"You think you deserve this?" Fallon Bradley laughed as she stepped into the room and dropped something on the bedside table.
"You stole the remedy," Juliana said. Her voice was small but steady.
Fallon turned the vial between her fingers. "Stole? The herbs were on the tray from your little recipe. I only moved them somewhere safer."
Genevieve pushed the door wider and leaned against the frame. "Safer for who?"
"For me," Fallon said. "For whatever I chose to do."
Juliana walked forward until she was chest to chest with Fallon. "You took them before Ellis arrived. You sold them to the court apothecaries."
"You always trusted everyone too much," Fallon smiled. "You always thought favors kept you safe. Marriage is protection. I married for protection."
"Married?" Juliana repeated.
"To secure my name," Fallon said. "To rise. To be more than your shadow."
Juliana's hand found Fallon's wrist. "You used me."
"You used yourself," Fallon snapped. "You let people see you as kind and weak. I used the world."
Juliana's fingernails pressed, then let go. Her palm moved faster than thought. She slapped Fallon across the face.
The slap landed hard. Fallon staggered, the tiny laugh dying in her throat. A bruise swelled red on her cheek where Juliana's hand had burned her.
"How dare you—" Fallon spluttered, eyes wide. She straightened quickly, anger drowning surprise.
Servants outside the chamber stopped their tasks when the sound reached them. Footsteps grew closer.
"Don't," Genevieve said. Her
