She turned to face him, her easy, tired warmth giving way to wariness. “Are you okay?”
“There’s something….” He stepped away from the door and gestured toward the chair. “Maybe you should sit down.”
Izzy glanced at the chair and immediately dismissed it. Whatever this was, she wasn’t going to sit there by herself while he spoke down to her. She walked toward him instead, meeting him in the middle of the room. Shimmering green and black circled his irises—almost larger than the gray. His beast was right at the surface.
Her own beast responded, pushing to get closer, to touch and soothe. “What’s happening?” she asked carefully.
Luka ran a hand through his hair, tugging the spikes in a new, even more unruly direction. “I met with Lady Kaliska and Brigadier General Declan this afternoon. I just came from there.” He reached out and took Izzy’s hands in his, holding almost too tightly. “Kaliska mentioned… she thinks Narya was looking for some kind of elixir. Something that promised unbridled passion. Something forbidden.”
“Firebreather. Mother of the Weave.” Izzy swallowed hard. “You’ve heard of it?”
“I have,” Luka admitted. “It’s an aphrodisiac. We’ve banned it from the castle entirely.”
“Yes, but it’s more than just an aphrodisiac. It also gives a powerful surge of vitality, energy, and focus.” She shook her head sadly. “And then it dumps the user into the worst spiraling bleakness imaginable. People become addicted quickly—or they just lie down and die. Where would Narya get such a thing?” Her breath caught. Was this the smuggling ring Rayan was investigating? “Is someone selling it in the castle? It can’t be one of the physiks, surely?”
Luka’s jaw clenched, scales flickering. His beast rumbled unhappily. “Izzy, they think Narya went outside of the castle to get some.” He let out a rough breath. “Brigadier General Declan has suggested that the physik who Narya tried to buy it from killed her to keep her quiet.”
“Gods. Well, I guess if there was a physik who was prepared to sell Firebreather, they probably would kill a young woman to protect their secret,” Izzy agreed. “Clearly, life has little value to them.”
If a physik has been selling Firebreather, we’ve been looking in all the wrong places.
She let go of one of Luka’s hands to rub her eyes tiredly. “I’ve been trying to figure out what Firebreather is, where it comes from. In fact, I was working on it until late the night that Narya died?—”
Luka went so still, he could have been carved from Nabasberg granite. “What? Gods, Izabel. Please tell me you don’t have any.”
Izzy wrinkled her nose at him. “I do have some. It took me ages to get a sample. I’ve been trying to distill?—”
“Fuck! Why would you do that?”
Izzy tried to pull her other hand back, her beast growling, but he held it even tighter. “I’m a physik! A healer! How can I protect my patients if I don’t know what’s ailing them? How do I cure someone of something if I don’t know what it is?”
Luka’s beast was rumbling so loudly now, it was almost a roar. He lowered his forehead to hers. “Listen to me, Iz. Kaliska and the brigadier general… they believe that the physik Narya visited to get this drug… is you.”
She recoiled, opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again. How was that even possible?
“Last night, before Aiden came to get you, were you with anyone?” Luka asked. “Is there someone who could vouch for where you were?”
The betrayal stung. “You know I wasn’t. I skipped the banquet, and I stayed at home and worked. Alone.” She blinked hard. “How can you even ask me that?”
Mother of the Weave. A new, truly horrible thought occurred to her. “Do you believe them? You think I… what? Sold her this drug? Or refused to sell it and killed her instead?”
“No! Not even for a moment.” Luka tugged her closer and wrapped his arms around her before she could step back. “I know you, Izzy. I know your heart. You would never hurt someone like that. But Declan’s looking for a way out of this marriage for Kaliska. And Batlok wants blood. He’s going to demand action.” He breathed roughly against her hair. “The queen won’t like it, but she has to be seen doing something. And we have rolled over and given Batlok what he wants, again and again.”
Izzy let out a shuddering breath and leaned closer into Luka, letting the warm weight of his arms hold her up. “She’ll weigh my innocence against the safety of the entire nation and choose the nation,” Izzy whispered.
Luka let out a distressed grunt. “Let me take you away from here. I’ll fly you somewhere safe, and then I’ll fix this. I’ll find out what’s really going on, and then I’ll come back for you.”
She tightened her arms around his waist, wishing she’d had more time. More time to hold him. To feel him breathing. To know whether he truly wanted her. But then she pulled away, just far enough to look him in the eye. “If I run, I’ll look guilty.” She firmed her voice, trying to inject it with the truth. “I didn’t do this.”
“I know you didn’t, but?—”
“If I run,you’lllook guilty,” she said, her eyes locked on the swirling green-black ringing his irises.
“I don’t care about that,” he rumbled. “I’ll walk away right now. We can go anywhere you want.”
“Fly away, you mean.” She gave him a small, lopsided smile.
He rested his forehead on hers. “Gods, Izzy.”
