Quinn
Iclutched the notebook to my chest, balancing the tray of supplies I had gathered in the other. Tobias took the tray from me before I could protest, his fingertips brushing against my own.
It shouldn’t have made my pulse skip, but it did.
“I can carry that,” I said belatedly.
Tobias shrugged nonchalantly, still the gentleman I knew he had been raised to be despite everything. “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” He nodded at the notebook in my hands. “You can bring that though.”
He seemed to be avoiding looking at the phlebotomy kit I found…not at the vials, the disinfectant, and the gauze, I realized, but the syringes we would need to draw Eva’s blood. I didn’t remember him having a fear of needles when we were younger…
My stomach dropped as I realized the reason why. Rage quickly took its place.
Of course they had drugged him during his time here. At the very least, they had stolen his blood to create the bloodlink Aviel used to reach Eva in her dreams.
If he was now afraid of needles, he had good reason—one that made me want to tear Silvius apart for his role in it.
One of the syringes slid slightly as Tobias started walking to the door, and he blanched, his throat bobbing just slightly.
The tips of his fingers went white where they tightened against the tray.
I caught a fleeting glimpse of his tortured expression before he blinked, and it returned to that detached calm.
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”
“Of course,” Tobias said coolly. His face was serene, but the way the tray shook slightly said otherwise.
He acted like emotions were dangerous, something to be handled and erased. It was unsurprising given how long he had to hide them…and how much he had to lose if he broke.
I let out a soft sigh, fighting the overwhelming urge to take his hand. “You can talk to me, you know.”
“I thought we’d already covered this part of the evening.”
Tobias’s pace quickened. I struggled to keep up as I followed him back up the spiral staircase that brought us here.
“You were never given time to grieve, Tobias.” I wasn’t sure if it was the statement or me finally using his first name that stopped him in his tracks.
His shoulders went rigid as the syringes slid toward him, though they stopped short of touching him.
“And you obviously haven’t taken time to process what happened to you.
It’s okay that you need time to settle into things, especially with an entire kingdom that needs you too. But it’s past time to face things—”
“If you haven’t noticed, we’re immortal now, Sagray.” My last name was pointedly curt, his voice sharper than I had ever heard it. “Or practically. Let me deal with my own life on my own time.”
“You can’t expect to get better if you don’t at least talk to someone,” I continued, undeterred. “I imagine half this realm has post-traumatic stress disorders after the war. But you were Aviel’s prisoner for years. What he put you through…”
Tobias turned to glare at me, the first real sign of emotion I had seen from him since Eva had collapsed in his arms. “Stop diagnosing me.”
I stood my ground, glaring right back. “I just want to help.”
His eyes flickered, a flash of light igniting his irises. “Why?”
“You’re my friend.”
His flinch was nearly imperceptible, but I caught it.
“You’re my sister’s friend,” he said, his words clipped.
It was my turn to flinch as he started to walk away. I followed, taking the steps two at a time to keep up as I snapped, “That’s bullshit, and you know it. We were friends before you died—”
A muscle in his jaw jumped. “This isn’t the time to talk about this—”
“—and friends during the war, or did you think I spent every day riding next to you on the journey to that freaking mountain because I’m friends with your sister? She’s also worried about you, if that wasn’t obvious.”
Tobias walked faster. “What’s obvious is that we have more important things to worry about right now.”
My voice echoed in the stone stairwell. “I don’t know why you decided to push me away after everything we’ve been through, but I’m sick of it.”
We reached the top of the stairs. Tobias came to a stop so quickly I almost ran into him.
His eyes closed like he was in agony. “Maybe I realized you’re better off without me.”
The tray trembled, metal clattering against metal, and I reached out to steady it. My hands closed around his unthinkingly. Tobias’s eyes flew open, staring at where we touched. He looked furious, not at me, but at himself.
“Well, I disagree.” My lower lip trembled despite the anger still tinging my words.
I was on edge, scared out of my mind for my best friend, and feeling the aftereffects of all the wine at dinner.
While part of me knew that tears would be cathartic, I didn’t have the luxury of allowing myself to break down just yet.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Tobias drawled defensively. His eyes still seemed to glow like they were lit from within—a hint of the magic I only now realized I hadn’t seen him use in forever. “But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re right, either,” I said sullenly.
I should’ve waited to confront him about this until we were both in a better mindset to do so.
In fact, I had promised myself I wouldn’t mention it again until after Eva’s wedding…
when we could team up on him together. But it was too late to take the words back now that I had finally let them out.
“Who else will you talk to?” I demanded, a hint of pleading entering my voice. “Who else knows your heart?”
Something like longing crossed his face, too fleeting for me to be certain of it.
Tobias took an abrupt step back, breaking my hold. “My heart has nothing to do with it.”
His face hardened, the light in his eyes disappearing like he had closed a door on his power. Even the gold flecks scattered around his irises seemed to darken.
I was starting to hate that look on his face. The cool, collected facade that felt like he had never been freed from the mask he had been forced to wear. The empty, hollow look in his eyes that seemed like he was trying to erase himself entirely.
Tobias cleared his throat. “Let’s focus on Eva, shall we? I’m not the one who needs, or wants, your help.”
That dismissive tone hurt worse than his words. I tried to bite my tongue against everything that I wanted to say in response, but I couldn’t stop myself from throwing out one last lifeline.
