Chapter 17 Aug 19, 2025 Celeste "The pears are particularly sweet this morning, Your Highness," Hannah said, arranging the fruit on my breakfast tray with her usual care. I nodded absently, focused on the correspondence spread before me. Another invitation that had been mysteriously withdrawn, another committee position that had been "restructured" to exclude me. The systematic isolation was becoming more obvious by the day. "You should eat something," Hannah urged gently. "You've barely touched your meals this week." She was right. The stress had killed my appetite, but the child needed nourishment. I picked up the silver spoon and took a small bite of the pear. It was sweet, almost too sweet, with an odd aftertaste that lingered on my tongue. "The flavor is strange," I murmured, setting down the spoon. "Strange how, my lady?" "Bitter underneath. Like…" I tried to place it, but my thoughts began to scatter. The room seemed to tilt slightly, and I gripped the edge of the table. "Your Highness?" Hannah's voice sounded distant, though she was standing right beside me. I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't support me. The elegant breakfast chamber began to spin, walls bleeding into each other in a nauseating swirl of gold and cream. "Hannah," I whispered, reaching for her. "My lady!" She lunged forward just as my knees buckled, catching me as I collapsed. "Help! Someone help us! The Princess has fainted!" My vision went black, but I could hear her shouting, her voice sharp with panic. "Send for the physician immediately! And fetch His Majesty!" Consciousness came in fragments after that. Voices, urgent and overlapping. Hands lifting me, carrying me. The soft give of my mattress beneath me. "What happened?" A man's voice, deep and commanding. Alexandre. "She collapsed during breakfast, Your Majesty," Hannah explained, her words tumbling over each other. "One moment she was fine, the next she was saying the food tasted strange and then she just… fell." "Where is the physician?" "Coming, Your Majesty. I sent word immediately." I tried to open my eyes, but they felt weighted with lead. My mouth was dry, my stomach churning with nausea that came in waves. "Céleste." Alexandre's voice was closer now, right beside the bed. "Can you hear me?" I managed a small sound, somewhere between a whisper and a moan. "She's burning up," he said. "How long has she been unconscious?" "Nearly an hour, Your Majesty." Footsteps approached rapidly. "Your Majesty," came a new voice-Dr. Beaumont, the royal physician. "I came as quickly as I could." "Something's wrong," Alexandre said, and I could hear the barely controlled panic in his voice. "She collapsed after eating breakfast." "I'll need to examine her. Your Majesty, perhaps you could…" "I'm not leaving." "Of course not. Hannah, fetch my supplies from the carriage. And bring the breakfast tray-everything she ate this morning." More voices filled the room. I felt hands checking my pulse, pressing against my forehead, lifting my eyelids to examine my pupils. The examination seemed to go on forever. "Well?" Alexandre's voice was tight with tension. Dr. Beaumont was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was grim. "Your Majesty, I need to ask you some difficult questions." "Ask them." "Has the Princess had any… complications with this pregnancy? Any bleeding, cramping, unusual symptoms?" "No. Nothing. She's been perfectly healthy." "And she was fine before breakfast?" "Yes. What are you implying?" Another pause. Then Dr. Beaumont's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "Your Majesty, I believe the Princess has been poisoned." The silence that followed was deafening. "Poisoned?" Alexandre's voice was deadly quiet. "The symptoms are consistent with certain… botanical preparations. Herbs that are known to cause miscarriage in early pregnancy." "You're saying someone tried to kill my grandchild?" "Not kill, Your Majesty. The dosage was carefully calculated. Enough to terminate the pregnancy, but not enough to seriously harm the Princess herself." "It was deliberate," Alexandre said, and I could hear the fury building in his voice. "And precise," Dr. Beaumont confirmed. "This was not an accident or a mistake. Someone with knowledge of such things prepared this specifically." "Who had access to her food?" "Your Majesty, with respect, that's a question for the guards to investigate. My concern now is the Princess and the child." "The child." Alexandre's voice cracked. "Is it…?" "I believe both mother and child will survive. The Princess appears to have eaten very little of the contaminated fruit, and her body rejected it quickly. She's young and strong." I felt a warm hand cover mine. Alexandre's hand, large and steady, though I could feel the tremor in his fingers. "Will there be lasting effects?" "I don't believe so. But she'll need rest and careful monitoring for the next few days." Hours passed in a haze of sleep and fever dreams. When I finally opened my eyes properly, the room was dim with evening shadows. A single candle burned on the bedside table, casting flickering light across Alexandre's face. He was sitting in the chair beside my bed, still holding my hand. His coat was rumpled, his hair disheveled. He looked like he'd aged years in a single day. "You're awake," he said softly. "How long…?" "Six hours. Dr. Beaumont said you'd wake soon." I tried to sit up, but he pressed gently on my shoulder. "Don't. You need to rest." "The baby?" "Safe. You're both safe." Relief flooded through me so powerfully that tears sprang to my eyes. "They tried to end it," I whispered. "They failed," he replied, his voice hard as steel. "And now we find out who gave the order."