Page 139 of A Dose of Agony
It’s “not that bad,” but he’s still magicless, vulnerable, in the middle of an ongoing fight.
Candice? What is going on there?
A brief sense of shame sits on my chest, but I take in a deep breath. This was the right choice. I believe that.I’m ending this fight today. The council will all be dead in a matter of minutes. I need you to survive, Jarron. Survive this and we’ll be okay.
Dread rushes through me.
What did you do?he whispers through our link.
“Who did this?” Mr. Vandozer screams again. His face is blood red. His horns are sticking up from his slicked-back hair.
“I don’t know!” Emily cries. “No one—no one has been in here. Except—” She turns slowly to face the human butler, and my stomach sours again. She strides across the room and takes his lapel in her fist. “Who touched the drinks?”
The butler’s eyes widen. “No one,” he says quickly. “No one! Or else I would have—”
She releases him and turns to Vincent. “How is he still alive?”
“He has to be in on it,” Dara whispers.
“He’s not,” Emily says. “I can see in his mind. He passes all the checks.” She frowns, looking down at the dead witch.
“Maybe it was a single hit,” Dara says. “Someone wanted her dead, not the whole council.”
“That would mean someone on the council did this, then,” Emily says. “I can’t read everyone in the room. The Orizians are good at hiding things. Dara, Gaabai, and Aceline are unreadable. Everyone else—” She concentrates. “Everyone else is clear.”
Another few moments pass, the council members just watching in horror, waiting for the next shoe to drop.
It doesn’t.
And finally, their shoulders relax. “Well,” Vincent says, “we’ll have to replace her.”
My heart throbs. Finish this. This needs to end now so I can get to Jarron.
You’re not coming here,he seethes.
I’m not letting you die.
The connection cuts off again, and this time, I feel like I’ve lost part of my soul.He doesn’t want me to go to him, even if it means his death. I can save him. I have the nullifier reverser, but—
I stare at the Cosmic Council once again sitting casually, one body lying limp at the table while the rest chatter with only a minor sense of unease.
“Dara, she was your pick,” Gabbai, the dragon, mutters.
Dara glares. “Do you know what I had to do to get her—” Her eyes widen, turning quickly to the dragon shifter.
His eyes are entirely black, his face slack.
He goes limp, falling face first onto the table.
Gaffney, the orc-looking kappa, follows only a beat later, falling straight to the ground.
Three down.
My heart lifts. Maybe, despite my misgivings, this is going to work. The fae stands, staring slack jawed at the dead around him.
Dara scrambles away from the table, wings flaring as she tries to flee the room, instead, she stumbles into the wall and slides down lifeless to the floor.
Asad drops to his chair, giving up hope before he, too, succumbs to the death potion.
