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She took his hand and held up their linked fingers. “I guess we will find out if we have an elishina or not.”
The tight look disappeared in a hint of Edmund’s smile. “I guess we will.” He withdrew his hand from hers. “But we have a while before that will become necessary. First, I need to wash, and we need to pack.”
She nodded and took a step back. Right. She could handle this. Edmund was poisoned, but he would be fine. They would be fine.
Edmund turned to the rest of the room. One of the others must have fetched Alvin because he, James, and Sarya were standing there, waiting for an explanation. Edmund glanced over the three of them. “Crown Prince Jimson poisoned his father, and he plans to pin it on me. He poisoned me too. We need to leave tonight.”
James and Alvin nodded, spun on their heels, and disappeared inside the guard room. Probably to pack their spy gear.
Jalissa touched Edmund’s arm. “Go ahead and wash. Sarya and I can start packing.”
“I love you.” Edmund leaned in, then halted. “Right. I can’t kiss you until I have thoroughly brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth. Don’t want to poison you too. Come to think of it, we probably shouldn’t risk it for a few days, just to be safe.”
Not unless they discovered they did not have a heart bond like Farrendel and Essie did and Edmund really was dying and there was no way Jalissa was letting him die without a kiss and…
And she was going to break down into sobs if she kept thinking like that.
Swallowing back the choked tightness in her throat, Jalissa forced herself to smile and nod. It was all she could manage.
While Edmund disappeared into the water closet, Jalissa and Sarya opened all the hidden compartments in the trunks and sorted through the various items, placing them in five piles.
She hesitated as she divvied up the vials of elven medicine. Edmund might need every single one to get him to an elven healer.
But what if James or Alvin were hurt on their mission, whatever it was? It seemed selfish to keep all the medicine for Edmund.
James joined her and pushed the elven medicine back at her. “You keep them. The prince will need them more.”
“Are you sure?” Jalissa was not sure why she was arguing. Those vials could be the difference between life and death for Edmund.
“Yes.” James did not explain as he moved off and instead took one of the coils of rope.
By the time Edmund returned, scrubbed and dressed in his dark, charcoal-colored clothing, all of the gear was packed, and the empty, secret compartments were melded back into the trunks as if they had never existed, just in case the Mongavarians decided to take an ax to the trunks to see what they might have been hiding.
Jalissa changed into dark gray trousers, shirt, and tunic of her own. All the fancy dresses she had brought would be left behind, abandoned as expected, except for two dresses that Edmund told her and Sarya to pack. For what reason, he did not explain. But Jalissa would trust he already had a plan for them, since he folded one of his nicer suits of clothing into his pack as well.
At one of the end tables, Jalissa trailed her fingers over the orchid. It would probably be too much to take it along. She needed to concentrate on keeping Edmund alive, not thinking about a plant.
Edmund reached around her and picked up the plant. “It’s small. Take it along.”
“Are you sure?” Jalissa glanced between Edmund and the orchid.
“Yes.” Edmund carried the orchid to their packs. He eased the plant into her pack, securing it snugly along one side. When he turned back toward her, he wrapped an arm around her waist. “We’re going to get through this. The next few days might get a little rough, but we’ll survive, all right?”
Jalissa nodded, trying not to betray how much her fingers were trembling.
She had to pull herself together. She had married Edmund and gone on this mission knowing something like this was likely in her future. She had spent months preparing for this possibility. She could handle this.
While she checked their items one last time, Edmund talked with James and Alvin in a low voice. After a few minutes, he shook their hands, and they slipped out the door.
Jalissa was not sure if she would ever see James and Alvin again. They were off to disappear into Mongavaria, helping to rebuild Escarland’s spy network.
Edmund shouldered his pack, then gripped Jalissa’s hand. His fingers were not clammy and his grip firm. No signs of his poisoning yet. “Ready?”
“Yes.” Jalissa drew her shoulders straight underneath the weight of her pack. Time to go home, whatever it took.
ChapterSeven
Edmund peeked out the door, then slipped into the corridor, tugging Jalissa after him. Sarya trailed after them, the largest pack of all on her back. Edmund might have argued, but it made the most sense for Sarya to carry the biggest burden. Edmund was poisoned and would soon weaken. Jalissa would be under a lot of strain keeping him alive. That left Sarya as the only one strong enough to carry the bulk of their items.
