Chapter 36
The three of them had a lovely bit of tea and telling the short version of the poison drama once again. Eventually, James was kicked out to join them with the assurance that it wouldn't be too much longer.
"Me and Jacques both is a lot of shoulders for one kitchen," said James with a shrug. "I helped some, though."
"I'm just dying to know what's for dinner," said Alex. "And I think today is a good day for whiskey in my tea."
"It's always a good day for that," said Con with a chuckle like rocks in a polisher. "Will we be doin' that before or after dinner?"
The honeyed whiskey came floating out of the kitchen on cue, and right over to Alex for pouring.
"Now, it seems," said Alex, plucking it out of the air. He set his cup down and uncapped the whiskey, putting a healthy slug into first Con's cup and then his own, and then James and Julian's as well when they held their cups up.
"I'm not on duty, I can have a little," said James with a smirk. He sipped and sighed, "Oh, that is good."
"We've really gotten addicted to the honeyed kind," said Alex. "I can only hope they never discontinue it."
"Emmy tells me we drink about half their output between the two households," said Julian with a giggle. "I think she was exaggerating, but she does use it for guests a lot, and Chef likes it for a couple of his marinades."
"Emmy entertains more than we do, too," said Alex. "Either way, we'll have it for as long as we can."
"That's very good news," said Con, saluting him with the cup before taking another big sip. The little fae had the ability to make tea and whiskey vanish almost as fast as a human, which had always bemused Alex a little, but not enough to comment on.
Fae metabolism was beyond the scope of anything he wanted to get his magical fingers into, as it were.
Soon enough their food drifted out, chicken glazed in whiskey with carrots and out-of-season green beans that must be from some hothouse but tasted amazing in the buttery, honey-sweet glaze.
There was a side dish of some kind of purple elven potato mashed with butter and cream and herbs, and another of turnip greens cooked to tenderness in lemon and garlic.
Everything was rich and delicious, and Alex had to wonder how much butter had gone into the meal to make everything so very good.
Then he decided he didn't care and went back to eating.
"So, tell us how things are going with Betta's friend, that Cherry girl," suggested Alys, settling into her own seat with her own portion and giving Alex a look until she, Nat, and Jacques all had their own pours of whiskey in their teacups.
"Oh, well, since I last saw ye," began Con, and then he launched into yet more of the convoluted gossip about this Cherry and her several paramours, at least two of whom were also lovers to each other.
Alex didn't really keep track too closely, but he enjoyed hearing all about a life more complicated even than his own. Even with people trying to kill him, there had still been Julian by his side for years now, and that was worth cherishing.
He sent Julian some love through their bond just because and kept eating, listening to Con's chatter with a warm heart.
Once they had all eaten their portions, Julian and Alex elaborated on the poisoning story to appeal to Con specifically so he got to hear about the specific poisons and their origins.
"I never understood why iocane flowers got popular," he said, shaking his head. "They're poison to nearly everything!"
"They're very pretty, though," said Julian. "And the pollen doesn't fall out of the flowers unless you shake it out, so it feels low-risk to some people, I guess."
"Not for people with pets," said Alex.
As if summoned by his words, three kittens came slinking out of various parts of the house and came over to mewl for their own dinner finally.
"Too easy to have an accident," said Julian, stroking Cinnamon's head while noises happened in the kitchen to indicate that Alys was using her magic to dish up their food.
Alex pulled Nightshade into a spontaneous hug and snorgled her mercilessly, getting purrs for his troubles and then paws in his face when he wouldn't stop. Sage was busy climbing Jacques, her favourite tall person, but they all scampered away the moment bowls clinked down onto the kitchen tile.
"They're doing well, as you can see," said Julian with a laugh.
Dessert floated out from the other room, big bowls of meringue kisses, fresh fruit, and whipped cream, with smaller versions for the brownies and Con. It had sweet crunch and bright berries, rich cream and tartness from those same berries, and Alex thought he could eat three bowls of it.
