The Silent Servant

The morning sun bled through the grime of the West Wing windows, casting long, dusty fingers across the floor. Sera hadn't slept; every creak of the old wood made her jump, expecting the "White Lady" from the mirror to appear.

Just as she was finishing her last protein bar from her medical bag, the heavy lock on the door turned. Sera dived behind a moth-eaten tapestry of a stag hunt.

A small, hunched figure entered. It was an elderly woman with silver hair pulled into a knot so tight it looked painful. She moved with eerie silence, placing a silver tray of bread, cheese, and a flagon of wine on a cleared table. She didn't look around. She didn't hum. She didn't even seem to breathe.

"The King says the ghost is hungry," the woman whispered to the empty room. Her voice was like dry leaves skittering on stone. "The ghost must stay behind the silk, or the ghost will become a corpse."

Sera watched through a hole in the tapestry. The woman lingered for a moment, her eyes fixed exactly on the spot where Sera was hiding. Then, with a stiff bow to the shadows, she vanished, locking the door behind her.

Sera stepped out, her skin crawling. "Okay, so the staff is just as creepy as the King."

She sat down to eat, but a frantic sound stopped her. Tweet! Tweet-tweet!

It was the orange whistle. It wasn't a long blast, but short, desperate bursts. It was coming from the direction of the King’s private study, just down the hidden corridor.

"Alaric!" Sera grabbed her bag and bolted for the bookshelf door.

She navigated the secret passage in record time, her heart thumping. She pressed her ear to the exit tapestry. On the other side, she heard heavy thuds and the sound of glass shattering.

"Your Majesty, you simply need to sign the regency papers," Malphas’s voice was smooth, but there was a sharp edge of malice underneath. "You can barely stand. Let me carry the burden of the crown while you... rest."

"I... will... not..." Alaric’s voice was a choked rasp.

Sera peeked through the fabric. Alaric was slumped in his chair, clutching the whistle in one hand and his throat with the other. Malphas was standing over him, holding a quill in one hand and a small vial of something dark in the other. He had poisoned the King’s morning tonic.

Sera knew she couldn't jump out—she’d be executed instantly. She reached into her bag and found her heavy-duty medical flashlight. She set it to "strobe mode"—a blinding, rapid flashing light—and shoved it through a gap in the tapestry while letting out a piercing, high-pitched scream.

"THE GHOST!" Malphas shrieked, stumbling back as the "magical" flickering light blinded him. He dropped the vial, and it shattered on the stone.

In the confusion, Sera hissed from behind the curtain, "Take the inhaler, Alaric! Under the desk!"

Alaric, squinting through the blinding light, grabbed the device she had hidden there earlier. He took a deep hit of the medicine. His lungs expanded. His vision cleared.

By the time Malphas stopped rubbing his eyes, the "ghostly light" was gone. Alaric was standing tall, looking stronger than he had in weeks.

"Is something wrong, Malphas?" Alaric asked, his voice steady and terrifying. "You look as though you’ve seen a spirit. Or perhaps... a failure in your plans?"

Malphas trembled, backing toward the door. "I... I thought... the light..."

"Leave," Alaric commanded. "And take your papers with you. I am far from finished with this throne."

As the door slammed, Alaric turned toward the tapestry. He pulled it aside, revealing Sera, who was still holding her flashlight and looking like she was ready for a fight.

"You saved me again, Ghost Girl," he said, his breathing finally even.

"That's 2-0 to me, Your Majesty," Sera smirked, though her hands were shaking. "But next time, maybe don't drink the mystery juice?"

Alaric stepped closer, the tension between them thick enough to spark. "I did not think the whistle would work. I did not think you would come."

"I told you," Sera whispered. "It's a pact."

[Cliffhanger]

Alaric reached out to touch her hair, but a loud metallic clink came from the corner of the room. The small black raven was perched on the King's desk, its beak holding the bobby pin Malphas had seen earlier. It dropped the pin in front of Alaric, its black eyes fixed on Sera.

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