"No, no, it wasn't a big enough dose," said Alex. "I got the 'prophetic hallucinations and vomiting' dose and not the 'dead in an hour' dose."
"There's a poison that makes you a prophet?" said Lapointe.
"Magical belladonna, yep. Everything our poisoner has used so far was magical, Miss Winterson had a dose of baneberry but we kept her heart going past the danger point, and Wicket was done in by venom stolen from a rare, magical snake on the premises."
"Are the others from on premises?" asked Lapointe.
"No, or at least, there's nothing growing here that anyone knows of, even if anyone could get at it with the snow." Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closing against the still-too-bright lights. He couldn't wait for the pupil dilation to go away. "One of theguests might have had some on her, but she's not a suspect for opportunity reasons."
"Those are good reasons," said Lapointe. "All right, well, Julian says you made a hash of witness interviews, so that'll be fun for us."
"I'm terrible at them," agreed Alex almost cheerfully. "When will you be out?"
"Tomorrow morning, we hope," said Lapointe. "Chudleigh's direction is being prioritised now that the city's been unearthed and they can send extra plow crews out that way."
"So it was normal country plows before this, that makes sense," said Alex. "Nothing sinister there, anyway."
"No, just bad luck. Look, I've got to go, there's a bunch of paperwork involved in me coming out there, but I'll call you back." Lapointe hung up.
Alex chuckled and put his phone away. "Hopefully I'll answer when she calls back this time."
"She didn't yell at you too much," said Julian, kissing his temple. "Now, if you think you can stand, we can go get you cleaned up for tea, which is being served in people's rooms this time, no fancy suit required."
"Chudleigh thinks they've got enough trays of various sorts to serve everyone," said Geoff, looking at his own phone. "It seemed wise to keep everyone's food and drink away from everyone else, no one in the hallways while it's being delivered except the servants."
"And they've all been cleared due to lack of opportunity," said Alex firmly. "Smithson was there for Wicket and myself, but nowhere near the parlour when Miss Winterson was taken out."
"He won't be ferrying trays, anyway," said Geoff. "He'll be doing prep where he has no idea which drink is for who, really, just making pots and pots of tea."
"I could use pots of tea about now," said Alex. "I'm even hungrier than before, if you can believe it."
Julian stepped close and pressed a kiss to his forehead, feeding him some of Julian's warm, lively magic. "We'll take care of you, love. Let's go change into pyjamas and lounge around for tea time."
Alex made a face. "And brush my teeth, please."
"Yeah," agreed Julian with a little nose wrinkle. "Definitely brush your teeth."
Chapter 21
Julian had to help Alex up the stairs and down the corridor, as he was still quite wobbly from the poison, and his dilated eyes weren't focusing well on things like the floor. Horace had emerged from a pocket and was leading the way, flying from wall sconce to doorknob along the hallway until he waited on their doorknob.
"We're almost there," said Julian. They didn't have anyone leading them this time, as all the servants were busy with preparing the individual tea trays, so it was just them alone in the hallway as they made their way to the door.
Julian led Alex in and then helped him lay down, divesting him of jacket, waistcoat, and shoes before getting to his own clothes. Horace fluttered around during the process, fussing at Alex adorably, not quite scolding but definitely displeased with this state of affairs.
"Pyjamas?" asked Julian, looking in their ridiculous trunk.
"Yes, please," said Alex. They'd only brought two sets each, as the trunk had a freshening charm, so Julian brought out the same ones they'd worn last night.
They both got changed into the soft silks and their respective dressing gowns, Alex's a ridiculous paisley in warm wool andJulian's a more respectable pattern of green vines on a darker green. They got wrapped up and Alex settled under the covers, and Julian went to coax the cats out of their nap and onto their human.
Horace chose to perch on his head and preen at his hair, making a little bird's nest of his own out of the tumbled curls.
"He's not feeling well, he needs some love," said Julian.
They yawned and meeped and stretched ostentatiously as they made their slow way over to the bed and draped themselves over Alex.
"I suppose this is your way of keeping me from exerting myself?" said Alex, hands busy petting as demanded, first Nightshade and then Cinnamon, and then Cinnamon and Sage, and back to Nightshade.
