Page 90 of A Court Bright and Broken

He nodded. “Thank you. What’s worse is… I can hardly believe I’m saying it… she might have been an assassin. I only met her last night, and there were vials of poison found on the palace grounds.”

I didn’t have to feign horror at that announcement. I felt it down to my marrow. Though the evening bag I’d carried had vanished, apparently the poison it contained had not.

And now Stellon knew about it.

“How frightening,” I said.

“It is,” he acknowledged, then he opened the washroom door and set me down inside. “I’ll wait outside the door to help you back to bed—or to the settee.”

I didn’t intend to make use of either. There was no more time for resting and reclining.

But I was grateful to have a few moments to compose myself before I had to face Stellon again. This conversation wasbeyondunnerving.

Whatever had changed about my exit plan, I still had to get out of here. As I washed my face in the basin, I spoke to my reflection in the mirror.

“Youwillget out of here.”

When I emerged from the washroom, Stellon was waiting, as promised.

“How do you think an assassin could have made their way into the palace with poison?” I asked, as if I’d been considering it the past few minutes.

I needed to find out how much he and the others already knew. It was possible Sorcha wasn’t the greatest threat to my life within these walls.

Stellon stepped forward and once again swept my feet out from under me, effortlessly carrying me back into his bedroom.

“We’re not sure,” he said. “Apparently Lady Wyn had an invitation she claimed was from me, but that would have been a lie. I gave out no personal invitations—apart from the one I gave you, of course.”

My heart stopped for a moment, but Stellon went on, not noticing my involuntary flinch. He deposited me on one of the sofas—thesettees, as he called them in his posh accent.

“Clearly, it was a forgery,” he said. “Shecouldhave a particular glamour that would allow her to make people see whatever she wanted them to see momentarily. Transfiguration glamour would have fooled the butler at the ballroom door into believing he was looking at an invitation bearing my mark when it might have been nothing but a blank piece of parchment.”

“That must be what happened,” I said quickly.

“Perhaps.”

He didn’t appear fully convinced.

“I still think there’s a chance she was kidnapped, that there might be some other culprit guilty of both offenses. I can’t believe Lady Wyn was the fiend everyone’s suggesting she was. We’ll find out. We’re investigating.”

Now I was even more eager to leave. I had no interest in sticking around for an investigation intome.

“In light of all this, I understand why you’re too busy to arrange a carriage for me.”

I was about to tell him I’d find my own way home, when he said, “Busyness is not the issue.”

“Oh. What is?”

“It’s no longer safe for you. You’re a human—one who hasn’t been…”

He hesitated, seeming to search for the right word.

“...vetted and approved to be in the palace. That’s my fault, of course,” he said. “I had no idea a crime would be committed on the night of the ball. Or more than one, as the case may be. You’re a stranger in the wrong place at the worst possible time. My father’s soldiers are combing the palace and grounds for evidence and suspects. We don’t want them to findyouinstead.”

“Oh.” My shoulders sank along with my heart.

“You can’t just tell them you invited me?”

“It wouldn’t matter,” he said grimly. “You’d still be a suspect. Almost everyone is at this point. And when it comes to humans, Elves tend to shoot first and ask questions later, so to speak. You were here last night—and when you were taken into custody, you weren’t wearing clothing suitable for a ball.”

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