The Last Three Vials

Chapter 3 The Last Anchor

Victor needed an extraction, and I was the only one who could authorize it. I made it back to the main hall and opened the command console.

“Dispatch the Phantoms to Victor’s coordinates. Priority Zero med-evac. Now.”

The operator kept his eyes on the screen. “Apologies, Madre. The Phantoms are unavailable.”

“Unavailable?” I leaned over his console. “They are my personal guard. They are never unavailable.”

His fingers stopped over the keys. “New orders from the Don, an hour ago. They've been reassigned. Permanent watch on Signora Rossi's new greenhouse.”

The Phantoms were trained for deep-cover extractions, and I had trusted them with my life and Victor's. Kaelen had sent every one of them to guard Serena's flowers.

“Then give me a standard transport chopper.”

“Of course, Madre.”

His fingers touched the keyboard. A gasp came from the grand staircase, followed by a rush of silk. Serena stumbled at the top, rolled down the last few steps, and landed on the marble.

“Elara, why?” she whimpered, clutching her ankle. “I was just coming to see if you were all right.”

Kaelen reached her first. He lifted her in both arms and turned on me.

“You see?” he snarled, his voice echoing in the cavernous hall. “This is what I’m talking about. Your jealousy is a cancer in this family.”

He set Serena on a velvet chaise and ordered a guard to fetch the med kit. Through the open doors, the transport chopper waited on the landing pad.

Its rotors were already turning. The alert at my hip kept beeping.

Kaelen kicked a pair of dirt-stained gardener's kneepads across the floor. “You want my helicopter to save your old friend?”

He pointed at the kneepads. “Kneel. Serve Serena tea and beg her forgiveness. Then I might consider it.”

Victor's pulse dropped again on the screen. I picked up the kneepads.

I strapped the coarse kneepads over my tactical pants. Their grit scraped through the fabric when I knelt before Serena's chaise.

The poison cramped through my stomach as I poured the tea, but the cup stayed level. Serena watched it and made no move to take it.

The beeps from my communicator slowed.

I held the cup out. “I am sorry. Please forgive me.”

Kaelen looked from my bent knees to my face. His mouth opened.

The beeping stopped. One unbroken tone took its place.

The flatline.

The teacup fell from my fingers and shattered on the marble. Tea ran around the gardener's kneepads while the flatline continued from my hip.

The flatline drowned out Serena's crying. I lifted my head. Kaelen was only the Don now.