Chapter Seven #3
Palmer sucked in a breath. His neck hurt because of the way he’d slept on his desk, and his mouth tasted like something had crawled into it and died.
His stomach growled at the smell of whatever was in the bag Rune was holding, and there was nothing he wanted more than to give in and sit down to have breakfast. “I’ve already done enough damage,” he murmured.
“I have to make sure the treatment is working.”
Rune’s gaze softened. “You will, but waiting a half hour isn’t going to change anything. Besides, do you really want to wake up Twig and Ash? You’d be the first to say that they need rest to heal.”
Palmer flopped back into his chair. “They do.”
Rune gave a nod, clearly satisfied that Palmer was giving in. Palmer didn’t blame him. He was right. Palmer needed to give the dragons time to heal and rest, and fretting over them wasn’t going to help.
Rune started taking out food from the bag, reminding Palmer of the other time he’d done this.
It was like he’d taken it upon himself to feed Palmer when Palmer forgot to do it, and Palmer wasn’t sure what to think about that.
It wasn’t Rune’s job, even though Killian had assigned him to Palmer, but he was still doing it, and between that and the hug, it made Palmer wonder once again what was going on between them.
He wanted to ask, but now wasn’t the right moment.
His patients were improving. Hopefully, they’d caught it in time, and everyone would be okay. Even if they were, though, that didn’t solve the biggest problem.
Pearl had to be behind this, and she was still out there, living as if she’d done nothing wrong. Would she try to hurt Twig, Ash, and Yorga again when she realized that her plan hadn’t worked? Or would she try to get to Palmer and Killian in a different way?
Because Palmer had no doubt that this was targeted.
Pearl wanted him out of the palace, and appealing to Killian to get him kicked out hadn’t worked.
Maybe she’d thought that destroying Palmer’s reputation would be enough, and if Killian happened to get in trouble because of it, it would have been a bonus.
Palmer wasn’t sure if he or Killian was Pearl’s main target, but he didn’t think that mattered. She wanted both of them gone, and she wouldn’t stop until she won that fight.
* * * *
PALMER WAS DISTRACTED, and Rune didn’t blame him. It was clear that he wanted nothing more than to go back to his patients, but Rune managed to convince him to eat something before he did so. He was out the door as soon as he was done, though, leaving Rune behind to clean up.
Rune wasn’t offended. He couldn’t stay long because he had to talk to Killian, but he wanted to take care of Palmer the way Palmer had been taking care of Twig especially.
Rune was happy that Ash and Yorga were going to be okay, too, but he wasn’t as close to them as he was to Twig.
In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he and Yorga had any kind of conversation.
Rune had so many half-siblings that he knew it was impossible to be close to all of them, and he didn’t want to be.
He just didn’t want any of them to hate him.
He was pretty sure that Pearl did, and he was okay with that.
He could deal with her hatred as long as she stayed away from him and didn’t try to kill him.
Thinking about that made him wonder. How had Pearl chosen which one of the siblings to poison? How had she poisoned them? Maybe the who was related to the how. Maybe she’d chosen to poison the siblings she could get to the easiest.
Rune was still thinking about that when he left the infirmary and headed to Killian’s office.
It would make sense. Pearl wouldn’t have hurt the siblings who supported her, but apart from that, she probably didn’t care about any of them enough to avoid hurting them.
She’d keep her allies safe, and everyone else had been fair game.
It infuriated Rune, but he couldn’t deny that was probably how things had gone.
Pearl didn’t care about anyone but herself.
She’d keep her allies close, but everyone else? She didn’t care if they lived or died.
Well, she no doubt cared whether Killian lived or died, but that was because she wanted the throne. She couldn’t have poisoned him because of who he was, but the other siblings? They were much easier to get to, especially for someone like Twig.
Rune was quickly ushered into Killian’s office when he got there. He wasn’t surprised to see that Hedley, Marlin, and Birch were all present. He didn’t know if Palmer had already told Killian about his meeting with the healer and what had come out of it, but it was good news, so Rune smiled.
Killian seemed to relax. “Everyone’s doing okay?”
“Everyone’s doing great. Even Twig was awake and sitting up when I left the infirmary.”
“That’s good to know. Palmer texted me yesterday to tell me they found a treatment that should work, but I haven’t heard from him since.”
“That would be because he fell asleep on his desk. Hopefully, everyone will be well enough tonight to allow him to go home early and get some rest.”
“Can you tell us what’s going on?” Hedley asked.
Rune settled in a chair in front of Killian’s desk and told them what he knew. It wasn’t much since Palmer hadn’t exactly given him details, but it was enough.
“Wolfsbane?” Hedley asked with a frown.
“We have some in our private garden,” Killian said.
Rune hadn’t known that. “Really?”
“In a greenhouse. It’s used to heal, so we always want to have some on hand.”
“In our private garden, where the kids could find it?” Hedley asked. He looked ready to go out there and tear out every single bit of wolfsbane in the palace.
“Like I said, it’s in a greenhouse. The kids can’t get to it, and while it’s not often used, it has come in handy a few times.”
“Can Pearl access it?” Rune asked. He’d never tried to enter the king’s private garden, but he was pretty sure that if he did, he’d be refused entry. He might be Killian’s brother, but that was still the king’s private garden, and only the people the king invited directly could go in.
“Not officially,” Killian told him. “But I’m sure she’d have found a way if she’d tried.”
“Maybe it would’ve been easier for her to find the wolfsbane somewhere else.”
“She could have bought it, but someone might talk if she did. She only really trusts herself, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d done all of this on her own.”
“She also doesn’t like to get her hands dirty, though.”
“That much is true.” Killian turned to Marlin and Birch.
“You’ll need to look into that. Consider both options.
If she got the wolfsbane from the private garden, we need to ensure that no one else can.
If she bought it, it’s going to be more complicated, but we’ll need to find a way to stop her from doing that again. ”
“The best way to do that would be to prove she was involved and arrest her,” Hedley pointed out.
“It would be, but we need to catch her in the act. It’s the only way to prove to everyone that she’s involved. I’m sure that she’d be able to get out of anything else.”
Rune relaxed back in his chair. He’d done his job and told Killian what was going on. He wanted to know what Killian would do about Pearl, but he wouldn’t be involved in that. That was perfectly fine with him. He didn’t have the stomach to go after Pearl. She terrified him.
He really hoped she would never become queen.