So so sorry for yet another slow update... I really need to write quicker, but I'm working on that (:The next chappie isn't as long so i'm planning on getting that up soon *fingers crossed* but with gcse's coming up i'm very busy at the moment.
I'd just like to thank all you readers for your support, and all the reviews, they really help me to write quicker ;D *hint hint*
Anyways I'm going to let you read this chapter, as I know many of you have been waiting for it (:
Hope you enjoy it
Harlequin x
p.s. I'd just like to thank my beta, Deceptionist, as you have really improved this chapter, thank you =D
I didn't wait for her to answer; I swivelled back to my desk and reached for my work.
The silence that followed made the sound of my pen scratching against the paper and Yelena chewing ravenously on her cold food very audible.
It allowed me time to consider her question even though I had already answered it. Maybe she was right, maybe the food taster should get paid—after all they are risking their lives for us, prisoner or not, and it might give them an incentive to stay with us. But then they could just as easily gain enough money to leave. I could still track them down, as always; it was merely a matter of time. But with the right money and the right people, they could do anything to trick us, even trick me. However, the money would prevent many food tasters from becoming informers as they wouldn't be as money hungry as before. Oscove was just one of the many that have been corrupted by the temptation of money; I didn't want Yelena to be the next. It was a very roundabout argument, and yet it made so much sense.
A sudden thought struck me. If I gave Yelena wages, what would she buy? The sound of clashing cutlery snapped me out of my thoughts as I realized Yelena was about to go to her room.
I quickly turned around to face her before she left. "What would you buy with the money?" I asked curiously.
"A hairbrush, nightclothes, and I'd spend some at the festival." She replied without hesitation.
I was more than surprised that our seamstress, Dilana, hadn't included night clothes with the uniforms, as Margg had informed me she had to get some fitted as Oscove's old uniform, unsurprisingly, didn't fit her. Dilana was always one to "mother" our servants and soldiers, making sure they all had the correct uniforms. Everyone knew about her relationship with Rand. He doesn't deserve her, easily tempted with money as he is. I've known this all along, and I also know what would happen if he is tempted once more. We would find out, no doubt, and Dilana would be the one ending up hurt. She shouldn't waste her time on that scumbag.
Another thing, about going to the fire festival. I shouldn't have been surprised. Most servants attend the festival and for many it is the highlight of their year. I assume Brazell had allowed the orphans to go to the festival. I wonder if the festival held any memories for her, good or bad. But what worried me the most about her going to the festival is that she would be an easy target. A busy festival makes it hard to spot followers, and Yelena being untrained in that matter could easily walk into a trap and with Brazell wanting her dead it would be no surprise for him to send out a few men to capture her. I didn't want to spend my time following her around some silly, annual festival.
I composed a reply. "You can get some nightclothes from our seamstress, Dilana. She should have included them with your uniforms. As to the rest, you will have to make do with what you find."
I didn't say she couldn't go to the festival, since I had no right to. I did, however, imply she would have to find the money, and it would be next to impossible for her to obtain the money without going against the law and getting herself killed.
With my un-promising answer, Yelena sighed and picked up her journal, heading back to her room. I half expected her to slam the door like a stubborn child, but the soft click startled me.
I cleared my thoughts of Yelena, and focused back on the work placed in front of me.
I had to assign a fugitive for the next exercise, as always. However this time was particularly tricky; we hadn't done an exercise such as this for a few years, so I was having trouble finding the right person for the job.
We needed someone untrained in this particular field, as it wouldn't be fair on the search party. But we needed someone intelligent enough to bring a challenge to the exercise. None of the servants have any imagination, and I can't assign any prisoners as they wouldn't return to the castle.
The medic is intelligent enough to make the search challenging, but she is needed in the castle in case of emergencies.
I scratched out each name in annoyance and paced the room quickly, pulling my hair in frustration. Without realising I found myself walking towards Yelena's room, with my hand on the door knob I hesitated.
