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“No!” I yelped as Finn placed a hand on my lower back to guide me from the room, “I’ll stay. I want to hear it myself.”
“Kade,” Alaric commanded, and the fire-Graced Draconian grabbed one of Selbi’s wrists, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
“Last chance,” Kade said to Selbi, and she whimpered, trying to pull her wrist from my sentry, but he was too strong.
Her scream ricocheted through the dining room, the sound sharp enough to hurt my ears. My stomach tuned at the sound, and I swallowed back bile at the smell of burning flesh. Kade never released her wrist, but her screams eventually faded back to sobbing.
“I poisoned the queen,” she said, her body shaking, “But I didn’t dothis.I swear. I—I took his money and—and I put the verbane in her wine like he asked, that’s all.”
Alaric and I shared a look at the mention ofhe.
Rustling up my courage, I knelt beside Selbi, “Who?” I asked her.
She cried in earnest then, “He’ll kill me.”
“I need you to tell me, Selbi.”
Kade’s grip tightened on her burned wrist, “Ronan,” she hissed and Kade relaxed his grip, “Ronan gave me the poison, and told me to slip it into your wine,” she said in a rush, “But—but when it didn’t work, I told him I wouldn’t do it again. He—well he said it didn’t matter because you would never keep your crown.”
My jaw clenched, and Alaric looked towards the entry with a murderous stare, as though he could will Ronan to appear—so he could rip him to shreds. I couldn’t say it surprised me it was him, in fact, once I thought about it, he seemed the obvious candidate. I had stripped him of his position as Captain of the Royal Guard. This was his attempt at revenge.
Kade let Selbi’s arm go, and she held it close to her chest, careful not to touch the ring of charred skin, “I don’t evenhaveany more verbane,” she mewled, “I didn’t do this.”
I believed her. She wouldn’t admit to one crime and not another, especially when one was enough to see her hung from the gallows. And it was hawthorn, not verbane used in this case. Though that didn’t explain why she wasn’t poisoned too.
The only other person who touched the jam pot was Thana. Alaric looked at me with a pained expression on his face, and I hated him for what I knew he was about to say, “Go find Thana,” he told Kade and Finn.
The two Draconians exchanged confused looks, “What for?” Finn asked.
Alaric took a deep, shaking breath, “Just find her… and send Silas up here. His sentries will have to arrest Ronan. If I see the bastard, I’ll rip his fucking head off.”
“It’s not her,”I told Alaric once the others had gone—Kade and Finn to find my handmaiden, Selbi, escorted by Tiernan to the dungeons, and Rin, carried to the infirmary by the servants. “It’s impossible. She’s been with me since birth, Alaric,” and then I added in terms he would understand, “If she had wanted me dead, I’d be buried on the isle.”
Ronan, on the other hand,hadwanted me dead.
Silas was in a state of shock, outraged at the discovery that someone on the council would attempt to assassinate a descendant of Morgana. Though, he admitted, he’d never like the bastard, and would be happy to see him hang for his crimes. He left to gather a few sentries to aid in helping him apprehend the former captain. I knew Ronan wouldn’t go quietly and was immediately exhausted at the idea of announcing his betrayal to my court.
“I know,” he said, his jaw taut as he raked a hand through his hair, “I don’t want to think she’s to blame either, but it’s the only plausible explanation.”
“It’s ridiculous.”
Finn and Kade returned, “She was poisoned,” they said together. “We found her near the gardens, unconscious. She’s in the infirmary with Rin, but she’ll wake,” Finn added.
“What do you have to say now?” I asked Alaric, rising from the settee, “You were wrong,” I added before he could answer.
He nodded, “That doesn’t explain how she could make it all the way down to the gardens before the poison took its effect. And why Tiernan wasn’t able to find her earlier.”
“So, she poisoned herself, then? Is that what you’re saying?” I asked him, incredulous, unable to contain the rolling of my eyes, “Just stop, Alaric. Thana had nothing to do with this.”
“Whoever is responsible, they wanted you incapacitated, but not dead. And the Draconian who attacked us the other night could have killed you but didn’t. If Ronan is the one behind these attacks, then you could be safe now he’s been imprisoned… but if it isn’t Ronan, or if he’s working with someone else, the threat remains,” Finn said—the first sensible thing I’d heard in hours.
“What do we do?” I asked, posing the question to no one in particular. Finn had only just recovered from the attack not two moons past, and I shuddered to think what would happen if the Draconian returned to finish what he started… or what could happen if there were more than one of them this time.
“We take you someplace safe,” Alaric said, raising a hand to silence me when I opened my mouth to protest, “Only until we’ve sorted this out. A couple of days, at most. I promise. One of us will remain at the palace at all times. And if anyone asks, you are in your chambers, preparing for the Solstice Ball. It will be as though you never left.”
I couldn’t argue with him. It wasn’t only about me anymore. It was their duty to keep me safe, but it was my duty not to forcibly put them into harms way. I wouldn’t have any of them hurt because I stubbornly refused to go when all the signs pointed toward danger if I stayed.
“Very well,” I agreed, wringing my hands in the fabric of my gown. “A couple of days, and no more.” Excuses for my absence would only hold out for so long.
