“What was in it?” Elowen demanded. “Or were you too circumspect to look?”
“Of course I looked,” Sophia said, exasperated. “I’m not completely spineless, Elowen.”
Elowen felt a smile flicker across her face, before memory of their circumstances banished it. It was nice to see her friend coming back. She hadn’t put it together before now how the timing of her betrothal had linked with Sophia’s increased timidity. What kind of pressure had Bertrand been putting on her all that time?
“It had two small vials,” Sophia said. “One was empty, and one was full of liquid. They were both marked, but I didn’t recognize the words. Plus there was a folded-up parchment with them. It looked like complex magical instructions, but I couldn’t make much sense of them. I wrote the words from the labels down, and I hid the rest. I didn’t know anything of sickness or accusations of poisoning. I was worried about what he’d used the empty vial for, but I didn’t imagine something as bad as this.”
Elowen’s heart was pounding by the end of this explanation. “That must be the poison he used,” she said. “Simeon didn’t know Bertrand had already used it. He must have seen it and realized what it was, or at least that it was dangerous. But he hadn’t done anything about it yet, and then he was arrested and it was too late.” She frowned, trying to piece together the timeline. “If Bertrand believes Simeon stole it, though, he musthave used the contents of the vial before Simeon was arrested. He must have put it in Theo’s goblet hours before the feast, which I know for a fact was possible. But Simeon didn’t know that, because it wasn’t really him who stole it, it was you, much later. Unless you’ve told him, Simeon still has no way to know one vial was used.”
“I haven’t spoken to him since I stole it,” Sophia said. “I’ve been lying low as much as possible, trying to avoid attention that might make Bertrand suspicious of me.”
Elowen held her friend’s gaze earnestly. “We should take the vials to my father at once!”
“Do you think so?” Sophia bit her lip. “We have no evidence of what they are. I’ve been to the library, and checked books on every language known on the Peninsula. I can’t make sense of the words.”
“We have to try,” Elowen insisted. “You’ll have to be bold, Sophia, and testify to my father that you found them in Bertrand’s room.”
“What this will mean for my family…” Sophia’s voice was barely a whisper.
“I know.” Elowen put a hand on her shoulder. “I know, Sophia, and I’m so sorry. But if he really did something to Theo…I can’t let Theo die, Sophia. I just can’t.”
Her friend searched Elowen’s face, her anguished expression softening slightly. Then she rose, moving with determined steps into her sleeping chamber. There was a shuffling, grinding sound, and a minute later she returned with a small leather bag gripped in her hand.
“Let’s go.”
Elowen stood as well, eager to be gone before Bertrand could learn of their intention. She watched as Sophia stashed the bag in a pocket of her dress, then the two of them hurried from the manor. Mercifully, they didn’t encounter Bertrand, and ina matter of minutes, they were riding for the castle, once again flanked by the princess’s guards.
Elowen made straight for the audience hall, Sophia hurrying by her side.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but it’s a closed meeting,” one of the guards told Elowen gruffly.
She drew herself up. “I need to speak to my father. It’s urgent.”
“The king is not to be disturbed,” the guard told her, not unkindly.
“It’s urgent,” Elowen repeated. “I need to speak to him now!”
The guards looked at each other, hesitating for a moment. Then one of them said, “I’ll inquire, Your Highness, but it’s not our orders.”
Elowen waited impatiently as the man slipped into the room. A minute passed, then he returned, taking his position without speaking.
She was about to demand an answer when another form followed him through the door. Not the one she’d wanted to see.
“Elowen, what is this ruckus?” Patrick hissed sternly. “Father can’t be spared right now because he’s trying to resolve the crisis your actions brought on.”
Elowen ignored the accusation, grabbing hold of his arm earnestly. “Patrick, Ihaveto speak to him. It really is urgent! We have information—not just information but evidence—about Theo’s condition.”
Her brother’s brows drew together, and he shot a quick look between the several guards standing nearby. He shook off her hand, instead ushering her several paces away and lowering his voice.
“Elowen, enough with this! If you say the wordpoisonone more time—”
“We have proof, Patrick!” Elowen insisted. “Sophia found these vials in Bertrand’s—”
“Enough.” Patrick’s voice was so forbidding, she fell silent. “When will you learn the responsibility that comes with your position, Elowen? You can’t throw around accusations in a public corridor.”
“Well then where can I throw them around?” Elowen said with spirit. “You wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to speak to you in Father’s study.”
“If you want to argue more with Father about the situation, you can do so after this meeting. The Siqualians made a choice to leave Toledda and seek medical care elsewhere. We must all abide by that decision, which means there’s no urgency to further discuss the cause of his illness. Any information you have will have to wait until we’ve dealt with our own crisis.” He jerked his head toward the audience hall, his voice grim. “After all, if there’s no alliance, there’s not much need for us to intervene in Prince Theodore’s recovery, is there?”