What was I doing?
I knew that Yelena tasted Ambrose's breakfast, but I felt an invisible barrier preventing me from entering her room. I wasn't going to invade her privacy.
I paced back to my desk in exasperation, looking at the list of scratched out names my pen held limply in my hand. No matter how hard I tried, I could not erase the thoughts of Yelena from my mind. I started to write her name on the paper, if felt so natural to write her name.
I was about to scratch it out when I froze in thought.
Yelena... as the fugitive.
It was ingenious. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it sooner.
She's smart enough to bring challenge to the exercise, and she has an incentive to return to the castle. And this will be the perfect opportunity for her to earn some money for the fire festival and whatever else she wishes to spend her money on. She doesn't earn wages as our food taster; however with this job and many in the future she would be paid. And I believe the thought of being poisoned would prevent her from running away, plus she knows full well I would—and could—track her down. I hoped with a passion that such an event would never occur, since I don't think I would be willing enough to track her down and kill her. I could never hurt her.
I jerked upright the minute the thought flew through my mind. Dammit, Valek. Get a hold of yourself! You've become far too attached to her, and guess what? She's a food taster, a servant, a prisoner, a murder. She's disposable, Valek, you said so yourself, that was the main point of using prisoners as the food taster; it doesn't matter if they die .They're expendable, replaceable. You need to stop thinking about her, stop caring so much.
I blanked out the voice in my head, circling Yelena's name. Somehow, I had a good feeling about this.
I walked to the balcony for a drink, when I realised the time. I had to attend lunch. It was the perfect opportunity to discuss this new stroke of brilliance with both Ambrose and Yelena in attendance.
During my walk to Ambrose's office I thought through my decision in my head. Was I doing the right thing? Would Yelena be a good candidate for the exercise? Would she try and escape?
Many questions were running through my head, and an uneasy feeling chewed at my stomach. Was this to be a huge mistake or a big success?
There was only one way to find out.
I was going to ask Yelena to be the fugitive. She could easily refuse the offer, but I felt that would be a shame if she was willing to do the job and not attempt to escape. She's smart, stubborn and wants to earn some money. This would make the perfect opportunity for her to show us her skills and maybe even get her a higher ranking than a food taster. It was a win-win situation. Something that doesn't involve her risking her life with every mouthful of food. But the poison wasn't the only obstacle in her way of a better life. Brazell still remains an inevitable danger.
Outside his office, I took a deep breath to clear my thoughts before entering. A quick scan of the room confirmed my hopes that Yelena is in the room with us.
"Have you found a fugitive for the exercise?" Ambrose asked immediately.
Now was the perfect opportunity for me to pledge my idea. With Yelena in earshot she can't help by listen when I mention her name.
"Yes, I know the perfect person for the job." I replied as I sat down in the chair facing Ambrose
"Who?" he asked, peering up interestedly.
I purposely made a pause for tension, before replying "Yelena."
"What?" Yelena's disbelief echoed Ambrose's stern yet concerned, "Explain."
The shocked expression on Ambrose's face and Yelena's exclamation was exactly what I had expected. I couldn't help but smile at how predictable Ambrose was.
"My people are trained to avoid capture. Assigning one of them wouldn't be fair to the search party. Therefore, we need a person not skilled in the art of evasion, but who is intelligent enough to bring some challenge to the exercise."
I stood up to continue my speech. "The fugitive needs an incentive for a good chase, yet must return to the castle. I can't use a real prisoner. None of the servants have any imagination. I briefly considered using the medic, but she's needed here in case of emergencies. I was about to assign one of your soldiers when I thought of Yelena."
I gestured towards Yelena as I went through the points I had spent the past few hours preparing. "She's smart." I counted with my fingers to emphasize my argument. "She'll have an incentive to perform well and an incentive to return."
"Incentives?" Ambrose frowned, I had expected him to be a little more astute; he may not know about her wanting to get paid for her job, but he certainly knows about me giving her "Butterfly's Dust".
