The smell of it was nauseating, but if he did not put something on his stomach, the council meeting would be even more torturous. Ruth frowned at him. "You need more rest, my lord." "Alas, I've far too much to do," Demir replied. "I have been personally summoned to attend a council meeting today. I can hardly tell them I am too weak to attend. The tea and food will help." "Yes, my lord." Ruth hovered a moment longer, scowling disapprovingly, but when Demir pointedly returned to his paperwork, he finally left, the door closing with a muted click. Demir slumped over the table, keeping his head up only by bracing it in his hands. The dizziness was the hardest to ignore. Everyone else seemed to have recovered just fine from the poison, but he still felt weak as a newborn babe. Kitt had told him some were more sensitive to the spider venom than others, but Demir was not certain why he was supposed to be reassured by that. He was the Harem Master; he could not afford to be oversensitive, could not appear weak, not when so many were depending on him, when others were just waiting for that single crack in his wall that would let them tear him down.
