Silence.
Then she put her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry," she said, muffled. "I'm so sorry. I didn't… I wouldn't have… I didn't kill him. I need you to know that. Whatever else I did, I didn't?—"
"Nadia." I kept my voice level. Calm. The voice I used when I needed to stop an argument in the pub from escalating. "No one at this table thinks you killed Roy."
She looked up.
I held her gaze. "But you need to tell Elwood what you've told us. Tonight. And you probably need to tell Grady, too."
Her jaw worked. Then she nodded.
"Okay," she said.
The dealer glanced around the table. "Are we… do we keep playing?"
“I think we’re all done here,” I said.
Avery nodded and got up. “I know I’m done.”
Ivan glared at Nadia with a horrified look on his face, as if her being the one to make the hexes was the worst possible outcome.
“I knew it. I knew someone had cheated, but I swear I thought it was Roy. I… I just, I thought it was him.” He got up. “I need… I need to go.” He rushed across the room and out the door.
I looked over at Declan, and I could tell he wasn’t sure what to feel, torn between the recognition that his muffins had just cracked something open and the guilt about it being an accident.
I gave him the smallest nod I could manage.
He pushed his glasses up and averted his eyes.
Fletcher stood and glared at Nadia before saying, “Yeah, I know I’m done.”
Donny watched him go with an expression that looked almost satisfied.
He caught me looking.
"Man's unlucky," Donny said, shrugging as he got up to go find a different table to play at.
That left just me and Az sitting there.
“You ate the muffins,” I said.
“I did. They were tasty.”
“You knew what they were?”
“I did. I just figured your Declan was a very clever baker.”
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” I insisted. “But why weren’t you affected?”
“I’m a demon,” he said simply, like that explained it.
Sandy appeared beside me.
He was quiet for a moment. “Will Declan get in trouble? With Elwood, I mean. For the accidental truth magic.”
I considered that. "No, Elwood knows Declan wouldn’t do that on purpose. But I think he’ll be in for some extra training with Elwood, learning how to keep it from happening again."
