I glided my hands across the room. Swiftly changing the ash-covered room, the tainted ragged curtains charred in black, and floors stained with burn marks out for a fresh rose daisy smell with a hint of spice, newly sowed light blue silk curtains made from the finest of fine sapphire diamonds, and a simple lining ofblue diamonds encrusted with asher wood, a substance I found to help cover the tracks of sound, memory, etc.
It truly is a fascinating substance. It could be made into all sorts of things. It holds many forms and properties, truly rare. Hopefully, the new bed sheets I formed were comfortable enough for her. As for that red powder near the door, what an idiotic invention, it was nothing but the ground-up product of asher wood. Sure, it also keeps sound from leaving the room but only to a certain volume. Given how the servants haven't come in and changed the sheets by now they must not have been aware of Everetta's meltdown days before. Or my brother must have barred them from entering using his magic.
Something was definitely wrong with this castle and its servants. Not only have I seen no guards stationed outside her room- wait a minute no guards? Which meant Luna wouldn't even need to sneak past anyone to get in, but Everetta should have had her detection spell up unless she didn't remember the spell, because of a certain fae.
"Oh, brother what in the lords have your actions caused," I muttered into the quiet room as I trudged over to the new table coasting my hands over the flat wooden surface. Vials and bottles, glass beakers, powders, scales, petals, anything and everything I needed popped up before my eyes underneath the wave of my hands. I am so glad I have my magic back now but, before anything, I need to confirm my hypothesis.
Swiftly strolling over to the love of my life I gently lifted the pale, almost gaunt-like state of her arms and checked her pulse. To a normal person, it would feel normal. Even to a well-trained doctor, it may seem perfectly fine; however, if you look closely at the veins, there was a slight differentiation of blue and purple. The soft barely there pauses between beats that halted longer than normal.
Yes, I was correct. It's just as I feared.
It's violet blueberry poppy, this flower when ingested or injected into the system could have fatal side effects. It does wonders for adjusting moods and even, sometimes, appearances. The slight tint of purple in her veins was the only indication that the poppy was being used. I only know this because those in the spirit realm use this powder quite often to get high.
Now the pulse, off by a quarter of a second, the only thing that can affect the flow of one's blood would have to be dragon's tongue. Normally it was used to help slow down the pulse purely to avoid detection of any other drugs used but it shouldn't last for longer than an hour. It's often paired with another drug to help amplify the time like rosemary lime seeds, mermaid scales, or shadows brine, a concoction made to help hide or repress something, which is then often paired with violet blueberry poppy in poisons.
But what's odd is the gaunt look of her body. Everetta was fine a moment ago, perfectly healthy, glowing in fact, then as I carried her to her room she suddenly became like this. It could purely be due to magic, sometimes after releasing large amounts of magic a fae's body would seem gaunt; however, Everetta was no normal fae. Although she did release more magic than what she normally used.
Besides, if I was right, she had to have been using the same amount that she had used today for nearly five days or more, judging by her state. When I had walked in she was already looking pale and fragile. Not that Eli even noticed, lords, he can be so up in his own mind at times.
Judging by the sudden decline in shadows from when I first came to this court and now, I already knew she must have been the one to have killed them. No doubt using their life force to fuel her magic, which is why she didn’t have a lack of magic. But to beable to remember that complex spell she used, I wonder… does she have her memories back now?
I looked down at my bond on the bed. No, let's focus, for now, I need to find a cure or something that can halt the flow of poison rushing throughout her veins. The problem was, how long had the poison been in her system?
Something about this was strange.
As much as I would love to just use my magic and save her. I can't, if I am correct, doing so without the proper cure might spread the poison faster. As much as I am sure that Evie would have no trouble fighting this off herself I don't want to risk it.
This poison was no mere poison; a poison made by Luna wouldn't be as easy as a flip of the hand or snap of your fingers. Using magic never did work on Luna's poisons anyway.
I have a good idea of what Luna used to make the poison so all that's left is for me to make a cure, except.
