“You want me to hide here for the rest of my life,” I said, disbelieving. I turned to Ash. “And you think you can save your mother without a witch-made antidote. You’re both insane.”
Rowena looked at a loss for words.
“Amarante, listen—” Ash started.
“No. You listen.” I gave him a hard look. “I spent ages helping you with this case. Why aren’t you letting me help now?”
“They were going to execute you!”
“Because of Narcissa. Because of the duchess,” I said. “I was making a truth potion that day. I wanted her to confess. It would solve half our problem. Captain Greenwood would’ve been freed.”
“And then what?” Rowena interjected. “Everyone knows it’s a witch-made poison. A witch will still be blamed, even if it isn’t you.”
“I refuse to cower when I can fix this,” I said.
A voice came from the back. “You’re right. But not without me.”
Lana strode in, her olive eyes flooded with unreadable emotion when they fixed on mine. “I was the one who caused this. Fifteen years ago, I created a foul poison and sold it out of spite for humans.
“A woman bought a vial from me—the only one I ever sold. Even then I realized the error of my ways. No human deserves what that vial contains.”
I stood. “Lana.”
“I’m sorry, Amarante,” Lana said, shaking her head. “I was a fool. A hateful, bitter fool. I need to set this right.”
Tears welled up in spite of myself. “What changed your mind?”
She touched my arm. “You. And Seraphina. She never strayed from her morals. Neither did you.” Lana turned to Rowena and Ash. “Give Amarante a chance. She is not one to be protected.”
“But...but they’ll kill her!” Ash sputtered.
“They won’t if she saves the queen, boy,” Lana said sharply.
Rowena sighed. “You’re right. Seraphina would’ve wanted this.”
My throat tightened. “Thank you.”
Lana turned to me. “Now. I reckon you need my help.”
The next thirty minutes I spent finishing my truth potion, which involved boiling the duchess’s hair over high heat until it dissolved. I only had a small vial of potion, so I was careful with the flames lest it all evaporated. By the end of it, I had half a vial of coppery liquid.
I pressed it into Ash’s hand. “Make sure Duchess Wilhelmina ingests this during the ball.”
“I will,” he said.
We were out in Lana’s garden before her personal passageway. She had altered it to lead just outside the palace grounds after I told her Ash must go back for my plan.
“Rowena and Elowyn will show you there,” I said. I turned to the door to get them, but paused at Ash’s expression. I sighed. “What is it?”
“I never apologized,” he said.
I merely stared.
“For everything,” Ash continued. He paced the length of the garden, shoulders tense as his boots dug into the dirt. “I put you in danger. I let you in on the investigation when I knew you were just a debutante. And when you needed my help most, I abandoned you. All this happened because of me. Amarante, you suffered because of me.”
He glared at the floor, his hands twisted in his sleeves. I had never seen him so agitated. His face said it all. Guilt. Anger. And if I wasn’t mistaken, self-loathing.
“Ash, I...” I shook my head.
