QT Prompt #2: a story where Costis has to be the one to slip Gen lithium - by Anonymous

"I think this is all a drawn-out plot to kill me," said Costis as he paced his room, palming the small clay amphora between his two hands. "This whole castle hates me."

"Costis, you might want to be careful with that," Aris said from where he was sprawled in Costis's chair. He'd tried to lay on the bed, being tired after a long day, but Costis had growled at him. "That's not yours. At least, I don't think it is. Do you get to keep it?"

"He hates to be drugged."

"Who likes to be drugged?" asked Aris.

"He's going to tell them to cut my head off," said Costis, sinking down onto his bed.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Aris. "Even if you weren't all friendly with the king, they never cut anyone's head off around here. More likely you'd get hung. Perhaps starved."

"Thanks."

"You know this isn't as big of a deal as you're making it out to be?" Aris asked. "It's not like no one has ever drugged the king before. He's always injured nowadays, and someone's got to make sure he doesn't get up and walk away."

"It always has to be me, though, with the unpleasant job," said Costis.

"No arguments there. I'm just as likely to let him sneak out as anything, especially since he compensates so well."

Costis sighed and glared balefully at his friend before stomping from the room.

Aris watched him go with slight smile. "You don't even know you'll have to drug anyone!" he called after his friend, who didn't respond.

/

Technically, Aris was right. It wasn't that someone had looked at Costis and said, "slip the king some lithium". They had just put him in charge of watching the healing king. At this particular shift. When Costis knew he was most likely to wake up, and also that he had been recently objecting to being given anything that would put him to sleep. And that he had thrown something at the last member of his entourage last time. He'd been half-asleep though, and he never liked his personal servants anyway.

There was no guarantee that the king would wake up, or that if he did, he would give Costis any trouble at all.

All the same, Costis felt like he'd been set up. Sacrificed. Thrown under the carriage.

And of course, the king did wake up, in the wee hours of the night. He didn't seem to have been dreaming – which was always good. No, he just quietly slipped into natural sleep – which he was notoriously easy to wake up from – and then, when Costis shifted and blinked, he opened his eyes.

"Costis," said Eugenides. "You got back." The king had seen him three times since he got back. He must not have been fully awake.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Are you thirsty?" He lifted up the water.

Eugenides looked at the cup, and then laughed. "You saved my life, and they've got you on drugging duty?"

"You're not supposed to be awake," Costis said apologetically. "You're recovering. And I'm sure you would have been fine on your own."

"I don't want it," Eugenides said.

Costis said nothing. He didn't want to upset the king. He didn't like to make him mad – he wasn't stupid, after all.

Eugenides saw the look on Costis's face and sighed, reaching for the water. "One day, I'll stop asking so much of you," he warned. "Then where will you be?" He swallowed the water and went back to sleep.

Costis sat back in the chair that the queen had told him he could sit in during watch, thinking on Eugenides's words. They just went to show that the king really did lie all the time, even when half-asleep.