“Tetrodotoxin?” I asked as Verin scanned the report. “As in the neurotoxin found in pufferfish?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Lord Li Wei confirmed. “It's also found in blue-ring octopus but these amounts far exceed even that creature's deadly venom.”
Verin grunted impatiently as he flipped through the stack of papers—several of which showed graphs of the chemical analysis. He finally lifted his head and demanded, “Just tell me what it is.”
“My apologies, Your Majesty,” Li Wei stammered. “I don't mean to draw this out. The Royal Chemist has concluded that the likely source of the poison is the Greek sea monster, Scylla.”
“Scylla?” I whispered in shock. Then I grimaced as it began to make sense. “Yeah, she has some pretty powerful venom.”
“Fuck me,” Verin growled and shoved the report away.
I looked at him. “Thisisabout me. Triteia and I escaped Scylla. She's obviously still pissed about that.”
“But it's also my fault.” Verin's jaw clenched.
“How do you figure?”
“Zhavage visited me a couple of months ago. He said he'd been warned by Triteia that Scylla left her den and was on the hunt. She attacked Poseidon's palace and specifically went after Triteia. During the battle, Scylla swore that she'd have her revenge on not only Triteia but also Zhavage and you for depriving her of her promised payment.”
“Her promised payment meaning Triteia,” I concluded. “Is my cousin all right?”
“Yes, Triteia managed to badly wound Scylla, who then fled,” Verin assured me. “But Zhavage was concerned for all of our people. He thought that Scylla might attack the Lóng courts. After her failure with Triteia, he even suspected that she would approach us in more devious ways.” Verin grimaced and shook his head. “But I was grappling with...”
“The love spell,” I finished softly. “You were distracted. It's not your fault, Verin.”
“You're wrong, Elaria,” he growled. “Itismy fault. Because I couldn't conquer the magic, I didn't listen to Zhavage and now, one of my advisers and several of my soldiers are dead. I only survived because of you.”
“The spell has taken a toll on both of us. It was cast by a witch leader, Verin. That's serious magic. You cannot hold yourself responsible for what it did to you. Instead, focus on avenging your people and preventing any future deaths.”
“I agree, Your Majesty,” one of the other advisers said. “Even had you given King Zhavage's counsel the attention it deserved, we would have advised you to wait and see what happened in the Cinnabar Kingdom before you acted. We would have assumed that Scylla would attack there first and then, based on her actions, we could determine what steps to take to protect our kingdom. You have acted exactly as you should have.”
Verin considered this, then grunted in acceptance.
“Chan was killed a few days ago,” I murmured thoughtfully.
Verin grunted.
“I only just arrived today,” I reminded him. “So, if this was about me, how did Scylla know I would be here? I didn't even know I would be here.”
“That's what I was getting to.” Verin met my gaze grimly. “Yes, she's after you, but I don't think she came here for you. I think she came here to kill my people, possibly even me, but then you conveniently showed up.”
“She must have thought it was Christmas,” I muttered.
“Yes, but how did she impersonate Chan?” Savassa asked. “As far as I know, Scylla has no such magic.”
“You're right,” I confirmed. “She doesn't have any illusion magic. If she did, she likely wouldn't go around looking as she does.”
Savassa grimaced. “She is very unfortunate in her appearance.”
I chuckled; that was putting it mildly.
“Someone is helping her,” Verin concluded.
“HelpingScylla?” I asked doubtfully. “Who would do that? She lives alone in a cave at the bottom of the sea, killing whatever and whoever she can catch. She's not exactly sociable.”
Verin shrugged. “You don't have to socialize to share a common goal.”
“Killing me,” I said dryly.
