But it was on it.
Her eyes opened slowly. She turned her head, and then she saw them. The only plants in the room. The water lilies.
Resting innocently in a wide ceramic bowl near the window, the white petals open and pristine, floating in clear water. They looked fresh. They were as fresh as they were the last time she saw them.
"Those flowers," Raine said quietly, her eyes dreamy while still holding the cup with the potion.
The healer blinked. "What about them?"
Alpha Janson’s patience snapped. "You will return that cup this instant."
Raine, instead, walked toward the window. "Lady Ariana brought water lilies into this room," she said calmly.
Alpha Janson’s patience thinned visibly. "Stop speaking in circles. If you have anything to say, state it plainly!"
She turned to face him, and despite the way her body threatened to collapse, her voice was steady. "You are about to worsen his condition." Silence fell in the room, struck by the boldness of the statement.
The healer scoffed. "That is absurd."
"Is it?" Raine asked softly. "How long have those flowers been here?"
Neither answered.
"You will kill your son if you insist on giving him this potion." Raine gritted her teeth. She felt the dizziness came in a wave and she had to ball her fists tightly to the point her nails stabbed her palms to get her bearing.
She couldn’t collapse here, at least, not yet. She would be done for if she couldn’t prove her innocent.
On the other hand, Alpha Janson had heard enough. He didn’t believe in anything she said. He was furious.
"Enough with your speculation." He clenched his fists beside him. "Now give the cup back to the healer!" He was on the verge of summoning the warriors stationed outside the room to drag her back to the dungeon. The only reason Alpha Janson hadn’t done it was that she was still holding the cup.
"I cannot. I am preventing a mistake you are about to make." Instead of giving it back, Raine walked toward the water lilies and plucked some of the petals. She squeezed them with her hand before she mixed them with the potion. "This is what happens if you give the potion to him after he has been exposed to this flower."
Everyone had their attention fully on Raine right now, they watched her every move and didn’t expect what she was going to do next.
Raine drank the potion.