Chapter 36 - Poisoned Food?

When Lilith woke Raymond up the next morning she was almost crushed by him. His expression looked troubled and she concluded that he was probably having a very uncomfortable sleep. She wanted to wake him as soon as possible to take away the pain he could be feeling but as soon as he touched his shoulder to draw him from slumber he almost pummelled her into the floor.

Thankfully, her response to his sudden jerk was to move back and he missed her by a couple of inches. But because of the additional shock of Raymond trying to kill her, she stumbled over her feet and fell to the floor.

"Oof," Lilith let out a sound as her butt slammed into the floor. Pain shot through her bones and for a second she felt paralyzed.

"Lilith." Panic arose in Raymond, realizing what he did and he tumbled out of the bed, rushing to her side. Lilith was positively taken back to see him act like that but she guessed maybe he was not in his right mind because he just woke up. "I'm so sorry. Are you in pain?"

A little groan left her as she shifted to get herself off of the floor. "A bit. But I'll be alright."

The King bend down and helped her to her feet. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"I understand, Your Majesty. You're in a new place. You are bound to be on edge." she gave him a reassuring smile. "But wow, that was one reflex. I'll know not to mess with you in the future."

"You should not mess with me whether or not my reflexes are fast," he told her seriously.

Lilith squinted at him in disbelief. "That joke went completely over your head, didn't it, Your Majesty?"

"A joke?"

"I was trying to lighten the mood. You know, distract from the fact that my tail bone is in pieces." she took a hard breath, the more she breathed the more her backside throbbed.

Raymond looked at Lilith. How long was it that they had been together and yet he still did not understand her ways of speaking? He usually did. Maybe he was just a bit frazzled from all of that happening so fast that he did not get what she meant in time. Of course, Lilith was joking. "Do you need me to take you to the doctor?"

"Doctor?" Lilith shook her head. "No, no I'll be fine." She pulled her arm gently from Raymond after she realized that they were still connected. "I'll just have to walk it off... or maybe I could get the day off to recuperate. I think that could also be an option."

"A joke?"

"Well done, Your Majesty."

Lilith's back still throbbed for the rest of the day but she was able to work through it. It was not too bad and following around Raymond with all the things he had to do really took her mind off of the pain. He would stop to ask her if she needed rest and Lilith was grateful for his thoughtfulness but she declined every time.

Now that he was the King, he could not just sit in his office all day and do work. She was sure that some days were like that, but now that Raymond was newly appointed, he had to meet people, form connections, and get acquainted with the castle even more. He had to figure out how things worked around here and although he put on the face of a confident, unshaken character, he was stressed under all of that.

When it was time for lunch, Lilith struggled to find the kitchen. Everything looked the same and she looked for anything that would remind her of when she went with Nora. Once Lilith stumbled upon the kitchen, she spotted Mrs. Potts in her own section, with the food she would give to Raymond. Of course, then there was the task of getting back up to Raymond's new office.

"I hate this place." she wheezed as she pushed Raymond's office door open. "Respectfully, of course, Your Majesty."

He looked up at her with amusement in his eyes. He definitely agreed with her but he did not say anything.

"Do you know how many times I almost spilled whatever it is in that glass?" She set the tray down on the corner of the desk and moved some papers away before she placed them in front of him. "There needs to be a lift in this place."

"A lift?"

"There should be some in Naulis by now if I am correct with my time. Maybe in a couple of years, we'll have some fully functional electric elevators. I would totally betray *Back to the Future* for some ease. Slipping the idea to someone does not seem like a bad idea." Lilith wondered if things would really be badly affected if she were to speed up evolution just a tiny bit.

Raymond looked like she had grown two heads. She was speaking in ways that were too ahead of his times.

Lilith let out a light chuckle. "Don't mind me. I'm just a soul lost between time."

He opened his mouth to say something but he did not and shook his head, dismissing it as one of her jokes. Raymond looked at the food on his plate. There was pasta, chicken, vegetables, pork, and rice. It was a very filling meal and since he knew that it was all prepared by Mrs. Potts, he was happy to eat it.

"Wait," Lilith suddenly stopped him as he was about to take the first bite.

"What?"

"What if it's poisoned or something," she said quietly as if the person who could have poisoned the food was near.

Raymond had not thought of that and looked at the food thoughtfully. "Mrs. Potts was the one to cook this."

"But we are not familiar with the ingredients here. And maybe someone slipped something into the food while she was not looking." Lilith reasoned. She knew that it was such a popular method of assassination and Lilith did not want to take any chances.

"That could be possible." He put the fork down, looking at the food as if he expected it to reveal whether or not it was poisoned.

"Let me taste it and then we can wait a while to see what happens." Lilith never thought that she would suggest that, but she did not want Raymond to get hurt. It would really piss her off if he died right as he became King. She wanted to see him happy and if he died before that happened, she would go ballistic.

Raymond raised an eyebrow at her. A thought suddenly popped into his head and so he spoke. "You just want a taste of my food don't you?"

A weird feeling went through Lilith and she reeled back. Is that seriously what he thought this was? Lilith had made a couple of jokes about food in the past and now he thought that that was all she was concerned about. Not only that but the way he said that sentence too. The slight contempt in his voice really had Lilith rethinking all she thought she knew. All the jokes she made. Did he really take them seriously and associate that with her character? Did he think her so desperate to taste the food on his table? Like some dog? There was a pang in her stomach.

Upon seeing the look on Lilith's face, Raymond immediately felt regret for what he said. He was trying to be funny but he guessed his tone did not convey his intentions to her. She looked hurt. He could see it behind her stretched smile and eyes. He hurt her. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

"It was a joke. I was trying to make a joke. You made a joke this morning so I was trying to do it as well. I did not mean anything I just said. Truly." Raymond spoke so fast he was nearly stumbling over his words. He never knew himself to become so undone like this and yet he did not care. He just wanted that expression off of her face.

"Oh," Lilith took a breath. "Oh, of course. I knew that. Yes, I see that I am rubbing off on you, Your Majesty. Very good."

It was obvious to both of them that Lilith to lying. But neither spoke for a moment.

"I'll go and see if I can find someone else to taste the food." Lilith cleared her throat and excused herself.

Everything Raymond wanted to say failed to come out and he watched her walk away.