Page 94 of The Study of Poisons
“What’s a singed head for the sake of art?” she teased.
Laughing, he returned his attention to the dancers. At the end of their routine, they earned a standing ovation. The crowd chanted for more and the troupe obliged. Twice. Coated with a sheen of sweat, they blew kisses to the crowd before leaving the room.
Once the applause died down, the master magician stood. She held a bottle of Sitia’s famous cognac. Opening it, she poured an amber colored liquor into three tumblers. Touched that she’d included him, Valek handed the Commander’s glass to Yelena to taste.
Yelena performed the first three S-steps, but after swirling the liquid around her mouth, she spat it out with force. She gagged and sputtered and finally choked out, “My Love.”
Bloody hell. Valek knocked the other glasses over as Yelena toppled from her stool and sprawled on the floor. He ducked down and pushed her off the dais and behind the curtain, hoping she didn’t hit her head too hard. Then he spun, grabbed the bottle of Sitian cognac hidden under the table, that he’d bought earlier just in case, and stood.
“I’m so sorry. I tripped on the tablecloth,” he said to everyone. He mopped clumsily at the spilled cognac, making wild gestures with his right hand while swapping his new bottle for the magician’s. “Guess I’m not used to such fine dining.” A few people laughed and Valek spotted Ari and Janco edging toward the back of the dais. Good.
A servant brought three new glasses and Valek poured the cognac. He sipped from one glass, ensuring it was indeed clean and handed it to the Commander, who frowned. The third glass he gave to the magician. She stared at him in surprise tinged with fear.
“Just go with it,” he whispered to them both.
The master magician held out her drink and said, “My name is Irys Jewelrose and I’m here on behalf of the Sitian Council. The Council is honored to be invited to Ixia, and we hope this visit will include reaching an agreement with you in the sharing of our knowledge and goods. We also hope that this will be the start of a long friendship between our two countries.” She raised the glass higher. “To Ixia and Sitia!”
The Commander raised his tumbler and clinked it with hers before drinking. Valek downed his cognac in one gulp. He needed its warmth, as he’d have to endure the inevitable questions while worrying about Yelena. Did she swallow a lethal dose? At least, Ari and Janco had noticed what happened and had come to her aid.
The toast signaled the end of the feast. The band returned to playing boring songs as people milled about talking and laughing. The feast was a success. Pity the Commander didn’t have more of them. It would boost morale.
“My office, now,” the Commander ordered him and Irys.
They glanced at each other before following the Commander. Valek checked behind the curtain to make sure Yelena was gone. He grabbed both bottles of cognac—his had a small black dot on the label—and joined them. No one said a word during the trip to the office.
The Commander sat on the edge of his desk. “Explain what just happened.”
“The Sitian cognac was laced with a lethal poison called, Have a Drink, My Love,” Valek said.
Irys sucked in a breath. “Poisoned? Are you sure?”
“Yes. Did you not notice our food taster passing out?”
“I… But we drank…”
He held up his cognac. “We drank from an untainted bottle.” Then he set them down on the desk.
It didn’t take long for the magician to understand. Horror replaced her confusion. Irys turned to the Commander. “We didnotpoison the cognac. I swear, we wouldnevertry to ruin this meeting. It’s too important.”
“We know.” The Commander looked at Valek, inviting him to continue.
“We learned of a plot to sabotage this conference,” he said to Irys. “However, we didn’t have any details of what they planned to do, so we prepared for everything. Who gave you the cognac for the feast?”
“I bought it in Sitia. It’s from my personal collection. Do you think someone snuck into my room and poisoned it?”
And risk being caught by a master magician? “No. Has it been in your possession this entire time?”
“It was in my luggage until this evening. My bag has been with me the entire journey, except for when your porters carried our suitcases to the guest suite.”
No doubt Star had paid one of the porters to swap bottles—an easy thing to do.
“Find out which porter was bribed,” the Commander ordered Valek.
“Yes, sir.”
“Will your food taster survive?” Irys asked Valek.
“Yelena spat most of it out. She should recover in a few days, but it will depend on the concentration of the poison.”
