Chapter 16: The Cup

Delphine looked at the cup.

Her hands lay folded in her lap, and she did not move them.

"It's tea," she said again. "I won't be accused by a woman who nearly drowned her own husband's wolf."

"Then you won't mind drinking it," the old woman said.

"I'm not thirsty."

"Half a cup was enough to put a pregnant woman on a stretcher."

"She's delicate. Everyone knows she's delicate."

"Drink it, Delphine," Lucan said from the wall.

His voice was quiet and awful.

Delphine turned to him with wet eyes.

"Lucan. Please. You can't believe this. You know me."

"I thought I did."

"I would never..."

"Drink it."

She made a small trapped sound.

Her eyes went to Ilse, and Ilse looked straight ahead at the wall.

Then Delphine did the only thing left to her.

She swept her arm across the table.

The cup flew and hit the floor and burst, and tea ran in a pale gold stain across the boards.

Two hunters were on her before the china stopped rolling.

They pinned her arms, and she screamed and twisted and kicked.

"Let me go! Let go of me!"

The old woman rose slowly from her chair.

She crossed the hall with her stick, bent, and dipped one finger in the puddle.

She touched it to her tongue.

Then she spat on the floor.

"Monkshood," she said. "Enough for ten women."

A groan went through the pack.

"You can't prove it was me!" Delphine shrieked. "Anyone could have put it in. Bess has enemies. Neve has enemies. Neve did it herself to frame me!"

Keep reading free with an account. Start Leaving My Alpha Husband in Ice Cold Regret from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.