Page 64 of When Wishes Bleed

The royals encircled their table. Everyone in the room stood as they took their seats and sat again once the King gave a nod. Tauren didn’t touch the drinks poured for him, but when his meal was brought out, his eyes found mine. Brecan’s hand found my arm and I spelled the room, slipping away from his touch and moving toward the Prince.

Bitterness filled my mouth and cascaded down into the pit of my stomach, which began to spasm. Poison, Fate whispered.

A cold sweat pebbled across my skin, along with a blanket of goosebumps.

I sniffed his plate. It was untainted, but his wine was not. Someone had slipped nightshade into it. The sickening flavor was almost able to hide within the woodsy aroma.

I took his wine glass and glanced around, catching movement in my periphery. A girl with sandy hair pushed out the door. I removed the pendulum from my pocket, along with the map, and ran after her down hallways, through doors, until I spilled into one of the gardens where nightshade grew.

She’d disappeared.

There was no way she had worn the boots that left the prints in the Prince’s bedroom.

She was petite like Mira, but she was lithe and fast.

I let the pendulum swing over the map, the wind rattling the paper. It turned circle after circle, searching for her as I commanded, but never found her. If she wasn’t in the Kingdom, where was she? The Wilds?

Or did she perform a blocking spell to conceal her whereabouts, so I couldn’t drag her and her little friend back by their throats?

17

These witches were powerful. No one had ever evaded me before, not for this long. And certainly not two of them. Fate rumbled inside me, making his aggravation about the matter clear. But if he couldn’t use me to catch them, what would happen? Would Tauren suffer the consequences?

My stomach dropped.

The witches were somehow immune to my spell, and I’d left him frozen. Unguarded.

I whispered an incantation and spirited to him.

He was fine. I blew out a pent-up breath and scanned the room. Brecan and Mira were still in the same positions. Everyone else was, too. Nothing was out of place.

Though I only smelled the bitter poison in Tauren’s glass, I refused to take the chance that the witch might have poisoned an entire bottle.

I took all the wine glasses away. Someone would notice, but I couldn’t risk anyone drinking from them. Nightshade would kill anyone who consumed it. The poison was potent, and whomever drank it would wish themselves dead long before they actually died. It would tear through even the largest man’s system and leave nothing untouched. Every organ would suffer before it finished the person off. I knew, because I’d used it before. I’d watched someone die from it because Fate commanded it.

I removed glass after glass from the room, carrying them to the kitchen just down the hall. I emptied the glasses into the sink, leaving them for someone to wash. When no wine bottles or glasses remained, I reentered the room and made my way around the frozen party, taking my seat once again.

I took a steadying breath before un-spelling it.

Brecan’s hand fell through the air where my arm had been. Confusion marred his face for a moment. “You could warn me before you— what’s wrong?”

I locked eyes with Tauren. He took one look at me and stood up. I spelled the room again. How was I going to admit to him that I’d once again let the witch who wanted him dead get away? His parents were right. I couldn’t protect him.

Un-spelling only him, I stood as he approached, his mouth gaping as he took everyone and everything in. “This is…”

“Time is stopped. When I ask it to begin again, no one will feel the loss of the moments I’ve stolen.”

His mouth parted slightly as he surveyed the room. Then he focused back on me. “What happened?”

“A witch. She poisoned the wine with nightshade – which I learned you grow in abundance in your gardens, just outside.”

“She got away?”

I nodded, again berating myself for not being fast enough.

“Thank goodness you weren’t hurt.”

I wasn’t physically hurt, but my pride stung badly. It made my alternate plan more crucial to execute, though I’d have to be careful. A spell that powerful required a heavy concentration of magic. I’d worked them before, but not with so much at stake. It had to be performed perfectly, and it had to be done quickly.

---