I hid my triumph under a guise of shame. “I’m sorry, Uncle.”
He relaxed into his seat, looking a bit annoyed, but said, “No worries, my boy.”
“I’ll get the interior of the limo cleaned as soon as we’re done with it today.” I moved back to the beverages. “Would you like something else?”
“Sure, I’ll take the iced wine.”
My heart sank. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like the sherry?”
Uncle gave me a quizzical look. “Why do you want me to drink the sherry?”
“I don’t. I just thought you liked it.”
“Fine.” He waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll take it.”
Relief bloomed in my chest, and I grabbed the bottle of sherry and poured a glass for my uncle.
He took it from me, held it up to his nose, and took a long whiff. I glanced uncertainly at Lizzy. I was pretty sure the truth serum had no scent once mixed in with a drink.
Lizzy fiddled with her purse, reaching in and pulling out a lotion with a flowery scent and spread it over her hands. Then again, maybe she hoped to hide whatever smell it might give off.
Uncle rolled down his window and poured out the drink. “On second thought, I’m not thirsty.”
“Your Majesty.” Lizzy seized my uncle’s hand in hers. “I want to express how much I have desired to meet you today.”
I gave Lizzy a strange glance, unsure of what she was doing. She wasn’t the kind to bathe attention on someone for their position in life.
My uncle extracted himself from her grip. “Yes, it is quite an experience to meet you, young lady.”
Lizzy gave me a meaningful look, and for a moment I had no idea what she was trying to convey, but then she said, “Darcy, was there something you hoped to ask your uncle?”
And I realized Lizzy must have put the truth potion on her hands and touched my uncle.
I wanted to kiss her. She was so clever.
“Yes, I did.”
Uncle frowned, and he shifted in his seat. “Oh? And what questions would those be?”
“You visited my parents the night of their deaths,” I said.
He regarded me, impressed. “You spoke with Mrs. Trent. Smart boy.” He nodded. “Yes, I visited your parents that night.”
“And you got upset with them about something.”
“I was upset with your parents. They always experimented with magic, and it was quite dangerous.”
“And what happened next?”
“Well, we had our disagreement, and I left. I don’t think my words had any impact on your parents. In fact, I believe their experiment is what led to their death.” His eyes grew round. “What is this? Someone has given me a truth serum.” He gave an annoyed glance at Lizzy. “I suppose that was your doing, my dear.”
“We have evidence they died before the car crash,” I pushed, watching him closely.
“You’ve told me that before,” Uncle replied.
“The feed to the cameras was cut so we couldn’t see who came and went,” Lizzy said.
Uncle shifted uncomfortably. “This isn’t something we should talk about with someone so… unconnected to the royal family.”
