The air in the palace kitchens was thick with the aroma of ginger and simmering rice. Mau, a young apothecary of renowned talent, but humble beginnings, stirred a pot of porridge with a furrowed brow. She wasn’t concerned about the recipe – her knowledge of herbs and remedies was unmatched. No, her anxieties stemmed from the pale hand that trembled slightly on the silken sheets in a nearby chamber. Lady Leua, a woman of grace and power, lay poisoned, her fate entrusted to Mau’s care.
It had all happened so quickly. Mau was abruptly seized from her bustling apothecary, a sack thrown over her head, the only sound the rhythmic thud of horses’ hooves against the cobblestones. Her heart pounded against her ribs like a frantic bird. When the sack was finally removed, she found herself blinking in the opulent, yet undeniably suffocating, grandeur of the Emperor’s Palace.
“The Lady Leua is gravely ill,” a stern-faced courtier had announced, his voice as sharp and cold as the jeweled dagger at his hip.
“Her only hope rests with you. Failure is not an option.”
A Toxic Mystery
Mau’s examination of Lady Leua confirmed her suspicions. The poison was a rare and deadly concoction, its ingredients not readily available.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
Next page
