Page 5 of Quiver of Cobras
‘I’ve been thinking,’ I said. ‘If you take the memory-loss potion instead of me, then you’ll be able to escape the Truth Spider. You won’t need to go through with this dreadful plan.’
Charrie scowled at me. ‘We’ve been through this. Rubus will still take his revenge on my family. Mychildren, Madrona. We’re bogles, we’re not protected by the truce,’ he reminded me for the umpteenth time. ‘The only way my kids will survive into adulthood is if Rubus has nothing to gain by hurting them. If I’m not around to be upset by their pain, he won’t bother to hurt them.’
‘Your children need their father.’
‘It’s my life versus seven billion humans, Madrona. And I’m already dying.’
‘But…’
‘Just give me the white baneberry.’
I stood my ground. ‘No. There has to be another way.’
‘You got it, right? You got the baneberry?’
I clenched my jaw. ‘Yes.’
‘You brought it with you because you know thereis no other way. We have to keep the sphere away from Rubus. Once I’m dead, cut off my head, wipe off your fingerprints and drink the memory-loss potion.’
‘What if it doesn’t work? What if I don’t call the police when I come round?’
‘You will. You won’t remember anything about being a faery. Calling the police will be your only option. There’s an old phone box in front of the clubhouse It’s part of the reason why I chose this location. The police will take my body and put it in the morgue. They’ll also put everything I’m carrying into an evidence locker where it will stay. Rubus won’t know the police have the sphere and, even if he finds out, he won’t be able to get to it.’
‘What if they release your belongings to your family?’
‘They won’t. They won’t believe you could have killed me so it’ll remain an open murder investigation. All the evidence will be kept until my murder is solved – which will never happen. They won’t find the white baneberry in my system either.’
‘It still feels like a lot could go wrong, Charrie. If we put our heads together, we can find a better way. We can still run.’
He sighed. ‘No, we can’t.’ His eyes met mine. ‘You gave up your life and your love because of Rubus.’
I gave a short, humourless laugh. ‘He didn’t give me much choice.’
‘There was a choice. You knew that by siding with him, you’d have a better chance of keeping an eye on him and stopping him doing something like this. You became a drug dealer. You effectively killed yourself, Madrona, metaphorically anyway. And you would kill yourself for real if you believed it would keep the sphere safe.’ He paused. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
I could hardly lie to him. ‘Yes.’
‘And the same is true for me. Give me the baneberry, Maddy.’ I sighed. Charrie offered me a sad smile. ‘This will work. I promise you.’
‘Except,’ I pointed out, ‘I won’t remember enough to know that it’s worked.’
‘That’s the way it’s got to be.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and dug out the small vial containing the white baneberry. ‘Charrie…’
‘Hush,’ he said. ‘I know.’ He took it from me and, without another word or a moment’s hesitation, he unscrewed the top and downed the contents.
‘Remember,’ he said, wiping his mouth, ‘it’ll work quickly. As soon as I’m dead, drink the memory-loss potion. You’ll have about five minutes to get rid of both bottles so there’s no trace of magic. Any potential reveal spell will have to be fooled. Then cut off my head with the sword before getting rid of your own prints. Once that’s done, as far as the old Madrona is concerned all this will be over. You might be arrested for a short while but, without your memory and without any evidence, the police can’t charge you.’
Even if they did, I’d probably deserve it. I nodded anyway.
‘If Rubus questions you, you won’t remember what happened. The fact that the sword is coated with rowan will suggest that I tried to kill you or that maybe I was planning to kill him. I’ll be blamed, not you. He’ll run round in circles trying to work out what happened. He’ll think someone else, someone nastier, killed me and took the sphere for themselves. Not a Fey. Maybe another dragon.’ Charrie shrugged. ‘Who knows? Either way, Rubus won’t blame you and he won’t blame my family. And, most importantly, he won’t have Chen’s sphere.’
‘You’ll still be dead,’ I pointed out. I watched him. He was already turning pale. The baneberry worked fast.
‘I already was anyway.’
‘You’re saving everyone,’ I said. ‘You’re a hero and no one will ever know. Not even me.’
