Chapter 9: Be My Guest!

The maid swallowed. Her teeth clattered, lips shivering as she looked around.

Selene raised a brow. "There is no one else here. What are you afraid of?"

The maid shook her head. "Miss, it wouldn’t be proper for me to do this. You’re the Alpha’s guest, how can a mere maid such as me eat from your food? I can’t do that."

"But I’ve asked you to," Selene said. "I am worried and I want you to test the meal for me. You must have been one of the cooks that prepared it, right?"

The maid took a step back.

"Then you should know more than anyone that there is nothing wrong with the food. Go ahead, taste it. Unless you want me to assume everyone of you added something into it. Your pack, your alpha, and every one of you will have to answer to me!"

Selene folded her arm. She threw a leg over the other.

"Go on."

The maid looked towards the door. She hoped that someone would walk in and save her. But after a few long seconds had passed by, she shakily took steps closer to the table.

She picked up the soup bowl.

Selene watched her. She waited for her to sip a spoonful, but the maid looked completely pale, the spoon paused at her lips.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Miss..."

"Take it."

She parted her lips and tried to drink the soup off the spoon, however, having no courage, she shook her head, intending to toss the soup. But Selene was quick on her feet.

She shot up from the chair, grabbed the bowl, and reached for the maid by the back of her head. She shoved the bowl over her lips and forced the soup down her throat.

"Did you think I’d just let you pour it away? Drink it, let me see why you just wouldn’t taste it for me."

The maid struggled in her hold.

"Miss."

"MISS!"

She begged and muffled. She struggled and wiggled and eventually managed to shove Selene.

Selene staggered backward, the sound of her heels pressing into the marble floor. She caught herself, straightened, and adjusted her knee-length white dress. Then she looked at the maid.

"What’s wrong, huh?"

The maid keeled over, hand gripping the edge of the table. She coughed and stuffed her finger down her throat. She tried to vomit the soup out. "Help!"

"HELP! Somebody help me!" she yelled again and again for help. "Help me!!!"

Having heard her yell for help, the door of the kitchen was pushed open. About three maids walked in, each one of them stopping quickly the moment they saw the woman choking.

"Ellenor!!" They collectively gasped out.

"She..." The maid, Ellenor, still choking, pointed a shaky finger at Selene. "She-she’s trying to kill me!"

They all turned their gazes over.

With a hand beneath her chin, Selene sat watching them with amusement in her gaze. "Don’t tell me all of you were waiting by the door? Were you hoping she’d walk out and tell you I’m dead?"

"You bitch!" The head cook glared.

"Seems you have the most authority, huh." She curled her lip. "What kind of manners do you practice here in Halcyon’s Pack? Is disrespecting a guest a norm? I may be an outsider, but I’m still a guest, and don’t forget...the wife of your alpha."

Their faces twitched. She wasn’t lying after all. Selene was no normal guest. She was also the wife of the alpha even though it was only temporary.

On the floor, Ellenor gasped heavily. She gripped her neck, coughing roughly again and again.

"I’m going to die," she cried. "I-I’m going to die!"

"And why would you die?" Selene asked. Then she gasped, faking her surprise. "Don’t tell me the soup was...poisoned."

"My, my, my."

She shook her head.

"Doesn’t that mean you’re going to die?"

The maid tilted up her head and met her gaze fiercely. She cursed, "You foreign bitch!"

"Ha," Selene chuckled. "Looks like the poison has yet to kick in since you have the mouth to insult me."

She walked over and settled down into the chair. She crossed her legs. "How do you feel? Hot? Is your throat and your chest burning?"

The maid blinked rapidly. Her throat and her chest were indeed burning.

"What about your body temperature? Do you suddenly feel hot? Like an omega going into heat?"

When the maid couldn’t answer her, she clicked her tongue.

"Poor you. I know what poison was in these foods. I smelled it. And I can tell you that once this poison begins to take effect, these are the symptoms. Burning chest and throat. Then a hotness like a heat stroke. You will begin to sweat all over, your forehead especially. Do you want to know the final symptom before you bite the sand?"

The maid was as pale as a corpse at this point. She was turning blue at her finger, veins emerging below her eyes. She breathed heavily and the bubbles of tears that had formed at the edges of her eyes, broke, falling down her cheek.

"I’ll tell you." Selene smiled. "The final symptom is nausea. You will vomit, and when you do, you will puke blood. And once you vomit that blood, the next thing that follows...is death."

"Now," she whipped her hair off her shoulder. "I’ll give you two options. One can save your life, and it is up to you. Are you interested?"

The maid nodded frantically. No one wanted to die, certainly not her!

"Please! Miss, please! Help me."

"Fine, fine, I’m not so heartless."

Selene sat elegantly, shifting onto one side of the seat. "One, you tell me who ordered you to poison me, and when I let your alpha know, you will be a witness. Do this and I’ll give you the antidote to save you. But, if you refuse to tell me anything, I’m more than glad to sit here and watch you die, after all, you did try to kill me. One thing about me is that I do not like being pushed over. Hurt me first, I will retaliate and I will hurt you back. So...what do you say?"

The maid shook her head. She refused. If she spoke, who knows what Meris would do to her family? Every worker in this manor was afraid of her for this reason, not to mention she was the alpha’s mate.

"Oh...you won’t speak?"

Slene laughed a little and folded her arms.

"Fine then. Be my guest. You can go ahead and die for all I care."