Page 38 of The Thief
The old man blushed a deep red, clearing his throat before mumbling, “Thank you, My Lady. It is truly my pleasure.”
With one last look, she went off to locate her very secretive prince.
Scarlett walked out of the front door and into the courtyard, taking in the blue sky and the soft fluffy white clouds that floated by. She looked around the courtyard and found Alastair standing by the guard post.
The long bridge ended in the round courtyard, protected by a large stone wall. Large wooden gates were closed only in the evenings, or as protection if the castle was under attack.
Alastair had told Scarlett that the only time they had shut the gates to keep anyone out of the castle was when the Great Tide had come. His father had made the decision to evacuate the castle as it stood alone on the middle of its own rock island and his father felt it unsafe for anyone to stay.
A giant wave had crashed into the castle, doing a great deal of damage to the building. His quick thinking had saved his whole family plus all the staff. That had been the only time and Alastair hoped it stayed that way.
Looking for the man who occupied her thoughts, she walked towards the guard station, the gravel of the drive crunching beneath her shoes.
She glanced at the square fountain and smiled, loving that it was built on a round section of grass. Scarlett looked away from the fountain just in time to avoid colliding with Alastair who had noticed her walking towards him.
“Scarlett, what are you doing down here?” he asked, holding his hands behind his back.
“You can tell me who Edward Holmes is and why he is important.”
He coughed and looked away, then back at her.
“Why do you ask?” he asked, walking over to the flower-lined edge of the drive.
“He visited me in my room, said he was surprised to see me, but he did not act as such.”
Alastair looked at the delicate white blooms and couldn’t help but compare them to how delicate he used to think Scarlett was. She had proven her strengths on many occasions, especially with her uncle, and he couldn’t help but feel she was strong enough to handle anything thrown her way.
“He is a potential threat that has seemed to have disappeared. Everett found that he knew where my Mizet is, which is in my sitting room adjacent to my bedroom. We had a look around and found a book with a piece of paper in it with the name of the medicine that we no longer use on it.”
Scarlett perused his face for a moment, hers having gone blank and giving him no indicators of her feelings.
“Why is it no longer in use?” she queried.
“It does more harm than good. In small doses, it takes a long while to affect a person, but in large doses, as with other medicines not used for their intended purposes, can be fatal.”
She stared at him for a moment and then said, “So I’d wager that he wanted to poison me with that medicine?”
He nodded hesitantly.
She smirked.
“Lovely.”
He sighed and shook his head and whispered, “I haven’t seen any of the signs that you were ill, so I don’t think he has.”
Her smirk turned into a scowl.
“This is all right? He could be poisoning me a little at a time and you would never know!”
Her raised voice drew the attention of the guards on the wall and Alastair pulled her over into the grass, next to one of the large shrubs that lined the wall.
“I have had guards posted all over and have had meals and anything you might drink checked before it is given to you, but it is very difficult to detect Tapoxon as it is clear and has no taste. The only way to detect it is to test the chemical balance of food or drinks, using a special formula that I created.”
He rubbed his hand over his face in frustration.
“I have not told you because I did not want to cause you undue stress. You were already at your limit before you started going to the hospital every day. Since the tests were always coming back negative, I felt no need to alarm you.”
She sighed and looked around, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
