“Thank you for looking out for my father,” I say, drawing closer to the side of the bed. “What have you given him?”
“A new serum,” she says.
I nod thankfully... just as my father chokes and starts convulsing.
“Shit! Ani, something’s wrong!” I reach for him, panic building as white foam froths at the corners of his mouth. “It’s not working. Help him, please!” I throw myself on top of his large body to keep the spasms from harming him.No, no, no.This cannot be happening. “Ani, where—?”
I twist, looking over my shoulder to my friend. She stands beside the bed, deathly still, blue eyes like reflective glass. She looks sad. “As always, your timing could not be worse. A few minutes later would have been ideal for all.”
“What?” I ask, confused, still trying to keep my father still. “Will he be all right?”
“No, of course not. He’s dying.”
The cavalier reply simply does not make sense. The words refuse to sink into my confused brain. “What?” I say again.
“You know, you can learn a lot about floramancy from books. It’s wondrous, truly. Which plants secrete a sap that can make people lose consciousness, poultices to make infections disappear, herbs to make people tell the truth or ones effective against Verac root, which worked out well for me.” She sighs, even as I gape at her in dawning horror. “Even what roots can kill a person slowly and painfully without a single trace. Clearly not as invisibly as I’d hoped, however.”
“Ani... what... wait... did you... ?”
She tilts her head. “Yes, Sura? Use your words, please.”
Her tone is condescending. My throat feels like there’s an iron fist around it, suffocating me. “What are you doing? I don’t understand. This is myfather.”
“I know,” she says.
Sheknows? She’s... done this on purpose? Fury washes away my confusion. I leap off the bed and face her, feeling my magic surge to my fingertips. “Fix it. Now.”
Ani laughs. “Don’t do anything stupid, Sura. There’s only one antidote to this particular toxin, and not even your magic will be effective enough to save him. It’s my special recipe—any application of magic and the toxin accelerates. Clever, no? So kill me, and your precious papa dies. He’s in pain right now, but he still has time. Days... weeks even.” She waves a finger in my face. “And don’t even think of summoning my brother telepathically. Oh, I know how soul-fated bonds work. Trust me, that would be a bad idea.”
I grit my teeth and stop myself from doing just that. “Why are you doing this, Ani? I thought we were friends.”
“You didn’t hate my brother as much as you should have,” she replies. “And then when you got curious about soul bonds, I knew I had to work fast to put my plans in place.”
Plans?
Much too slowly, realization trickles through me. Stars... it’s beenAniall along...
“You’re the oracle,” I whisper. “You spread the rot.”
“Don’t feel bad, Sura,” she says when she sees my aghast expression. “I poisoned my own brother, too, and you as well, I suppose. Sedated you with a slightly tweaked dragon’s bloom, but even so, that didn’t work as I expected it to.” She releases a displeased noise. “Those Starkeeper gifts are tricky. Darrius should have stayed in his beast form, andyoushould not have been able to summon a drop of magic. Andneitherof you should have been able to consummate your bond. Alas, an alchemist’s work is never done, truly.”
“Why, Ani?” I ask weakly.
Ani smiles, an expression that makes my blood run cold. I realize it’s the first real glimpse I’ve ever seen of the true her. “Do you know what it’s like to be the firstborn but to be female? To be overlooked at every turn? To be viewed as weaker... aslesser,” she says. “I was always smarter than him. I excelled at magic, was brilliant at diplomacy. And yet, nothing I did would ever reward me with the crown.” Ani laughs. “I was named after a goddess, and yet, by nature of his gender, the throne of Everlea was his. Where’s the fairness in that?”
“You’d start a war and destroy innocent lives to prove a point?” I ask. “That you’re better than him? He trusted you, Ani.”
She arches an imperious brow. “You’re not listening. Not better,worthier. I am my father’s daughter.” Her mouth stretches into a grin that makes my skin crawl. “Didn’t you like the gift I made for you? Your best friend? You should be thanking me.”
My chest squeezes as if gripped in a giant fist, the pain making me wheeze. “You’re a monster.”
She shrugs. “She was useful, as you will be. You two have that in common.”
“Darrius won’t forgive you for this,” I say, hands balling with impotent fury.
“It won’t matter. And I don’t need his forgiveness.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