"The food taster receives no wages. But for this extra job and others like it in the future, she can be paid. The longer she evades capture, the higher the payment. As for the incentive to return, that should be obvious." I explained further.
"And if I refuse?" Yelena spoke up before Ambrose was able.
Even though I had been expecting this question from Yelena it still made my heart stop to hear her ask it. Even with the money incentives, there is still a chance she would refuse, and I'd hate for her to miss out on an opportunity like this to show off the skills I'm confident she has. I wanted to prove to Ambrose and the Generals that while she might be a food taster and an ex-prisoner, she has potential, and at the moment I seem to be the only one to realise this.
"I'll recruit one of the soldiers. But I'd be disappointed. I thought you would appreciate the challenge." I answered as calmly as was possible.
"Maybe I don't..." My heart stopped beating. I know she is about to say the one thing I was hoping so hard for her not to. My plan was about to be ruined.
"Enough." Ambrose was curt. "It's preposterous, Valek." I could see he was starting to see throughout my argument but I was hoping, rather praying, that I was mistaken. I guess Yelena trying to refuse was what set him off into voicing his opinion in the rudest way possible. No one seemed to notice that my emotions were in turmoil.
You're so stupid!
Stupid to come up with the idea.
Stupid to think that Yelena would agree.
I continued to argue, though. I wasn't ready to give up yet. I was determined for Yelena to see sense. "That's the whole point. A soldier would make predictable moves. She's an unknown."
"You might outguess our fugitive, but the people I have assigned to the exercise aren't that quick. I'm hoping to find someone who can be trained as your assistant. I understand what you're waiting for, but I don't believe it'll happen anytime soon. We need someone now." Ambrose sighed in exasperation. "Valek, why do you constantly undermine my orders to instruct an assistant?" he asked patronisingly.
"Because so far I have disagreed with your choices. When the suitable candidate appears, then all efforts to train him will be fully endorsed." I argued. I still wasn't ready to give up. Not yet.
Ambrose glanced at the tray in Yelena's hands before taking the food.
"Yelena, could you get me some hot tea." Ambrose didn't make it subtle that he made an excuse to get rid of her for a few minutes. However Yelena looked relieved to go, if her almost running out of the office was any indication.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Ambrose sighed, his expression easily giving away his thoughts like an open book.
"Valek. I understand your argument, but I don't feel that Yelena would make a good enough candidate. We don't want the fugitive to be an expert in this field and give the search party too much of a hard time, but we don't want the fugitive to give them a too easy chase either. I trust your instincts that she will meet these standards; however, she is a servant, Valek." I tried to interrupt but he held up his hand before continuing. "This is a training exercise, not a game. We don't want the search party finding the fugitive within an hour." Ambrose judged by my expression that I was about to interrupt again when he said, "I'm not saying that Yelena would be like that. All I am saying is that we have no idea what she is like in these situations, it's too much of a gamble to use her as it takes a lot of effort to arrange these exercises. You know that."
"Sir, I went through all the other possible candidates, and Yelena seemed the most suitable. Trust me on this; I have a good feeling about her. She's smart, yet not trained in the art of evasion so she will give a good chase but will make it still possible for the search party to find her." Ambrose's expression didn't change throughout my explanation, but I could still see that he was considering my argument.
"I understand what you are saying, but she's a food taster, and ex-prisoner. Do you really want to set her free on this exercise, giving her the easy opportunity to escape?" I tried to cut in but he held up his hand, sensing what I was going to say. "Yes, she has been poisoned to which she needs a daily dose of antidote to survive and she is perfectly informed of this. But what if her wish to escape is so strong that she'd rather die than work for us, or maybe she hopes to find the antidote herself, or even steal some from your office. Maybe Brazell will get to her throughout this exercise; after all it gives him the perfect opportunity to capture her without the protection of you or our guards."
