Page 12 of Tanglewood Magic (The Three Sisters 2)
Medea and Tavyss exchanged glances. “Who?” Tavyss asked.
“One of the staff. A man named Lazys. He was recently hired on by the house manager to fill a vacancy. We found a vial tainted with the poison in his chambers.”
“I’ll kill him,” Tavyss growled.
“Fitting you do the deed, considering I believe he was here because of you,” Zelaria said.
“What are you insinuating?” Medea leveled a sharp look at the witch.
“The man is a citizen of Paragon—a witch who grew up in Hobble Glen. I believe he’s a spy.”
Medea’s brow furrowed. “A spy?”
Zelaria sighed and leaned back in her chair. “I warned you this would happen, Medea. Servants don’t usually try to murder their employers without a motive. I couldn’t get him to admit it, but I am sure he was sent by Paragon because you repeatedly refused their invitation. They don’t trust you.”
Rhys could hold his tongue no more. “Do you have any evidence linking this attack to the Obsidian Palace, Zelaria? Or are you assuming because he grew up in Paragon?”
She brushed her hands over her skirt. “I have no proof. When we caught him with the poison, he went completely mute. He refused to say a word, even when I threatened his life.”
“Okay, then. What did it look like?” Rhys stared her down. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Zelaria was spinning this tragedy to bolster her political motivations. He didn’t care about relations with Paragon even half as much as he cared that there was a murderer out there who understood the properties of gila vine.
Zelaria turned. “Hmmm? The man is thin, brown hair, brown eyes.”
“Not the man, the poison,” Rhys pressed. “You said you caught him with the poison. What did it look like?”
Furrowing her brow as if the question put her out, she said, “A glass vial.”
Rhys drew a container out of the inside pocket of his coat. “Like this one?”
She inhaled deeply. “Why, yes. Exactly like that.”
Rhys frowned. The glass jars he used for samples weren’t commonly used in homes. They were a tool of his trade, something only an experienced apothecary might have on hand. “What color was the poison inside?”
Zelaria cleared her throat. “I wasn’t really paying attention to the color—”
“You were sure it was poison, though. How did you know it was poison if you didn’t get a good look at it?”
She frowned and crossed her arms. “It smelled of anise. The same smell I’d noticed on Medea’s glass. And now that I think about it, the liquid inside was clear.”
“Clear? Are you sure?” Rhys asked.
“Of course I am! It must have been clear, or we would have seen it in her glass before the wine was poured.”
Rhys slumped, shaking his head.
Medea sighed heavily. “What does it mean, Rhys? Why does it upset you that it was clear?”
“You were poisoned using a plant called gila vine. It grows on the border between Darnuith and Rogos and is native to the Mystic Wood. It has bright-green variegated leaves. If you boil it down into a tincture, it’s usually green. A very good apothecary or wizard might be able to refine that tincture until it is clear, but it would take time and complex magic. Only an apothecary of some talent and experience would be capable of it.”
Tavyss growled. “In other words, if the tincture was clear, someone more powerful than a common servant was involved. Someone with the power and resources to refine a deadly poison from a little-known plant.”
Medea’s hands went to her belly. “The servant had to be working for someone else.”
“I’d bet on it.” Rhys hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he was almost positive the man in the dungeon was a tool of someone far more dangerous.
“Precisely,” Zelaria agreed, finger pointing toward the ceiling. “It all fits. The man is from Paragon, and the Paragonian royals would have the means to provide him with the poison. Medea, you simply must accept their invitation. This was a message. A warning. What you are doing, putting them off like this, is political positioning. They’ve assumed you’re secretive and dangerous. Whether this man acted alone or not, I think it’s clearwhyhe acted.”
Medea looked between Zelaria and Tavyss. “I’d like to question the man myself. Before we accuse the kingdom of Paragon of my attempted assassination, I think we should have more evidence.”