"Anyway, the very last one was her trying to alibi herself by delivering a non-fatal poison, more snake venom but from an Egyptian Bedroom Asp this time," said Alex, after a big mouthful of food had been swallowed.
"But it was too obviously self-administered, not that she could've known we'd tested all the cups just before she came in. "
"Not a nice time, that, but never fatal," agreed Con, nodding wisely. "The snake thing is an odd connection."
"Yeah, not that we needed more evidence, but they found out she worked with them in school," said Julian. "Really, the wonder is that she held it together long enough that this was her first murder."
"Well, it's the first one we know of," said James in a silly-spooky sort of voice. "Perhaps she's been a black widow more than we've been told."
"Nah," said Alex, "she was single."
They all laughed at that, and conversation moved on to the household and how things had survived the snowstorm.
There was an odd spot in the wards where the conservatory met the house that had caused some strange melting, but nothing destructive.
Otherwise, the structures had sloughed off the snow at a reasonable pace, and the spells had kept it from piling up against the doors, though apparently the windows had been a sight to see.
Con was pleased that his own burrow weathered the storm just fine, vague though he was about the location.
He seemed to live around here somewhere, for how well he knew the locals, but he'd definitely lived closer to the city when they'd first met.
That made Alex wonder if Con had moved out here to be close, though the sprite never seemed to have any trouble showing up anywhere he wanted to be.
Perhaps Betta had wanted the simple country life.
Alex attempted to convince himself he wasn't going to look into magical means of transportation, but he didn't try very hard. He wasn't likely to find anything useful, anyway.
Research for its own sake was something he had time for, these days, if in limited quantities.
"How's your work schedule looking, anyway?" asked James.
"Full as always," said Alex with a chuckle.
"Nothing very exciting, though. A couple of batches of Satyr's Gift, I can only do three at a time and it's very popular now that there's people who know I can make it.
Some protection amulets for people who don't care much if it muffles magical senses.
A few decorative items for ladies who wish to have mild allure charms."
"He won't do anything more than a mild one," said Julian. "It vexes some of the potential customers, but so far they've all taken the lesser charm rather than go without."
"Stronger ones aren't particularly ethical, or legal once you get past a certain point," said Alex with a shrug. "I won't be party to someone else's bad life choices."
"Except mine," said Julian. "You helped me order those seeds for spring with no trouble."
Alex laughed. "You assured me that you had room for those," he teased.
Julian shrugged. "I will make room! I can sell off a few things I'm less interested in."
"Oh, like what?" asked Con, perking back up again. "Not for me, mind ye, but there's interested parties I know."
"Oh, well, I had that pot array for mint varietals, and we've narrowed down the ones we like best, so I can sell off the rest," said Julian. "And then there's the lollabells that keep trying to overgrow their patch, and haven't been useful for Alex even though we thought they might be."
"Oh yeah, it turns out I like lily-of-the-valley for that more," said Alex with a shrug. "That goes in the workshop, we get new plants in whenever I use one."
"Yeah, it's got a very limited season," said Julian, "but it's easy enough to force-bloom in our little tabletop hothouse."
"Aye, those are a useful bloom for all they're poison, too, outside of a potion," said Con. "Lots of things they can make stronger."
"I have to decide what else in spring, once I see what's come back well and what doesn't, though I suppose I'm likely to have everything that can come back do so, given everything." Julian giggled and then stifled it in a big mouthful of cream and meringue.
"There were a few annuals we won't replant," said Alex. "I never did find anything for those one flower spears, what were they?"
"Oh, the fleur de lance," said Julian. "Yeah, I ended up selling those to Mary Margaret, she found someone that wanted them for decoration."
"So, there's some space," said Julian with a shrug. "I'll have Alex send you a butterfly with the final list, if you like."
"That'd be a kindness," said Con cheerfully. He had a single meringue and a few berries in cream, and he was eating them neat as you please, wide mouth lightly stained with red.
Alex smiled and had another big bite of his own dessert. His life wasn't perfect, but at least he had friends.
And no chance of poison, here at home.