Chapter 17
Julian followed in Alex's wake as they went into the dark drawing room, lights flickering on and then steadying as the room's spells registered their presence.
Everything was as people had left it, drinks cold on the table and furniture slightly moved from its original groupings.
Darbyshire-Smyth's glass was in its container on the bar under Alex's magic, even more wards than the body given the lethal nature of its contents.
There were a few discreet plants in the room but nothing big, and Julian went to coo at them while Alex started up a hummed note and began to examine the room.
Julian hummed with him, piggybacking, hearing all the melodies that meshed or clashed from the house, the furniture, someone's lost earring under a chair.
That they retrieved, Alex using gloves, and Alex set up a tiny witchlight to tag the spot they'd found it.
It was nothing special, and might have even been there since before the party; they'd have to ask Lucas about guests missing earrings.
Alex put it in a baggie and set it on the bar next to the other evidence, then shrugged and came over for a kiss. "I can't sense any other magic, so the delivery mechanism is definitely not in here. I know the sound of the snake by now, so I'll be keeping an ear open if I hear it again."
Julian nodded. "Let's close this up and go pet some cats. It's been a long morning already."
Alex chuckled. "It really has," he said, leading Julian to the door.
He whistled a somewhat familiar tune, and Julian felt as much as heard as a light preservation charm settled over the whole room.
It wasn't anything as strong as the one on the body or the poisoned drink, but it would keep teacups from moulding before they could be examined.
There was a maid waiting outside with the black bunting, the familiar Alice of yesterday.
"Thanks for waiting," said Alex, stepping back to let her drape it attractively. "We should be done with this room and saving it for the police now."
"Is there going to be luncheon, or should we beg for food now?" asked Julian, making big, piteous eyes at her.
Alice laughed. "There's going to be a lunch, m'lord. I'll make sure our two magic men get extra."
"Thanks, Alice. I'll tell Chudleigh you've done us right," said Julian.
She beamed and bobbed a fraction of a curtsey and left them to themselves, for now.
"We forgot to ask when lunch is," said Alex, staring off into the middle distance.
"Someone will tell us," said Julian, leading him to the stairs and up to their room where there were cats to snuggle. "Things are too disrupted for it to be any other way."
"That's fair," said Alex, letting them into the room. There was no sign of the kittens until they peeked into the basket, getting sleepy-grumpy meows of protest until they closed it.
Julian chuckled. "No kittens for us," he said, taking off his jacket before flopping onto the bed. "Necking?"
Alex laughed and shed his own jacket, then curled his whole long body around Julian. "Cuddling."
"And necking," said Julian, turning so they could kiss as well as snuggle.
Alex twined their legs together and pulled him even closer. "Deal," he said, and then kissed him as sweetly as any pastry.
Julian sighed and leaned into him more, opening their bond more fully as he did. They weren't raising power so much as sharing it in every kiss, one after another, each with a tiny shiver of magic.
Alex felt his body revving up, not too high, just enough to feel the tingle of it on his skin, the anticipation down to his toes.
That, of course, was when there was a knock at the door.
"Lord Alex!" came Alice's familiar voice. "Lady Winterson's been poisoned!"
They threw themselves out of bed, grabbing jackets and not bothering to get all tucked in and neat, Alex flinging open the door. "Take me to her. Is Dr. Geoff with her?"
"He is, she's alive still," said Alice, leading them down the hall at a good clip while they got their jackets on and clothing straightened enough to be going on with.
They stopped at a doorway further down toward the far stairs, and Alice knocked again and announced, "I've got the Viscounts, sir!"
"Come in!" came from the room, recognisably Geoff's voice, tight with stress. "She only got a little of it, it's not the venom this time."
"The cup's over there, sirs," said Miss Alice, pointing and then backing out the door once they'd entered.
"Cup for me," said Julian, going over to examine the liquid inside.
It, too, was magical, a varietal of baneberry that would slow the heart until it stopped.
It was sometimes used in medicinal potions for those with tachycardia, but the potion-making process rendered it beneficial rather than toxic. "It's baneberry."
"Yes, it's slowed her heart quite dramatically already," said Geoff. He had his hand around her wrist, tracking her heartbeat as she lay, pale and still, on top of the covers.
Julian had the strange thought that she'd be upset to have put her shoes on the bed, and dismissed it as ridiculous.
"It should wear off in a few hours, sooner if we can do something to jumpstart her system," Julian said instead.
"Maybe we can jolt her with magic?" said Alex dubiously, though he had donned gloves to look at her eyes under the closed lids, and her lips and mouth. "She's getting a little blue, we should do something, anyway."
"Got any ideas?" asked Geoff, sounding slightly panicked. "I usually have instruments for this part, tools."
"Julian, come take our hands, please," said Alex, stretching himself from her other wrist to Julian's offered hand.
"Geoff, complete the circuit? We can basically run a jolt of magic around through her and then ground it in us, so no one overloads.
I'll be tired afterward, but it's worth it if we can save her, and I have a potion that might help. "
"I understand," said Julian, thinking of all the many times, including just now, that they'd shared magic for more pleasant reasons and then dismissing it. This was urgent.
"I think I can channel that much," said Geoff. "She's not very magical herself, just enough talent to accept the magic at all."
"That's what I'm counting on," said Alex. He began to whistle a sombre little tune and Julian felt the magic rising again, crackling more sharply along his nerves this time as he passed it to Geoff.
Geoff was the one to introduce it to Winterson's system, making sure to arc it across her heart before it grounded itself naturally in Alex's more receptive subtle body.
Julian felt the jolt going through all four of them as the semicircle became a full circuit, and magic began to flow around and around in a rhythm of its own, bringing her heartbeat along with it.
Alex felt the magic of the baneberry trying to infect them with its soporific poison, but his will was stronger than it.
He drew out that magic and neutralised it with his own, feeling her pulse grow stronger under his fingers.
He wouldn't be able to get it all out, not as far from the Source as they were, but he could take the edge off, keep her alive long enough for her body to do the rest.
He stopped the flow with a jolt, one that fixed her new heart rate in her subtle body and urged the physical body to follow along.
"Okay, that was a lot," he said, sitting and tugging Julian around for a hug.
"It was," said Julian, kissing him and feeding him some of his own magic, evening them out so neither was totally depleted.
Geoff came around, after putting Winterson's hands on her stomach, and put a hand on each of their necks. "You two aren't too bad off, but you definitely need food and rest," he said. He fed a small stream of his own power into them, just enough to make Julian feel less like napping.
"Thanks," said Alex. "I'm glad we could save her. Where was she when she was poisoned?"
"Down in the parlour, of course," said Geoff. "It's going to be impossible to figure out who was near her cup before she drank, because everyone was talking and she let it sit a minute or so before drinking."
"That is the worst," said Alex, leaning into Julian again.
Julian spread the weight out by leaning into Geoff. "We're going to be useless for that," he sighed. "Our questioning before didn't do much other than establish no one knew what happened, and this will be worse."
"We'll have to let them all stew until the cops arrive," said Alex. "I'm not wasting another day on pointless interviews when I could be tracing the magical poisons."
"I notice they waited until you weren't around," said Geoff wryly. "Our poisoner is getting smarter."
Alex made a face. "They were too smart to start with."
Julian kissed his hair and sighed. "We've just got to be smartest."