"Sir," I argued, "she chose working for us rather than execution, she made that choice then. And I wouldn't assign her if I didn't have faith in her abilities, or believed she would plan to escape, you should know how much I hate training new tasters. I'll make sure Brazell doesn't find out about her participating in the exercise. We'll keep it a secret until the day of the exercise, then there won't be time for Brazell to be informed and send his men out for her capture. Also, I will be attending the exercise—to keep close tabs on Yelena and make sure she won't escape."
Ambrose seemed to be more convinced with my last statement. He knows full well that I have the ability to track her down and if she knows that I'll be following her, she'll be sure not to escape.
"But what if she is bribed by an informer?" he asked quizzically.
"She won't because she knows what happened to Oscove, and she knows that I will find out and refuse her the antidote, to which she will have a slow and painful death. We have Star tabbed; I'll know if she does business with Yelena."
"I trust you to have made the right decision. If this fails, I will allocate someone else to assign the next fugitive. Understand?"
"Yes sir." Like training the tasters, assigning the fugitive isn't a job I will miss. However, I am certain that Yelena will make a satisfying fugitive, and will hopefully prove Ambrose wrong.
As if on cue, Yelena entered the office carrying the hot tea. By the time she had set down the hot tea and tasted it, I had already quoted the cash incentives for the chase. The sum for staying free for the whole day is a large amount and I can see that it appealed to her. I took her facial expressions as a yes.
"The exercise is scheduled to take place during the fire festival. A busy time for the soldiers. Should we postpone it until after?" I asked Ambrose. I didn't want the commotion the fire festival to affect the soldier's skills and ruin the exercise. I also knew that Yelena wanted to attend the festival, this might affect her efforts in the exercise, and I wanted her to be the best of her ability. I wanted to prove Ambrose wrong.
"No. The added commotion will increase the level of difficulty for our pursuers." He answered.
"Well, Yelena, that only gives you a few days to prepare. Fair enough, since some prisoners plan an escape route, while others see an opportunity and bolt. Are you interested in the challenge?" I asked her. I was informing her of the opportunity to escape, waiting and testing.
"Yes" she replied without hesitation. "On the condition that Brazell will not be informed of my participation."
"Isn't having a room in my personal suite an indication that I'm probably concerned with your well-being?" I huffed.
I've given her a room in my suite, something I have NEVER done before, not to anyone let alone a food taster, a servant, an ex-prisoner. She's in my suite because of the threat from Brazell, and she thinks that I will gladly inform him of her participation in the exercise so he can then kill her, after all my efforts to protect her?
It stung a bit, to think she didn't even trust me to keep her safe. Of course, I didn't think she trusted anybody at all. Save perhaps Rand the cook, whom I hear she visits now and then... Too many, in my opinion.
"Speaking of Brazell," Ambrose interrupted, "He gave me a gift. A new dessert his chef invented. He thought I might like it."
He took out a wooden box full of thick, brown squares, stacked on top of each other. I picked up a piece and sniffed it. It smelt different, I could smell no traces of poisons but it wasn't a substance I recognised. "I hoped you didn't try any." Most poisons are hard to detect by smell alone, and the sweet smell of this dessert would mask any evident odours of poison.
"It's too blatant, even for Brazell to be poisoned. But, no. I didn't."
I handed the container to Yelena. "Yelena, take some pieces out at random and taste them."
I watched as she sorted through the squares, selecting four. I noticed her hesitating before biting into them, obviously worried as they were from Brazell, who knew that Yelena would taste them prior to Ambrose. I watched in concern as she bit into them, feeling my stomach turn in anticipation. Anything could be in them and I didn't trust Brazell. I hated putting her at risk like this.
A shocked expression spread across her face causing Ambrose to rise half off his chair, and me to take a step towards her. We were both thinking the same thing.
Poison.
"Unbelievable! What is it?"
Ambrose and I exchanged puzzled looks. That was definitely not what we expected her to say.
"Brazell called it Criollo. Why? Is there poison in it?" he asked in confusion. I could understand his feelings.
