Seconds Until Morning

"How much of the wine did you drink?" Counsel asked quickly. He rushed forward to take her hand, but refrained at the last moment. 

"I didn't manage to have any. The accident happened when I was about to take my first sip." 

"That's good, at least. I hate to think…" Counsel relaxed and then tensed all over again. 

Noble could complete his unspoken words. If the drink had affected Kosi, a Transcendent Demon, so fiercely, how much more would it have hurt her, a mere Awakened?

It would have killed her. Noble's stomach churned, nearly adding to the pile on the floor. Of all the obstacles that the professor thought she would face, tainted food and drink were not even on her list.

"How can this be?" Noble wanted Counsel to be wrong.

"It might have been an accident," Counsel said slowly, "a mistake in the preparation."

By his emotions, the man did not believe his own words, and Noble could guess why.

"If that were true, then surely Her Majesty, the taste tester you mentioned, or even yourself would all be sick as well. Do you feel ill?"

The man thought for a moment. "I do not."

The pair let the implication of his words sink in. Only Noble's cup had been poisoned. It was a targeted attack.

"We must tell her Majesty at once that someone has brought poison into the palace. We cannot let this go unanswered." Counsel's thirst for vengeance filled the air.

"Wait." Noble pressed her lips together. "How often do I have dinner with Her Majesty?"

The professor's tone suggested she already knew the answer.

"Just the two of you? Once a week. Though now that I think about it, you have made excuses not to attend for the past month." Counsel recounted the facts as he remembered them.

'Brenna chose this day to run. That cannot be a coincidence.'

The handsome man furrowed his brow. "You think Queen Emira is behind this?" he whispered. His expression grew taut.

"I think I want more information," Noble answered. It would be good to know if she or the Queen was the target. 

Announcing that she knew Kosi had been poisoned seemed like the wrong move. It might cause the attacker to either go underground or to be more bold.

Somewhere deep inside Noble could already feel that she had altered the course of this Nightmare at least slightly. Keeping tight control over the information she knew would prevent things from getting off track in an undesirable direction.

Or so she hoped.

Kosi groaned in his sleep.

The professor looked over at the Symncus and touched his side. "Will he be alright?"

Counsel sighed. "I think so. He has the Beast God's blessing. Plus he is young and healthy. It would take a lot more than a little poison to actually kill him."

There was a knock at the door.

"Lady Brenna? Is it safe?" Pen asked loudly.

"Give me a moment!" Noble looked around at the destroyed room.

"I'll handle it," Counsel offered. "You go to your room and sleep."

"It's not like I could sleep just now. Anyway, the bed is broken…" Noble remembered the crash. 'Not that I will be using it…'

"I will have it replaced in a moment." Counsel walked to the exit and turned the knob.

The two personal servants and two palace guards were all looking at him expectantly. Straightening his back, Counsel folded his hands in front of him.

"Everything is under control. Kosi is calm."

"What happened?" Pen started to push her way in but Counsel blocked the door.

"He seems to have eaten something that did not agree with him. We need to clean up the mess… and the vomit."

Pen turned slightly green and backed away. "I'll get the palace staff right away."

Counsel watched her leave before giving his next order.

"Lady Brenna needs a new bed," he told Lenore. "We do not want her to lose any more sleep."

The young woman dipped a curtesy and scurried off.

That left only the two other men.

Counsel looked back into the room before averting his eyes. "I am about to let these men in to clean up the debris."

Noble blinked at him. Then it dawned on her. She was in her nightdress.

While incredibly modest in the waking world—every centimeter of her skin was covered except her face and hands—it was still something meant to be slept in.

Flushing, she retreated. "I'll be in my room."

Counsel dipped his head. "I will take care of things here, My Lady. If you need anything more, let me know. Otherwise, I shall take my leave until morning."

"Goodnight."

As Noble reached the bedroom door, the exhausted monster lifted his head. His big round eyes reminded Noble of when her children had nightmares.

"Do you want to come with me?" The professor offered.

Pulling himself to his feet, Kosi slowly ambled toward the room. Counsel opened his mouth and then shut it.

"Do not worry. This time, I'll be the one keeping an eye on him." Noble led the creature from the room.

Her bed chamber was actually not in as bad of shape as she thought. The bed was cracked in the middle and her rug was shredded, but the rest was intact.

Even in his pain, Kosi had tried to preserve the furniture. It wasn't until he had come into the antechamber and tried to get help that he had gone truly wild.

Kosi looked at the damage and his ears went back once again. He opened his mouth and sighed.

Noble recoiled from the stench of his breath. It reeked of the poison which he had vomited. Or maybe that was how it always smelled. She wasn't sure.

Either way, the Symncus was sad.

Noble patted him softly. "It isn't your fault. You rest and I'll take care of it."

Reluctantly, Kosi curled up in the far corner of the room and lay down. He tucked his head under one leg and shut his eyes.

'Poor little guy…big guy. I feel so sad for him. I'll have to find a way to thank him.'

Real or not, the creature had saved her. So had Counsel. If not for his clumsiness, she would have had to struggle through taking a sip or two from the cup. Would that have been enough to kill her?

She wasn't sure.

But it would have at least made her very sick. Noble thought about how quickly and easily Emira had given up the cup meant for her. It didn't fit with her unnerving sternness. 

'Which would make sense if the cup was meant for me all along. Maybe Her Majesty wanted to control me by making me ill. Hadn't she said she would keep me here until her party?' 

That was the best possible option, but still not a pleasant one.

An aunt who wanted to poison her niece to keep her prisoner was only slightly preferable to one who was actively attempting murder.

'Something really does not add up.'

The other option was an outside party trying to take out the Queen. Maybe someone had gotten past the taste tester–or bribed him–and Emira was the real target. That would make the Queen a victim in this plot who needed to be warned. 

'Ugh. Why is this so complicated.'

There were too many unknown players in this game. This was why Noble needed a cohort to complete the Nightmare. Without a team to back her up, the professor had no idea who she could trust. 

Deep in contemplation, she silently used her ability to pick up the broken pieces of the bed and rug. The mangled things drifted above the ground before stacking in a neat pile by the door.

In the other room, she could hear the three men working to clear the destruction as well. It would have been easy for her to help them, but the kindness might cause her trouble if she needed to catch someone off-guard by using her Aspect later.

So she let them toil away in their manual labor.

The professor turned her attention to one of the wardrobes and found a shawl to wrap around her nightdress.

When the servants came to haul away the debris, none of them asked who had put it by the door. They simply set up the new bed while warily watching the snoozing Symncus out of the corner of their eyes.

Not that the new bed was even needed. When the task was completed, Noble tied herself firmly to one of the posts.

She closed her eyes.

And counted the seconds until morning.