Free The Queen by Suzanna Lynn

Grace. I… I’m here to help you.”
    “What is she doing here?” asked the King in
a gravelly tone. “It is forbidden!” He began to cough.
    “You’re very right, Your Grace,” Master Keon
said, moving Luana closer to the door. “She was just leaving.”
    I’m here to save his life and he still
sees me as a worthless bed wife. Luana felt the heat rise to
her face. “I will not leave until you hear me out.”
    “You dare speak…” The King gasped for
breath.
    “Please, my dear,” Master Keon pleaded.
“Can’t you see you are doing him more harm than good by being
here?”
    “He is being poisoned, Master Keon,” Luana
cried. “A housemaid has been slipping it into the evening tea you
administer.”
    The old physician froze, his eyes staring
off at the wall while he thought about what she had said. “It’s the
only thing the tasters do not check.”
    “Exactly,” Luana agreed. “Lord Cadman—”
    “My brother would never—” The King coughed
again.
    Luana’s anger flared. “Please forgive me,
Your Grace, but he would and he has! The young maid confirmed it.”
She turned back to the physician. “I cannot tell you what she was
originally using, but since Lord Cadman came a few days ago, she
has been using Dragon’s Fire.”
    “Dragon’s Fire?” Master Keon’s eyebrows
rose, his eyes wide with terror. “A vial of that could kill a
healthy man. But it can’t possibly be, it’s only ever been written
about. A myth.”
    “It is,” she said, running to his worktable
and pulling a book on poisons. “She has been administering only two
drops a night.” She flipped through the pages of the book until she
came upon a page with a drawing of a blue dragon. The beast’s mouth
was shown open wide with fire spewing from its throat as blue
dripping poison fell from its long, vicious, yellow fangs.
    “Dragon Fire,” Luana read aloud. “This
deadly poison is created using the liquid fire that sweats from a
dragon’s fangs as it spits fire. The practice of harvesting Dragon
Fire means almost certain death.”
    “Exactly right,” mumbled Master Keon. “Do
you even understand what it takes to get a vial of that wretched
liquid? Dragon Fire evaporates within minutes of falling from the
fangs unless mixed with the oil of an herb like crushed dandelion
root to keep it stable. Who would be brave enough, no, insane
enough to get that close? Lord Cadman may be insane, but he’s a
coward.”
    “Master Keon, please,” Luana pleaded. “You
must trust me in this. He had the girl use Dragon Fire. If we don’t
try to counter the effects immediately, the King will die!”
    King Ashmur said, catching his breath,
“Master Keon, why have you not had her escorted back to her
chamber?”
    “Why can you not see I’m here to help you?”
Luana spat.
    “Luana!” Keon yelled. “I demand you control
your temper. He is your King!”
    “Remove her now!” Ashmur ordered.
    The guards rushed, grabbing hold of Luana,
causing her to drop the book on the stone ground.
    “No!” Luana screamed, struggling against
their iron grip. “I’m trying to save you!”
    “Your Grace, with all due respect,” the old
physician said nervously, “she is a credit to us. She is highly
skilled in healing.”
    “And you would put my life in her
unexperienced hands?” The King struggled to sit up in the bed, his
eyes pinched shut, brow furrowed, as he fought against the
pain.
    “Yes, Your Grace,” he said. “I believe I
would.”
    “Your Grace, please,” Luana pleaded. “I
understand I am a bed wife and nothing to give any consideration
to, but you must know that I love Baylin and I am devoted to the
Kingdom. I want to help. I can help.”
    Exhaustion finally took the strength of the
King. He feebly laid back in the bed with a sigh. “It would seem
you hold my life in your hands, my girl.”
    The guards relaxed their grip on Luana and
she shrugged free of them. She exhaled a deep breath she didn’t
know she had been