Page 156 of Arranged For the Dark Elf

I sit for twelve. She notices and says nothing until the thirteenth, when she orders Joran to move me.

Strength returns over several days. I sleep through long portions of them. Fiona keeps the remedies cold and reduces each dose as my muscles recover. I walk the chamber unaided before she permits me to cross the private gallery.

The household continues beyond the door while I recover. Sealed-gate bells mark each watch. Sarveth brings written reports and reads them aloud when my hands tire. Fiona answers questions concerning provisions, servants, and Lowtown without waiting for me to shape every decision. I correct two orders. I approve six others unchanged.

Surrendering control during paralysis was necessity. Allowing her authority to continue after I can speak is choice.

The distinction matters.

Only when I can summon chaos without tremor and climb the library stair without assistance does she declare my immediate recovery stable.

The curse remains a familiar blade beneath my ribs. The poison is gone.

The night before I intend to leave my chambers, Joran arrives carrying three sealed cases. He waits until Fiona finishes checking the healing cut, then places them on the table.

“The Lowtown guard traced Varrus’s agent,” he says.

I flex my right hand. The fingers close fully. “To whom?”

“The compromised merchant. The agent returned after Fiona’s purchase, then traveled to a warehouse leased through House Varrus ipia.”

Fiona’s attention sharpens. “What was secured?”

Joran opens the first case. “Merchant ledgers recording Nessa’s family debt and payments from the Varrus account. The seller’s market register. Herb wrapping marked from the same shipment as the numiscu.”

The second case contains sealed packets. Through the glass lids, I see blue petals and stems.

“Physical stock from the merchant’s locked room,” Joran says. “Rirzed layered over numiscu. The evidence keeper compared it with Lady Morwen’thir’s samples but kept every seal separate.”

He rests a hand on the third case. “The salve jar, contaminated herbs from the solarium, market wrapping, guard reports, and witness records are secured. The royal captain has supplied the time at which Varrus ordered the King’s Guard into the inner keep.”

“Nessa?” Fiona asks.

“Safe. Prepared to give sworn testimony about the threat to her family.”

“Did your guards promise her protection in exchange?” I ask.

“No bargain,” Joran says. “They moved her family to a guarded Lowtown house after the merchant attempted to reach them. Nessa offered testimony once she learned Fiona survived the arrest attempt and you remained alive.”