Lucien frowned. “What?”
Severin met his gaze. “This is the secondattempt.”
Lucien’s care-free persona dropped briefly, and his whole body tensed. “What are you talkingabout?”
Though the announcement surprised Angelique as well, she felt too awkward to say anything, for this seemed like a rather private discussion meant for siblings only—not outsiderenchantresses.
Severin rested his hand on the back of an armchair. “Do you recall last week when we spent the morning in your study, discussing the most recent Rangerreports?”
Luciennodded.
“Shortly after you left to have tea with Madame Belladonna, refreshments—which I found to be poisoned—were brought to thestudy.”
Lucien’s handsome and open face shifted into a scowl. “And you didn't think to tellme?”
Elle and Severin exchanged glances as Elle drifted closer to him. “We assumed Severin was the intended target and didn’t want to worryyou.”
Ahh, that makes more sense. Severin is the one organizing the countries, after all. Given how little the Veneno Conclave has managed to do, it would not be unfounded to say he is—at this point—the greatest threat to ourenemy.
Angelique stifled the desire to rub her temple and glanced at the princes and princess. Elle’s gaze worriedly shifted from Severin to Lucien, while Severin watched his brother, and Lucien stared at thefloor.
Better break this up before it really does become a family drama—we have too much at stake to waste time squabbling right now, and I want to get out of this city as quickly aspossible.
Angelique cleared her throat. “To answer your question, Severin, I'm afraid there aren't many defensive spells available to use onhumans.”
Elle tapped her lower lip. “Would Craftmage Stil and his wife Gemma be able to provide a betteralternative?”
Angelique tilted her head back and forth as she considered the idea. “Perhaps, if you meant for Lucien to walk around in a suit of armor at all times of the day, but even that has itslimitations.”
“Yes, now I absolutely need wine.” Lucien stalked to the door and bellowed into the hallway. “Wine!”
Perhaps he is a tad more shaken than he letson.
Severin ignored his brother and pushed his shoulders back, like a crouching panther. “You said there weren't many spells available to use on humans,” he said. “Does that mean they can be used onanimals?”
Lucien snorted. “Worried about your horse, are you? Though, now that you mention it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a spelledcavalry.”
Angelique interlaced her fingers together as she considered Severin’s question. “There are a number of very powerful strains of defensive spells that can be placed on small animals. They've existed for well over a century or two, but thus far no one has been able to adapt them for humanuse.”
Severin folded his arms across his chest. “What kind ofspells?”
Angelique strained her memory for the answer, trying to recall her long-ago lessons with Evariste that had covered the subject. “There's a certain charm that makes it impossible to shoot the creature—mostly because every time you set your eyes upon it, the spell will make your eyes water. There is another spell that will allow land animals to swim like fish, a charm that will let them survive small exposures to fires, and a particularly powerful spell that can make a creature, for all practical purposes,indestructible.”
“Indestructible?” Elle asked,intrigued.
Angelique resisted the urge to scratch her nose—wouldn’t be seemly as an enchantress—and recited, “They can be dropped from a third-story window and incur no harm. Though that particular spell only works on creatures that are smaller than a teatray.”
“If the spells have no use for humans, who bothered to design them?” Elleasked.
“A very powerful enchantress who owned a dozen cats and small animals,” Angelique said. (She had first looked into the spell as she considered casting it on Puss, but the cat had refused—he insisted he could properly protect himself with his ownmagic.)
Severin rubbed his chin in a calculating manner. “Isee.”
Lucien’s handsome smile was twisted into a scowl as he watched his half-brother. “What are youthinking?”
There was a knock at the door, and a butler entered the room with the wine Lucien had previously yowledfor.
This happily distracted Lucien, who was pouring out the wine before the butler even left theroom.