"No. No poisons. It's just..." she paused for a moment, gesturing helplessly while searching for the right word. When none came to her, she said "Try it."
Both of us grabbed a piece. I wanted to see what this big fuss was about. It's only a dessert.
I watched Ambrose face carefully as I ate mine. His eyes widened in surprise and his tongue dashed across his lips to suck the remaining flavour from them. He grabbed another piece. The dessert melted on my tongue, with all the possible flavours, sweet, bitter, nutty and fruity followed each other. I hadn't tasted anything like it before, but I didn't see the big deal about it. By Yelena's and Ambrose's reactions I expected it to be better.
"It's sweet. Different. But I don't taste anything unbelievable about it." I wiped the brown flakes from my hands.
I noticed Yelena exchanging a look with Ambrose. I'm guessing they didn't approve of my criticism.
Not that I'm jealous that Yelena and the Commander are bonding over dessert, of all things...
After dinner, I returned to my office to continue my work. With Yelena as the official fugitive, I had paperwork to fill out. Half way through my work there was a knock at my door. I wondered who it was as I wasn't expecting anybody.
"Come in," I called.
One of my men came in, holding a notebook in his hands.
"Sir, I think you might want to look at this." He handed the book to me.
I'll bet that little rat won't last an hour.
I'll give fifty to one to anyone stupid enough to think the rat'll last a day. And one hundred to one for the sucker who thinks she won't get caught.
How could she? Other than Ambrose and me, she was the only one that knew. How could she be so stupid? How could she risk her own life? I thought she wanted to escape Brazell, not give him the perfect opportunity to capture her! How could I have been so dumb as to think she would be a good fugitive? How could I have been so stupid to trust her?
"When did this happen?" I asked.
"About two hours ago, sir," came the blunt reply.
"That long ago? You should have given this to me immediately," I snarled.
"I apologize, sir."
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"No sir. I was the only one in the room, and when I heard it I wrote it down as I thought it might be useful to you sir."
"Thank you. You're dismissed."
"Yes sir."
When the door clicked shut, I walked over to the conference table and kicked one of the chairs.
How could I have been so stupid!
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
After kicking it once more, I returned to my desk and realised I had kept the book. I continued reading.
I'll bet a month's wages that Yelena stays free all day.
You've been in the kitchen too long, Rand. The heat's cooked your brain to mush. I think you're starting to like the little rat. Better lock your knives up when she's here or she may....
All, right, that's enough. Dinner's over. Everyone out of my kitchen.
Rand again. Trust the bastard to stick up for her.
I bolted from the room. While walking to my suite I didn't think twice about what I was going to do.
How could she betray me? I shouldn't have trusted her; she's an ex-prisoner, for god's sake! I let the pretty face and "innocence" mess with my mind. I should have known better.
And yet it wasn't so much a betrayal to me as well as everything I had done to keep her safe. All the extensive measures, the vast lengths I had gone to... Wasted! Just like that. I was so mad I could spit.
The lanterns in my suite were lit—she was here. A quick scan of the living room showed she wasn't there. I half expected her to be upstairs snooping around, but I stormed to her room instead.
The lantern light shining through the ajar door highlighted Yelena sleeping peacefully. I saw her eyelids flutter open. Ignoring my feelings I yanked her from the bed and slammed here into the wall.
Her gasps for breath shook me from my dark thoughts. I stifled a gasp of my own. The lantern light played on the sharp planes of her face, making her look even more beautiful than before. She looked scared and bewildered, completely suspended from the floor with my hands grasping the collar of her night clothes which hung from her delicate frame.
What was I doing? My heart tightened.
Even after what she had done I found I couldn't bring myself to kill her.
What was wrong with me? This has never affected me before; why can't I kill her? Why can't I punish her for betraying me and ruining the exercise?
And then she found her voice, the one that haunted me sometimes when I was alone. Now it filled with confusion.
"Valek?"