"That's..." Vaelra's voice emerges as barely a whisper. "That's impossible. How dare you accuse me of such a thing."
"Impossible?" I step closer, and she actually retreats. "He was healthy until you married him. Until you began fussing over his health, insisting he needed rest, needed medicine."
"He was ill!" The words burst from her with desperate force. "Anyone could see he was failing—the cough, the weakness?—"
"The weakness you caused." My voice stays level, controlled. "You needed him gone so you could force the marriage. You needed him silenced so he couldn't protect me."
"No." Vaelra shakes her head frantically. "No, I would never... Edric was good to us, he provided?—"
"He stood in your way."
"Stop it!" Mariselle's voice shoots across the room. "Stop saying those things!"
I turn to face her, taking in the wild brightness in her gray eyes, the way her hands shake where they grip her skirts. "Truth tends to upset people who benefit from lies."
"You're the liar!" Mariselle steps forward, her face flushed with fury. "You and your demon tricks, trying to destroy our family because you're jealous?—"
"Jealous of what? Of watching my father waste away while you both counted the days until his funeral?"
"You've lost your mind." Vaelra's words are low, her composure finally fracturing. "Completely and utterly lost your mind. This demon has poisoned your thoughts, made you see enemies where there are none?—"
"I finally have the clarity to see you for the evil woman you are."
The words hang between us, sharp as broken glass. Vaelra's face goes white, then red, her mouth working soundlessly.
"Evil?" she whispers. "I married your father. I gave him a home, companionship?—"
"You gave him death."
"Stop it!" Mariselle's shriek cuts through the air. She's trembling now, her hands clawing at her skirts. "Stop saying those horrible things about Mother! She never—she wouldn't?—"
"Wouldn't she?" I turn my full attention to Mariselle, watching her face crumple under the weight of my stare. "Tell me, Mari. When did you first notice Father getting sick?"
"I don't... I can't..." Her voice breaks into fragments.
"Was it after the soup you insisted on bringing him? The tea you prepared so carefully each morning?"
"No!" The word tears from her throat. "You're twisting everything! Mother loved him, she?—"
"Mother loved his security. His protection. His house." Each word lands like a blow. "But you... you hated him for loving me."
Mariselle's face goes ashen. Behind her, Vaelra reaches out with one trembling hand.
"Mari, tell her she's wrong. Tell her?—"
"He never looked at me!" The confession explodes from Mariselle like a dam bursting. "Never! Not once! I was prettier, smarter, better in every possible way, but he only ever saw you!"
Silence crashes over the room.
"Mari..." Vaelra's voice emerges as barely a breath.
"It was supposed to be quick." Mariselle's words tumble over each other now, desperate and broken. "Just enough to make him weak, to make him agree to the marriage before... before he could refuse again. But he kept fighting it, kept protecting you, so I had to keep..."
She stops, her gray eyes wide with the horror of her own confession.
"You poisoned him." Vaelra's face has gone completely bloodless. "You poisoned Edric?"
The ringing starts then—a high, thin sound that fills my ears until I can barely hear my own heartbeat. My chest feels hollow, carved out, like someone reached inside and scooped away everything vital.