Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Garrick’s chest rises.
I rock back on my heels and stand, finding Talia staring at Garrick with horror-stricken eyes. “What was in the cake?” I ask her.
She startles. “Nothing.” Her brow furrows as she looks at Garrick’s slice, then reaches for hers. “It’s just—”
“Not for you, my dear.” Faris takes her plate, then winces, tilting his head as he runs a hand over his stomach.
“What did you do?” Talia pushes back so quickly her chair falls into the wall behind her, leaving a mark on the pristine surface.
“I tested them as you asked,” he tells her with a loving smile. “Here, in the privacy of our home, where they’d be comfortable.”
Nairi and Roslyn both nudge their plates away, exchanging annoyed glances as Mira hovers, ready to strike.
“You poisoned my son?” Talia shrieks.
“Your son was wise enough not to eat it,” Faris replies. “Our isle can be unforgiving. You should be proud, not angry.”
I grab what’s left of Garrick’s cake and lift it to my nose. It smells like chocolate, and sugar, and maybe a hint of vanilla but— There. I breathe deeply, catching a hint of something sickly sweet. Like fruit that’s been left in the sun too long.
“It’s still slowing,” Aaric says, and I glance back to see him lying with his ear against Garrick’s chest as Xaden breathes again for his best friend.
My mind doesn’t race—it flies. It could be anything. Powdered and added to the flour, liquefied and mixed in with the eggs or added to the glaze. It could be indigenous or imported. All I have is Dad’s field guide. We’re so far out of our depths here that I’m not even sure Brennan could help.
“Violet,” Xaden pleads as our gazes collide. The panic in those onyx depths jars me like nothing else can.
I take a deep breath and steady my heartbeat to slow my thoughts. “I’ll find it,” I promise. “I won’t let him die.”
Xaden nods and breathes for Garrick again.
I smell the cake one last time and set it down, finding Faris watching us with rapt curiosity. Talia slowly backs herself against the curved wall, wrapping her arms around her middle as she watches Xaden.
“Is this the part where you draw a weapon?” Faris asks me, shifting in his seat. “Threaten to kill me if I don’t tell you what your hasty friend ingested?”
“No.” I lean my hip against the table where Talia should be sitting. “This is the part where I tell you I’ve already killed you.”
Faris’s smile slips. “And yet I breathe, and your friend does not.” But his body rolls like he’s trying to contain a belch, and he covers his mouth.
“Oh, you’ll breathe just fine.” I glance at the other three. “You all will. It’s the vomiting until your bile turns to blood that will kill you. Should start in about ten minutes. Don’t worry, it only lasts about an hour. Kind of a miserable way to go, but I worked with what I had.”
Nairi lurches out of her chair and drops to her knees, retching onto the floor.
“Shit, my timing’s off,” I say to Mira.
“She had two glasses.” Mira wrinkles her nose and retreats a step as Nairi empties the contents of her stomach.
“You drank and ate everything we did,” Faris says, the blood draining from his face. “I watched.”
“Not before dinner you didn’t.” I drum my fingers on the table. “Before dinner, it was just the six of us. Are you curious what I gave everyone for an appetizer as we walked down the stairs?”
His eyes flare. “You’re lying.”
“You wish.” I glance sideways as Talia slides down the wall, muffling a cry with her fist. “Time for your test. Do you know why arinmint is illegal to export? Why it’s against the rules to take it outside Aretia?”
“The fucking tea,” Faris hisses, shooting a glare at Talia.
I lift his empty goblet and turn it upside down. “And you drank it all.” I tsk at him, then set it back on the table. “I’ll make you a deal. I was saving this for the unlikely event we failed your test and needed leverage, but you give me your antidote and I’ll give you mine.”
“You don’t get to beat me.” He shakes his head.
Anger prickles along my skin.
“And you don’t get to poison my friend with impunity.” I tilt my head, refusing to let any of the panic curdling in my stomach show on my face.
“Your friend will be dead in the next twenty minutes, and I will still have forty to see you slaughtered by my guards. You think we won’t find the antidote in your room?” His voice rises.
The house shudders, and an ear-splitting roar rattles the forks against their plates.
“I wish you the best of luck.” I manage to keep my voice level. “You have mediocre guards. I have ten lethally trained riders and fliers, four gryphons, and seven pissed-off dragons. The odds are in my favor.”