Page 157 of Unrivaled
Feeling the powerful, measured drum of my heart against my ribs, I took a candle, located Luca’s room and started on his packs.
Ink.Vials and vials of ink.I pulled it out and shook it.The color was odd, but the viscosity made me sure it was simply ink and not a cunning poison.Cunning.The thought made me want to snarl.I sorted through large rolls of parchment tied neatly.Each piece would need to be cut and secured.Wax, as well.Different stamps.He always had ink-stained fingers.I’d thought it was because he was a scholar.Strings of coins in a variety of denominations sat to the side for easy payment.That wasn’t a standard coin-pouch, but a travelling merchant’s set up.Except he was no merchant…not of goods, anyhow.You cum-encrusted rag.
None of this was proof.It was enough for me, but she’d want specifics.
A sudden pain made me jerk my hand back.The smell of copper and incense filled the air and I looked down at my hand, shock settling over my mind.Blood beaded there.
His pack wastrapped.
My heart tried to race.I reined it in hard, taking slow, measured breaths as I went to my basket, paying attention to the nuances of my body.The heartbeat was battle energy, but was that dizziness?Yes.And a metallic taste in my mouth, too.My joints were aching.
Perfect.My hands trembled as I unraveled the sash that held my antivenoms and antidotes.Green Serpent venom was a common choice.Nasty, fast, and stable.The seal on the antivenom broke and I downed it quickly.He couldn’t even poison people properly.It was insulting to be forced to wonder if this man could be a true threat.
That was enough evidence for me that he’d killed the steward, though.Which meant hehadgot craftier since last tourney.
Luca would know that trap had been sprung.I sat beside my basket and considered the pack as I allowed the antivenom to work.Odds of him having used a lethal amount in the trap were slim, so he’d expect to find a sleepy, light-fingered maid or foolish thief unconscious in the room.When he noticed the trap had been sprung, but there was no obvious culprit, he’d know the person who sprang the trap was a real threat.I didn’t want to boost his ego by thinking anyone important had visited him.Without being a mage myself to re-arm the trap, I couldn’t imagine how I could conceal that someone had been snooping.
At least I could rest knowing poisoning me was likely enough evidence of his wrongdoings for Audrey.She was sweet like that.I ignored the ache in my hand and the spinning in my head.
I could drag one of the men in here, prick their hand, and make them look like they’d betrayed him.That might be an enjoyable diversion.
The metallic taste took on coppery notes of blood.I breathed slowly.I wasn’t up for dragging anyone anywhere.I was quite safe from serious effects of the poison, but that didn’t mean I was well, and didn’t mean I should take any additional risks with myself.The way I felt now, I doubted it had been armed with a nonlethal dose.
Luca had fatal clockwork traps that would’ve been spelled to his presence.Odds of those boys out there knowing that were excellent.I didn’t want to risk there being more traps within, either.I already needed to lie down.
A knock came at the door.
I hadn’t locked it.
My heart was still drumming too fast.They knocked again.
Okay, you viper,I thought, standing grimly and snuffing the candle.Let’s see if you’ve got teeth.I crouched and used the strength in my legs to haul Luca’s pack up onto one shoulder, turning to the window.He’d know someone had broken in anyway.May as well make it worth it.
With a heave, I threw the pack out the window, then looped my basket over my shoulder.The door creaked as it swung open.“Hello?”an unfamiliar male voice called.
My legs shook, but my feet found footholds, and my fingers held.From above, I saw light flickering in the room.My head ached.Whoever it was would try to rouse the drugged guards.I climbed down the wall, trusting to the darkness to hide me from the threat above, if the person even thought to look for me.
That taste, it was metallic…But coppery.Rich.Dark.Green Serpent tasted like a coin stuck in the roof of your mouth, not like curdled blood.I breathed slowly, but my heart kept drumming.War drumming.I dropped to the ground and my legs went out.
Something was wrong.
This wasn’t just Green Serpent.
Man rich enough to entrap his supplies with clockwork traps and ruthless enough to unleash a plague?Clever enough to poison Audrey’s enemies in plain sight, time it so the death was public, and make it look like natural causes so she’d escape all blame?He wasn’t using the entry-level fucking poison.
I’d been underestimating him.
Audrey’s tower was on the other side of the keep.The infirmary wouldn’t have what I needed.I shrugged off the basket, fumbling in the sash with the antidotes without knowing what I was reaching for.Panic slid into my veins.
My nose was bleeding.I breathed through my mouth.
Fen Breath.The realization struck me like an arrow.Fen Breath had the slow dizziness, the rapid heartbeat, the headache, the bleeding, but it was impossible.
The vial was skinny.I broke the wax.Fen Breath wasn’t stable with Green Serpent.It was lucky, too, because one would disguise the other so well.You couldn’t.The compounds didn’t work properly together.It’d never been done.
A headache began at the back of my eyes.
I dashed the blood off my mouth and downed the vial, letting myself fall against the stone wall as my pulse roared in my head.If it was Fen Breath, I might die.If it wasn’t, I definitely would.
