CHAPTER NINENever Again
The innards of my skull throbbed as though a blacksmith beat it, each crash of his hammer against the anvil like a body blow. I groaned and placed an instinctive palm over my chest. The lack of hive activity infused a sudden grief into the pain and I groaned beneath the weight of it. Feather light fingers brushed my brow.
“I’m sorry,” a child’s voice whispered. Warm damp breath and spittle doused my cheek. “The elders drink it. I thought you’d like it.”
My replied moan seemed to reverberate around the cavity of my head and I ceased all noise and movement for a while. A little hand pushed its way into mine, grasping and impatient. “Help me, Queen Estefania. I am in deep trouble. I got you to your chambers but everyone will soon know what I did.”
“Am I poisoned?”
