“I fared better than Penny did,” I said. “I’m mostly back to normal now. And he’s doing well enough, all things considered.”
It wasn’t the whole truth, but I was leery of letting anyone know the lingering effects Penny still suffered from the poison. Weeks after the ritual, he still seemed weak and easily winded. The wintry air did no favors for his condition, either, leaving him raspy and fighting that stubborn cough every time we ventured outside for long. I was grateful to have him with me in the forge, where we were kept warm by the constant heat of the coals.
Penny himself hadn't mentioned his infirmity—he wasn't the type to complain or worry me for any reason—but I'd noticed. Even with someone like Levitt, who I mostly trusted, I couldn’t bring myself to expose something that could be viewed as a weakness.
Levitt nodded and sat back. “Good. That’s good. I’m glad to hear that.”
He fell quiet long enough that tension worked its way up my spine. I wished I could crawl out of my skin to escape the discomfort. He was being intentionally vague and diplomatic in his answers, and it was driving me mad. I wasn’t used to him not being candid with me. I didn’t like this side of him.
“The accusations against Merrick,” I prompted. “You’re stalling.”
Levitt sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Yes, I am. I apologize.” He swept his gaze over the square below, where the market stalls were fading into the murky dark of twilight. “I had a very disturbing conversation with Isla this morning.” His eyes flicked briefly to mine. “Harlan’s apprentice.”
I nodded. “I know her.”
When he looked away again, my stomach twisted.I'dseen Isla as well. Very briefly and very strangely the day before. Herseemingly aimless visit had given me pause, and hearing Levitt mention her now made me wary all over again.
“She said she overheard a conversation the morning of the third Oath,” Levitt continued. “Something she wasn't meant to hear. She wanted to bring it to me then, but she was afraid for her safety because she would have been seen. Today was the first time she was left alone long enough to come speak to me without anyone knowing.”
He was stalling still, and impatience made me bristle.
“Just come out with it,” I said, harshly enough to startle him.
“Merrick, Harlan, and her brother Otis were discussing plans for the third Oath.” He straightened and faced me again. “Plans to kill you and Penny.”
My entire body washed cold. “What?” I croaked. “How?”
Levitt's chest swelled with a deep breath that he let out in a rush before responding.
“They gave you a more concentrated form of hemlock. At least double strength.”
Hadn't Penny feared as much? The night before the Oath, he'd come to me with the deed to his farm and concern for his mother and sister. He'd worried Merrick would attempt something devious. It was one of the few times he'd been more worried about something than I was. I'd reassured him, dismissed him, and now I felt like a fool.
I barked a bitter laugh. “So Klaus could give us what looked like the same amount and be none the wiser.” I could only assume that Penny’s brief time taking the daily hemlockhadhelped, despite the lingering sickness it had caused. How else could he have survived what should have been potent enough to kill us both?
I remembered Merrick's empty office as fury seeped in where tension had been. “I assume they’ve been detained?”
Levitt looked away. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?!” My shout made him flinch, and he held up his hand in a placating gesture that only stoked my rage.
“All I have is Isla’s word. There’s no concrete proof that anything actually happened. It may well have been idle chatter, and pursuing it would be no better than Merrick bringing baseless claims to me.”
I lurched to my feet, every muscle strung taut as a bowstring as I loomed over him. “But you did pursuethose. You indulged him, and you won’t do anything aboutthiswhen we almost died?”
Levitt's eyes met mine. “Two peoplediddie,” he said, his voice low and firm.
I shook my head before he finished speaking, too ready to correct the notion I'd given him before. “I watched Penny stopbreathing, Lev. I watched him seize on my kitchen floor while his lips turned blue.”
And it haunted me. I still woke in the night to check on him, to put my hand on his chest and feel its rise and fall. I tried daily not to consider what would have happened if Penny had succumbed to the poison. The weight of that loss would have been staggering. So much so I wasn't certain it wouldn't have dragged me down for good.
Levitt sat up straighter in his seat, and Ialmostbelieved he wasn’t intimidated by me. “I cannot risk my position while things are so precarious, and I am unwilling to risk Isla’s safety by making her accusations public. Besides, you said yourself that you and Penny are fine.”
My chest constricted, and for a moment it was like the air had been sucked out of the room. His words stung, a betrayal of what he’d told me just a few weeks before. He’d said he’d protect me, and I believed him. Now, it was clear he was only willing to protect himself.
The moment of hurt passed, overtaken by a rage that surged from deep inside me.
“He’s not fine!” I snarled.
