Emily watches the doctor sleeping in her berth on the Dreadful Wale, hand gripping the hilt of her dagger. Dr. Hypatia is a fitful sleeper: she twitches and mumbles, and Emily's skin crawls, recalling the sadism in low, throaty voice that issued from the other Alexandria Hypatia... Grim Alex. The Crown Killer. The memories of the even one of the murder scenes make her want to vomit, and she forcefully pushes the image away.
Had she made the right decision to cure the doctor instead of execute her? What if this second self re-emerged? But Vasco's notes promised that the potion was a cure. Emily supposes that if Vasco was wrong, then she alone would bear the consequences should Grim Alex suddenly return.
And... yet, Vasco himself had been alive for awhile. Perhaps Dr. Hypatia's better self had been able to re-assert control for small bits of time. That was an encouraging thought.
The important part was now the murders were stopped and the Duke would no longer be able to use the Crown Killer to work against her, to spread fear among her people.
Emiliy sighs and turns to go.
"Your Majesty?"
Emily turns. Dr. Hypatia is sitting up on her bunk, blinking groggily.
"Dr. Hypatia. I'm sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep. We can speak another time."
The gray haired doctor nods, but her face is troubled. "Your Majesty... did I... hurt someone while I was poisoned?"
Emily hesitates, but the doctor rushes on. "I have such terrible dreams... and poor Vasco..." Her eyes fill with tears.
Emily curses inwardly. She hadn't a chance to hide what was left Vasco's body before injecting the Crown Killer with the cure, and of course Dr. Hypatia would have seen her old friend and the horrible way he had died with no explanation readily at hand.
Emily softens her voice. "You were not yourself," she says, knowing that it is not really an answer to her question. She pauses. "My father told me once that after my mother's murder, he felt like he was a different person, that the grief and shock had twisted his mind into something..." she swallowed the word "grim", "something dark. He said that after he found me, rescued me from political schemers, was when he truly woke up." She paused the let that sink in. "There are things I've done that I'm not proud of either, and those are things that I remember. But I remember that my mother believed in me, and my father crawled back from the dark. You can do that too, doctor. Look at the light and follow that."
The hollowness doesn't quite vanish from the doctor's eyes, but she looks a little more determined at least. Emily turns to go, finding herself mouthing the words she'd spoken to the doctor: "Look at the light and follow that."
It was a good thing to remember.