FROM THE ASHES OF REVENGE

Comeback!

Chapter 3

Alicia's Pov

I opened my eyes to the sound of Emily's cup clicking against the saucer. I blinked, confused. I was back in this room, back where it all started. I locked my gaze onto Emily who was smirking at me. Was I dreaming? Why was I back here? I was dead, I was supposed to be dead in those flames.

“Alicia, what are you doing standing there?! Come over here and serve me the tea!” Emily's voice was as annoying and arrogant as I remembered it. And this… It all looked real. And it was real… I clenched the tray so hard that my knuckles turned white.

“Then I have the chance…” To get my revenge.

“I apologise for the delay, My Lady.” I smiled as I set the tray down, arranging it very carefully. I stirred the teapot and then gently poured tea into her cup then handed it to her, “Your tea.”

My hands were trembling, but I managed to keep it in check.

She took it from me with a slight glance, her eyes showing her confusion. But I smiled at her, and merely moved back. Then she raised the teacup, bringing it to her lip and then took a sip and almost instantly, she spat out blood, coughing.

“You… What did you…”

“My lady!” I screamed, rushing to her side and taking the cup away from her. Once I did, I set it back on the tray and pushed it further from her so she wouldn't be able to reach it. And then, with a small smirk, I pressed her down, disabling her movements.

“W… what? What are you doing?!” Emily stared at me with wide eyes, confusion showing in her gaze.

“What I should have done, and since you love to drink poison, then I should let you have some, right?”

And then, I screamed more loudly. The tea that Emily always drank, when paired alone, was harmless but there was something I had always carried along with me, it was some kind of tiny scent pouch, so when the scent of the flower is mixed with the scent of the tea, it makes the body react heavily to it, causing bleeding from the mouth or nostrils.

Emily was highly allergic to this plant I used, though she didn't know she was and I loved the flower so I always carried it with me.

The bleeding would stop after a few seconds, but the extreme pain would remain. It was some kind of hallucination pain, so it wasn't really there. It felt like ten thousand wasps crawling up your body and stinging you.

I didn't have to as within the next few seconds, the same man who came in the first time came in again, and this time, he wasn't alone. He brought Lucien with him.

“P… Please, help her… She… She's…” I stammered, my hands hovering above Emily's body. Lucien came forward, pushing me away from Emily who grunted in pain.

“E… Emily, what's wrong? Why are you like this?” Lucien gathered Emily into his arms.

“P… Poison… In the tea. There's poison in the… Ack!” She coughed up blood which splashed onto Lucien's face.

“Poison?” His voice trembled, “Someone… Hold her.” Lucien’s voice boomed as he pointed at me, his eyes blazing with fury, “Guards! Hold her down!”

The guards sprang into action, their grips clamping onto my arms, forcing me to kneel. I didn’t resist, and my lips began curling into a slight smile.

It was just like it had happened before.

“Take her to the dungeons.” Lucien ordered, his voice dripping with disgust. He didn’t look at me directly, too focused on Emily's fragile form, but I could feel his seething anger.

I laughed, a sound that echoed through the room, cutting Lucien's attention from Emily. Lucien finally snapped his head in my direction, eyes narrowing.

“Oh, Emily.” I shook my head, letting my hair fall to my back and allowing the slight wind to push back strands of my hair away from my face, “When are you going to stop this drama of yours and face reality?”

Lucien blinked, as if unable to believe I was the one speaking, “Are you insane?” His question was low, dangerous, and the room seemed to pulse along with his anger. An Alpha's power, able to command whatever he wished to be commanded, he was trying to intimidate me, but that wasn't going to work this time.

Ignoring the guards’ hold on me, I yanked my arms free with surprising ease, leaving them momentarily stunned. Standing, I rubbed my sore wrists and walked slowly toward the tea set, the poisoned tea that Emily had claimed would kill her.

Lucien’s eyes followed me, disbelief shadowing his gaze. He thought I had lost my mind, clearly. To him, I must have looked like a woman ready to sign her own death sentence by drinking poisoned tea.

I picked up the cup of tea, lifting it to my face and swirling the mixture in the cup, “This…” I said, looking at Lucien and then at Emily, who lay limp in his arms, “Is the grand evidence of your so-called poisoning? What a half baked plan.”

He frowned, his jaw tightening, “What are you trying to prove, Alicia?”

Without a word, I tipped the cup towards my lips and drank. The tea slid down my throat, warm and smooth, and I let out a soft sigh. The silence in the room was deafening as I lowered the empty cup back onto the tray, Lucien stared at me as if I had just committed an act of lunacy.

“Well?” I asked, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, “Where’s the poison? And for you to not think that I was trying something funny, I'd do something else.” I picked up the teapot and chugged down the entire thing, no liquid left inside.

Lucien’s eyes widened, and he took a step back as if waiting for me to collapse any moment. Emily, still in his arms, gasped weakly, but her surprise was clear. I stood there, perfectly fine, looking down at them both with an expression that was a mix of amusement and pity.

“Lucien.” I started, my voice calm but filled with steel, “There’s no poison, there never was. This has been nothing but a well crafted lie.”

“What are you talking about?” Lucien growled, though the confusion in his eyes betrayed him, his grip on Emily tightened.

I turned to face Emily, my eyes locking onto hers, “Emily’s been playing you for a fool. She wasn’t poisoned, and she was never pregnant.”

Emily’s face went pale, her eyes darting frantically between Lucien and me, “W… What… How dare you accuse me! I’ve been in pain and suffering for weeks, and now you say this?!”

I laughed bitterly, as the image of her laughing at me in the fire filled my head, “Suffering? Is that what you call it?” I stepped closer, my gaze piercing, “The truth, Lucien, is that Emily’s been faking everything, right down to this ridiculous tea poisoning act. She was never pregnant in the first place. This was her way of faking a miscarriage that never had to happen because there was no child.”