"I do sincerely apologize for this unruly act, my love; however, what must be done must be done," I whispered to no one in particular as I waved my hands over her body. Removing the tattered clothes she wore, the black-stained suit of hers-what was she wearing?I smiled softly at her unusual sense of taste. She was always like this, with her mismatched pants and little shoes.What was she thinking?I shook my head as I cleared the pieces of cloth from her body; I refused to callthatwhatever she wore, clothing. I wrinkled my nose at the sight of the mud-stained pair of–what are those?Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes.
After examining her more-than-perfect body, I uncovered several effects of the poison on her body. It was practically tearing her apart from the inside out. This was quite a large dosage, something she should have been able to detect; however, because of the gizzard skin, it was left undetected and the poisonwas more effective. How interesting. Where in the world did Luna get gizzard skin for her poison?
Never mind that Everetta should have still easily detected that if she—right, that problem. Honestly, those two need to learn to trust one another, for lords sake; they were bloody soulmates for crying out loud, one half of the other, quite literally. Eli's soul was half of Everetta's. Then again, gizzard's skin has a layer of anti-magic to it, so the only way she would know is if her skin changed color due to the poppy; that is why the dragon's tongue was used, to help mask it in turn for a slight changing of the pulse. Quite a nice mix she used. She used the shadow brine to help amplify the poppies, but the skin and tongue, to keep the poison undetected. In addition, the skin would also help amplify all the other toxins since the brine is only for the poppy. By throwing all these ingredients in not only would it make it harder to create an antidote but also make the effects of the dosage worse.
But I just don’t understand why poppy. What could a shift in mood do, to make her hate Eli? But how could she—no, knowing those two it was bound to happen, by amplifying the mistrust and combining that with how volatile Everetta was already, her instability was bound to skyrocket. That and the other drugs, all combined and it would practically make an incurable virus. She also included a fast-paced drug, helping to spread the poison, which means the gaunt look must not be from her recovery after using so much magic, but just as I suspected her body was subconsciously fighting against the drug without her knowing.
Her conscious and subconscious, I knew from hopping into her dreams to talk with her when I finally could, were still at odds; her amnesia and all. So if that was still the case, and Luna knew that means…
Essentially, Everetta's body was fighting back with magic through her subconscious, knowing that Luna had poisonedher, while her conscious body was fighting back against her subconscious, thinking her body was trying to kill itself, not knowing why thanks to the gizzard's skin and dragon’s tongue, but because her subconscious and conscious were in conflict, that means the body was essentially damaging itself as she would be using the same amount of magic to fight back. Higher and higher, with one piece of the mind against the other. Like a tug of war. If one side fought, the other side would fight harder, and so the cycle would repeat. Each time pulling harder and harder, but in her case using more and more magic, which you would think would mean her body would be getting healthier but that wasn't true.
Yes, her body was taking more and more energy to use magic, it was also expelling that same amount of energy just as quickly and in more and more amounts. Thus, eventually, she would expel more than she could take in. That scene in the ballroom might have just skyrocketed the effects of the poisoning. She expelled a large amount not to fight the poison but something external, in this situation, doing so would only worsen her condition. Even if she was aROYAL; she could still fucking die.... again.
Fuck.
By stripping her of that thing she wore, I was able to spot the initial injection sight, her left wrist, both her ankles, and her lower stomach. Those areas had a slightly darker purple tint than the rest, which means when injecting I need to inject those sites first.
The issue is the combination of so many concoctions, though not impossible, but when compiled with drugs that would also counteract any drug I might put in too… That and if I do attack the virus, the subconscious would stop its fighting as the conscious side would continue to fight back essentially against her own body; not only could she get injured but also be placedinto a fatal state. I can't let that happen. So what drug do I use to counteract it?
No, not drug, drugs.
It'll be a risk but…
One I must brew something that helps her regain her memories. She might not like my help but I have to at this point. I've tried to be patient and help her out by giving her tiny hints in her mind, letting her think she regained them herself. Normally I would love to allow her to solve her own problems but in this case, I can't take the risk. I'll apologize to her later.
I'll have to inject the cure—but if her memories don't return then—shit, I'll have to see how far the poisons traveled, then see how much of the counter drug I need to inject. I looked across her body staring at the left wrist, ankles, and lower stomach, watching where the purple veins seemed to get dimmer, and more of the natural blue color Everetta’s veins were.