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“Apparently.” Allison folds her arms. “Okay, now I’m mildly jealous.”
Everyone stands pretty much still and silent watching Tammy run around from noble to noble. Anvar also vomits wine, though nowhere near as much as Nald. The others all show some effect of the curing spell—either dizziness or a moment of dry heaving… except for Sansha and Elden. Neither sibling has any visible reaction at all to the poison purge magic.
Predictably, this gets all hundred or so people in the room staring at them.
Tammy makes her way back over to us.
“Nice.” Allison nudges her. “Not jealous. Okay, maybe a little.”
“Thanks.” Tammy sets her hands on her hips like an annoyed housekeeper wondering where the next mess is going to be. “I’m not sure the healing will stick, though.”
I blink. “Why not?”
Tammy makes a sweeping gesture at the party. “This is a Quentin Arnbury book. Characters aren’t supposed to be saved. In this world, when someone drinks a fatal dose of poison, there’s no saving them. I just broke the rules. This might have a weird side effect.”
“Tam?” I put an arm around her.
“Hmm?” She peers at me.
“If you’re not a fan of all those characters dying, why do you read the books?”
Her expression goes pained. “Honestly? I have no idea. I end up hating myself for reading them, then can’t wait for the next one to come out. Makes no sense.”
“I know, right?” Lindsey lightly smacks herself on the forehead. “As soon as I really start liking a character, they die. I hate that part, but I keep going back for more.”
Anthony brushes a bit of lint from his sleeve. “Maybe the books make the real world seem less depressing by comparison?”
Kingsley emits a resigned sigh. “Never underestimate the power of reality to be woefully depressing.”
I lower my voice. “Watch everyone of importance. Someone’s going to be angry their plan failed.”
The others nod, scanning the crowd.
Meanwhile, Sansha’s close to tears under the weight of so many accusing stares. Elden is trying to remain calm and say he had no idea someone tampered with the wine.
“Curious your and your sister’s goblets were not poisoned,” says Malin Normund.
“To make them seem guilty,” barks Roldon, eyeing Malin. “Maybe they didn’t have knowledge of the poison. Perhaps the poison came about as the result of forbidden magic?”
Malin rolls his eyes. “Not this again.”
Lindsey thinks for a moment, then waves her hand around tracing a pattern in the air while chanting nonsense words. She swipes her hands at the end, which causes several nearby goblets and two serving pitchers to glow briefly. The magical light is bright enough to attract attention before it fades again. People shift their stares from the Galahir siblings to Lindsey.
“I destroyed the poison,” says Lindsey in a surprisingly commanding tone for such an introvert. “The wine is safe now.”
Whispering spreads over the room. The partygoers appear more shocked at the presence of a magic-user than that someone just tried to murder everyone of importance. Some people stare fearfully at Lindsey while others try not to look at her.
Back on his feet now, Nald Mur ambles over to Tammy. He bows, takes her hand, and plants a kiss on the back of her knuckles. “Dear lady, you have my eternal gratitude. I know not how you wrenched me back from the jaws of death, though I am at your service.”
“You’re welcome. It’s all right.” Tammy squirms. “You don’t need to feel like you owe me anything.”
Nielf thrusts a pointing finger at the twins. “Their goblets didn’t glow!”
An unfamiliar man in an expensive green and black outfit near him barks, “No poison in the Galahir’s drinks.”
Sansha rushes over to her brother, clings to him, and begins to weep into his shoulder.
“Shh… It is all right, we will discover the truth.” Elden pats her, then turns his attention to the room. “I assure you, this is not of our doing. Whoever poisoned the wine must have left ours untainted on purpose as a distraction.”