“When you change your mind, I’ll still be here.”
Light flashed in Tobias’s gaze. It was the only sign he heard me before he stormed from the stairwell.
My grip tightened on Silvius’s notebook, the leather binding slick between them. I could only hope its contents weren’t the cause of my best friend’s illness—even as something within me whispered that I knew better.
?
“You think Silvius is behind this?”
The rage in his tone turned Bash’s words into more of a growl than a question.
Shadows roiled down his arms, agitatedly weaving between Eva’s fingers.
Her hair was damp from her bath, and both she and Bash wore fresh, comfortable clothes.
Eva’s simple black nightgown was half-hidden under the covers that had been meticulously arranged around her.
Bash must have gone in the bath with her to safely cool her down and wash the blood from her hair. I blinked away the tears that mental image evoked, nodding as my voice failed me.
Bash’s shadow-filled gaze found Rivan’s, then narrowed. “I thought he disappeared.”
“Our rangers followed his trail to Mayim over a month ago before it went cold,” Rivan replied. “If there were any updates I would’ve told you. Though the added security ahead of your bonding ceremony should’ve made this impossible.”
Marin frowned. “Then how do you think he did this to her?”
“There’s been an influx of outsiders involved in the preparations,” Yael said contemplatively. “And there are plenty of the False King’s supporters who bought his lies and could’ve assisted Silvius.”
Rivan crossed his arms. “That’s our theory as to how he’s evaded us so far, anyway.”
Using the rubbing alcohol I found in the lab, I sterilized Eva’s arm beneath a temporary tourniquet.
“Everything in that notebook matches her symptoms so far,” I said grimly.
“Lightheadedness, tiredness, and aggressive nosebleeds…all symptoms that Silvius noted for the incubation period. Then unconsciousness while the magic takes hold.” I swallowed, hating the next words out of my mouth.
“The research Tobias found shows Silvius was experimenting with weaponized pathology. He was trying to create a targeted magical illness to make his victims more malleable.”
Bash winced as I carefully inserted a syringe into Eva’s inner arm.
His fists clenched and unclenched as he watched the steady drip of her blood into the syringe, like he was actively reminding himself I wasn’t a threat.
I undid the tourniquet, turning my attention back to my task.
Bash ran his hand through his already mussed hair, the way his auburn strands stuck up in every direction telling me it hadn’t been the first time tonight.
Worry shrouded Yael’s expression. “I don’t like how that sounds.”
Carefully, I switched out a fresh syringe, wishing I had blood collection tubes instead.
I crooked my finger at Tobias, placing the used one back on the tray when he complied with the silent ask.
He might be skittish around needles, but the others’ deep-seated fears still made him the best choice to assist me.
“I don’t see how he would have gotten close enough to Eva to infect her with this,” Rivan added, his eyes locked on the full syringes. His repulsed fascination was clear as day, though I was grateful he held his tongue.
“He wouldn’t need to,” Tobias said darkly, staring down at the tray in his hands. “With the wedding preparations, would anyone have noticed an extra server in the kitchens put something in Eva’s food?”
Rivan shook his head. “There are safeguards in place against that sort of foul play—”
“Then he was able to coerce someone with access to her,” Tobias interrupted, his tone flat but certain. “Whoever it was, they did their job. I doubt they stuck around afterwards.”
Stuck…something needled at me in the back of my mind, begging for me to get there.
I gasped aloud as it hit me. “The seamstress. Eva said she was here earlier today…and that she pricked her with a pin when Eva couldn’t stay still.”
It was the perfect cover, really. Something that might have gone entirely overlooked otherwise.
Bash looked murderous. “I want her found and questioned.”
Yael and Rivan exchanged a look, then stood in almost perfect unison.
“Our rangers are already questioning anyone who got anywhere near Eva’s food or drink tonight,” Rivan said evenly. “I’ll have them track down the seamstress.”
Bash nodded. “I don’t need to tell you that finding Silvius is now our top priority.” His hands clenched, shadows ominously streaming between his fingers. “We need him alive…and preferably holding a cure for whatever he gave her.”
“We’ll leave for Mayim straightaway,” Rivan said gravely. “If Silvius has the answers she needs, we’ll find him.”
Yael pressed a quick kiss on Marin’s forehead in a chaste goodbye. “If there’s any change, let us know.”
She and Rivan were already discussing their next steps as they raced out of the door.
With the final syringe filled, I withdrew the needle and pressed a clean cloth against the puncture to staunch the bleeding.
Then I neatly wrapped a bandage around Eva’s arm to hold it in place, my movements automatic as my mind whirred.
If I had interpreted Silvius’s notes correctly from my brief review, this was more than a poison…
this was a virus. Thankfully it didn’t seem easily transmittable—not if he had needed someone to inject it for him.
Unfortunately, with magic involved, this would be far from a simple fix. I had known that from the second my own magic had been rebuffed by whatever Silvius had wrought.
Bash broke the loaded silence, his speech strained. “You said this illness makes its victims more malleable. What exactly do you mean by that? And is it…” His voice broke. “Can you heal her?”
Marin looked up from where she was scouring the notebook, seeming to come back to herself at her brother’s attention. “The good news is that the aim of Silvius’s research wasn’t to kill the target.”
Bash’s jaw clenched. “And the bad news?”
Before Marin could respond, Eva’s eyes fluttered open.