Page 108 of A Kingdom of Magic and Rain

“I’m all right, I promise.” I took her hands in mine. “Can you tell me what happened? The last thing I remember is Adrian calling out to Lady May that I’d been poisoned.” My throat closed up as the realization about how close I had come to dying settled over me.

“He glimmered you to your chambers, with Lady May following close behind. By the time your father and I made it upstairs, the Sorceress had performed a spell to negate the poison you had ingested. She saved your life but said that you would be unconscious for a while. Adrian asked if he could bring you here and leave you in our care while he looked for the one who laced the wine.”

“And that was last night?” I asked to confirm. My mother nodded. “Did Father or Sebastian siphon Silberium from him before he left? I was supposed to do it after the banquet.”

“They didn’t. Adrian was in a rush to leave.”

“I need to return to Tardor to relieve him of the ancient magic. The level of Silberium in his blood must be reaching its peak.”

Fighting the pull of bone-deep exhaustion on my limbs, I tried to get out of bed, but she stopped me. “Allow Lady May to examine you first. In the meantime, we can ask Thea to glimmer to Tardor to get Adrian.”

“All right,” I conceded, glad to remain in bed.

Thea walked into the room a moment later. She halted by the foot of the bed, unable to contain soft tears when her gaze fell on me. “Thank the Stars! Emelin, I can’t believe what happened. It all seemed like a bad dream— a nightmare.”

“A nightmare it was not. Someone made an attempt on the queen’s life,” Lady May cut her off as she strode in. “A bold and foolish move. Extremely foolish. We will find the one responsible, and they will pay. Mark my words.” She approached my bedside and reached for my face, turning it from side to side to inspect it closely. “No swelling or discoloration, which is a good sign.”

“I feel fine,” I assured her, lowering her hands from my cheeks. “Has anyone checked on Adrian?”

“Not in a few hours,” said Thea. “But Tom is with him.”

“He’s not at the moment,” Sebastian’s voice sounded as he walked in. “He’s here, Em, if you’re up for more visitors?”

“I am.”

Tom and Miri stepped into the room next, and Thea immediately ran into Tom’s arms and buried her head against his chest.

Miri joined my brother’s side and said, “It’s such a relief to see you awake, Emelin. We all have been worried sick.”

“I’m sorry to have caused such heartache.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Tom said sternly as if he couldn’t believe that I had just done so. “Gray will be beyond himself with relief once I report back to him that you’ve come to. I swear he hasn’t taken a single breath since everything transpired.”

“He didn’t want to check on me himself?”

“Believe me, he did, but he’s currently preoccupied.”

“Has he found the one who did it?” Lady May demanded, her eyes flashing.

“We think he did. He has Finnian in confinement.”

“Finnian?” I asked, confused.

“The poison that was used to lace your wine is made out of a rare flower found only in the Riestral Province.”

My brow furrowed as I processed the information. For Finn to be the one responsible didn’t make any sense. If he had wanted me dead, he could have poisoned the potion he had given me to change my appearance.

“I know that you couldn’t think less of Finn, but don’t you agree that he’s more clever than that? Why would he use a poison made of a flower that would link it directly to him?”

“He might be clever, but he’s also arrogant. Maybe his ego sabotaged him. He probably wanted everyone to know it was he who killed you, should he succeed.”

I took another moment to think it over. “We have food testers. The poison wouldn’t have affected them as much as it did me because I’m human, but they should have been able to taste it. The threat must have come from inside the castle.”

“It certainly did, but Finnian could have bribed some of the help to aid him in carrying out his vile plan. We’re in the process of questioning all the servants and food testers.”

“I don’t think that Finn did it.”

“Well, by the time Adrian and Killian are through with him, we’ll know one way or another.”