She’s frozen in place, eyes flicking between the two of us like a hare that’s been spotted by a predator.
I glance at Thorin. “Put down the crossbow,” I whisper.
He lowers it to his side, but he doesn’t put it down entirely.
“Did you come back to talk?” I call softly.
She nods. Without me saying a word, Thorin moves to the side of the porch.
He still doesn’t set down the crossbow, though. Annabeth doesn’t move any closer.
I’ll never make any progress like this. I step off the porch and stride through the darkness to join her. A whisper of sound tells me Thorin is about to follow, but I hold up a hand and he stops.
“Anyone could be in the trees,” he calls.
That gives my heart a kick it didn’t need, but I nod and keep walking. When I reach Annabeth, she’s tucking a shawl around herself, even though it’s not very cold.
“My guard won’t harm you,” I say.
“I had to sneak away again. My husband didn’t like what I did before.” She frowns and tucks graying hair behind her ear.
“With the explosives?”
She shakes her head. “No. Coming to see you.”
My mouth forms a line. Maybe I haven’t won overeveryonein the Wilds.
She looks at me. “But I’ve seen that family you brought back. Nook has been telling us what they did. How they helped.” She pauses, her eyes searching my face. “He’s been telling us what your traitorous guards did, too. What they must have done to that little girl.” She swallows. “And everyone’s heard what that blond one from down the cellar said.”
Sommer.
I nod. “The consuls are doing all they can to turn my people against me—including these lies about poison.”
“A lot of us believe you.” Her fingers work the stitching of her shawl. “That you weren’t poisoning anyone.”
“I wasn’t. Truly.”
“But if you weren’t . . . ?a lot of us are wondering why no one is getting sick anymore.”
I stare at her.
The words seem to swell in my thoughts like they don’t make sense, but of course theydo.
“No one is getting sick?” I say.
She shakes her head. “There are still some fevers and coughs here and there, but nothing like it used to be. And no one has died in . . . indays.”
I try to think of the last time I heard of a death, and she’s right—it’s been days. Now that I’m paying attention to it, I can’t remember the last time I heard someone cough other than myself.
Even that hasn’t been as bad as it was.
Incredible. I can’t believe I haven’t noticed.
I turn and look back at the porch and call to Thorin. “Wake Master Quint.”
Annabeth’s voice pulls me back. “If . . . ?if you weren’t poisoning the people, who was?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “But very likely whichever consul is sitting in the palace, making up lies aboutme. Whichever consul is orchestrating this whole thing.”
