His hand moved hers to gently crush the petals in a twisting motion, dragging it across the petals.
She felt the warmth of his chest against her back; she leaned against him, feeling the press of his body. An ache spread through her, deliciously painful.
‘That’s it,’ he said, the words fluttering against her neck.
She bit her lower lip, heart leaping. She continued with the motion he had shown her, both of them moving together. The difference in technique was obvious: the petals crushed more easily this way, dissolving into a smooth sap.
‘Perfect,’ he whispered, his cheek against hers.
She jolted as if struck with lightning.
‘I’ve got it now,’ she said, her face flaming. She brushed him off her, and he stepped back. She immediately felt cold, but she focused on her task, refusing to look at him, despite how her heart thundered.
They continued working. It took some time—there were more than a dozen steps, all with different ingredients. Xander had been testing different combinations and measurements and ingredients, bringing him closer and closer to the cure, but it was not quite there yet.
She was glad to be doing this with him, otherwise she’d have no idea where to begin, and the process was much too tedious for her to undertake on her own, nor was she nearly as organized as one apparently needed to be to concoct such a delicate potion.
As she worked, Bisma considered who might have gone through all this trouble to craft such an intricate poison. The more difficult the cure was to make, the more difficult the poison was. Whoever had done this had put a lot of thought and effort into it.
It was clear the aim wasn’t to get rid of the Unwanted Girls, as some hateful villagers had wished over the years. That would have been much easier and simpler.
In contrast, this was slow and painful … a punishment, almost. And it seemed to be directed at her. Why else would it occur so soon after she had become Baji?
But who hated her that much?
Luna’s father, her first victim? No, he wasn’t nearly conniving nor intelligent enough. If he wanted to hurt her, he would have done it years ago, and he would have been savage but quick about it.
Mei’s family, then? But they ran from town shortly after failing to uphold their end of Mei’s marriage agreement; Bisma had never even exacted revenge upon them.
Deeba’s wards, perhaps? Bisma had gotten retribution in that instance. She had poisoned them with something that made them constantly feel like they were starving, no matter how much they ate, which was a fitting punishment for neglecting Deeba.
Bisma had made them suffer for a few weeks but she didn’t think they ever knew it was her—they had assumed it was some sickness.
Most of her poisons were used on people who could not be sure they were, in fact, being poisoned. Much of Bisma’s reputation came from exaggerated legends.
Unable to pinpointwhomight be behind the poisonings, Bisma consideredhowthey were occurring, but she could find no conclusive answers in that line of thought, either. It was impossible to keep track of what the girls touched or ate because they were constantly moving, and there were so many of them.
They spent most of their time in the Enchanted Forest, but the Forest was safe. Only Unwanted Girls were allowed in; the fog around the perimeter ensured that.
As for the Forest itself, there were, of course, some berries, mushrooms, and plants that were harmful if eaten, but the girls knew those like the backs of their hands. So if not from the Forest, the poison had come from town, but there was no reason for that, either. Neither Deeba, Luna, or Mei had got sick after a trip to town, where they could have ingested or touched something.
So thenhow? How was the poison getting in?
To make such a poison also required a skilled witch, and the most skilled witch in town was—without a question—Eleanora Chapman. There were a handful of other garden-witches, as well, but none clever enough to sell potions as a business as the Chapmans and Bisma did, so there was no way any of them could concoct such an intricate poison.
Bisma thought about how the poison had changed from Mei to Luna, how Eleanora could easily have adjusted the poison when she saw Xander heal Mei. But why would she do so?
And then came a horrifying thought: was Xander complicit? He was the only witch with power to rival Eleanora’s. The pair could be working together to create such a poison.
But then why would he help her create a cure? Deep down, she did not believe he would do such a thing. He was insufferable, not deadly.
Eleanora could create a poison on her own … but why? Bisma thought through her previous customers and anyone affected by her poisons, trying to see if there were any links between them and Eleanora.
But she didn’t know her customers that well; they told her their blights and she gave them solutions. Bisma did not ask them personal details.
Rubbing her temples, Bisma groaned. This was sofrustrating.
At least running through her tangled thoughts kept her busy.
