Halliwell and Applewhite looked shocked to be so addressed, but meekly allowed themselves to be evicted from the room.
"That was indeed suspicious," said Julian. "Right?"
"I have no idea anymore," said Geoff honestly. "Alice, will you go get her a tray of sick foods? Tea, broth, that sort of thing?"
"Of course," said Alice.
Alex went over to the glass of water at her bedside, but he couldn't sense or hear any magic about it. "I'd avoid this even though it seems fine," he said.
Winterson sighed. "Thank you for getting rid of them," she said. "They came in all aflutter and then I couldn't have any water because there were people and now I'm just so tired."
Alex sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand. "I know. Me, too, honestly, it's all so exhausting."
"Alex got a dose of belladonna," said Julian, coming up behind him to subtly support him should he need it. "She's got to be running out of poisons by now."
"I still wonder where the baneberry came from," said Alex with a sigh. "We found the source of the belladonna, at least."
"Oh?" said Geoff curiously, carefully covering up the water glass and carafe with a bag so no one would mistakenly offer them to Winterson.
"Someone had it for recreational purposes," said Julian. "They came by earlier to confess it had been stolen."
"So not much of a lead after all, with everyone leaving their rooms unlocked," said Geoff with a sigh.
"Not so much, but it's still something," said Alex rather grumpily. "Anyway, sorry about us. You're tired, and want rid of us, too, I bet. What did you want?"
"I wanted to say that I hadn't seen that man, the bartender, at all. He's not to be a suspect for me." She was firm in a weak, wan sort of way.
"That's very kind of you," said Julian. "We'd already eliminated him, he was working in another part of the house at the time."
"There's just four suspects now, which is still three too many," said Alex. "You're also relieved of suspicion, between one thing and another."
She looked down at her hands and said, "I hear you saved me again."
"We helped Dr. Geoff perform a magical procedure, yes," said Alex. "As would any mage with ethics and power enough."
She chuckled and then gave a sad little cough. Her chest probably hurt from all the cardiac issues, poor girl. "Youwould think that, but I know that's not necessarily true among nobility."
"Well, they suck," said Julian, being deliberately crude to make her smile and sending Alex a wave of love with a hint of his disgust that anyone would refuse to help save a life if they could. "We're happy to do it."
"I'm lucky, thank you." She sighed and gathered herself a moment, then met Alex's gaze and said, "I'm afraid I've no idea who might have passed us by while I was busy not drinking my tea and chatting. I'm not used to having to care about such things."
"It's all right," said Alex, squeezing her cool hand before letting go. "Lapointe will care more tomorrow, but for tonight you can just rest and not worry about anything but getting better."
"There shouldn't be any permanent effects as long as you follow your doctor's orders," said Geoff pointedly.
"Promise," she said.
Alex stood. "We're going back to hide in our rooms, but make her comfortable, okay?" She was still wearing her shoes, which seemed absurd to him.
"Of course," said Geoff. "We'll get her settled properly in bed now that she's awake to help."
They took their leave with a few more goodbyes and went back to their rooms to report in to Lapointe about the new developments.
At least this time, the news was good.
Chapter 23
Horace was waiting for them impatiently when they returned, clearly not having consented to being left behind despite being asleep in the cat bed. He chirped and flapped and scolded them, and Alex scooped him up and kissed his little forehead.
