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"It’s a what a difference a bath and a unifor on a slice of bacon "I’ll have to re two plates of an egg-and-ha dizzy and flushed, I blurted out, "I’d rather start with the antidote" Another long pause froet inany symptoed and went to his cabinet He used a pipette to extract a e bottle, and then locked the antidote back inside the cabinet My interest in the location of the key ht of hand tome the pipette, he sat down on the opposite side of the table

"Drink up so we can start today’s lessons," he said

I squeezed the contents intoat the bitter taste Valek took the pipette froed it for a blue jar "Take a sniff"

The jar contained a white powder, rese to the two plates cooling in front of me, Valek asked me to pick the one sprinkled with the poison I sniffed at the food like a scent hound nosing for prey A faint odor of rosewood emanated from the left plate

"Good Should you pick up that aroma from any of the Cotus and a single grain of the poill kill within the hour" Valek removed the tainted food "Eat your breakfast" He indicated the other plate "You’ll need your strength"

I spent the re poisons until an to confuse me, so I asked Valek for some paper, quill and ink He stilled

"I don’t knohy you continue to surprise me I should have reme a book of papers, a quill and ink down in front of h for today"

I silently cursedValek why I had been the next person to be executed as I gathered the book and writing i expression revealed his thoughts Taken off the streets, fed and educated by Brazell, I had repaid Brazell’s kindness byhis only child I knew Valek would never believe the truth about Brazell and Reyad

General Brazell’s orphanage was a topic of ridicule froone "soft" after the takeover of Ixia fifteen years ago This impression suited Brazell Seen as a kindly old benefactor, Brazell could continue unchallenged in his administration of Military District 5

I hesitated at the entrance of Valek’s office, noticing for the first time the three co the locking ered in the doorway until Valek asked, "Nohat?"

"I’ to a sloitted child "Ask the first housekeeper or kitchenabout this tiround floor She’ll show you"

The kitchenand I took full advantage of her good nature She guided me to the laundry room to obtain some linens for my bed Then I had her show me the way to the baths and the seaht come in handy someday

In ht fro down at my desk, I wrote exhaustive notes on what I had learned that day, including a rough map of the servants’ corridors I considered ht, I needed th I hoped I would have ti proceeded in a manner so si at Valek’s everypoisons, I found that htened But then Valek announced I was strong enough to begin tasting poisons

"I’ll start with the deadliest one," he said "If you don’t die from it, the other poisons wouldn’t kill you either I don’t want to waste allyou only to see you die in the end" He placed a slender red bottle on his desk "It’s nasty Affects the body immediately" Valek’s eyes lit up as he admired the poison "It’s called Have a Drink, My Love, or My Love for short because the poison has a history of being used by disheartened wives" He squeezed two drops of the poison into a steaer dose would definitely kill you With a smaller dose, there is a chance you’ll survive, but you’ll become delusional, paranoid and completely disoriented for the next few days"

"Valek, why do I have to taste My Love if it has immediate results? Isn’t that what a food taster is for? I taste the Commander’s food I keel over, dead End of the tale" I tried pacing around the roo over stacks of books Frustrated, I kicked two piles into their neighbors, scattering books into athe odd feeling of satisfaction I had gotten fro the books

"A food taster’s job ishis hair back fro able to identify which poison taints the Commander’s food can lead me to the poisoner" Valek handed me the cup "Even if you only have a split second to shout out My Love before passing out, it would narron the list of suspects There are a nurown in Sitia, the southern lands It was easy to obtain before the takeover With the closure of the southern border, only a handful of people have enough ally"