Page 68 of When Sorrows Come

“My chest hurts,” he said, pulling away and pressing two fingers to the base of his sternum. “Why does my chest hurt?”

“That’s the wail trying to break loose,” said Walther. “Don’t let it. Swallow it down. Kick a wall or punch yourself in the dick or whatever you have to do to keep it from getting away.”

“I’ll probably wail if I punch myself in the dick,” said Quentin dubiously.

“Yes, but it won’t be the same wail,” said Walther. “When a Banshee wails because they feel it, not because they’re hurting, people die. If you wail, there won’t be anything else I can do. It’ll curdle the alchemy and break Cassandra’s prophecy into shards.”

Quentin looked deeply alarmed, as did Maida. Fiac stayed in his corner, looking distraught but disinterested, like he couldn’t understand exactly why a Banshee wailing would be a bad thing.

Interesting. “So if he wails, the High King’s doomed to die?”

“Yes,” said Walther. “So whatever you do, swallow that urge. Don’t let your magic out. Don’t let it take form. Not right now. Not with everything that’s at stake.”

“Someone else could be dying right now,” said Fiac. “If the boy screams, who’s to say the death will fall on the High King?”

“This is an interesting debate, but it doesn’t seem like the most important thing we have to deal with at the moment,” I said, a little louder and a little more stridently than I needed to. “What the hellhappenedhere?”

“We were interviewing the staff,” said Maida, still clutching Aethlin’s hand like she thought she could be the reason he stayed in this world. It was impressive, given how hard she was clinging to Quentin at the same time. She wasn’t letting go of her family if she could possibly help it. “This is Aethlin’s private office. He conducts much of the household business here. We had a full complement of guards; we took all precautions...” She sounded less like she was trying to convince me, and more like she was trying to convince herself.

“Did something happen?” I asked, and immediately felt foolish. Clearly, something had happened. Clearly, the High King had been poisoned.

Thankfully, Maida didn’t seem to notice my gaff. She shook her head. “No,” she said plaintively. “Everything was normal. Aethlinwas speaking with Hiram, one of the palace historians. He’s been with our household since the Kingdom was founded. If someone was attempting to infiltrate the scribes, he would be the place to start. They’ve been friends a long time. Aethlin relaxed when he entered the room. He sat down, and leaned back in his chair, and his hands were resting on the desk, and...”

She started to sob, great, racking gasps that shook her entire body. I turned to Walther.

“Contact poison?” I asked wearily.

“Contact poison,” confirmed Walther. “The desk blotter. You shouldn’t touch anything in this room without asking me first. I’ve found three different poisoned surfaces. They’ve been expecting to be found out long enough to have been making preparations.”

“Makes sense, since their fake Nessa went down pretty publicly.” I moved still closer, staying slow, so as not to alarm Maida. She looked like she was as close to snapping as Aethlin was to dying, which was closer than I liked. Turning toward Fiac, I said, in a loud, clear voice, “I am October Christine Daye, Knight of Lost Words, here by invitation, and am not working for any hostile power or attempting to undermine the High King in any way. Although I may tell him he’s being an asshole when he’s being unreasonable, which he seems to be fairly frequently. For example, it would be really unreasonable of him to die right now, thanks.”

The High King’s mouth seemed to twitch for a moment, although it was difficult to tell, under the circumstances, whether he was trying to smile or grimacing in pain. Fuck. Since Fiac wasn’t attacking me, I moved closer to the High King, holding up my hands to make sure Maida saw I was unarmed. There were no guards in the room.

“Where’s the guard?” I asked.

“I asked them to leave,” said Walther. “I’m doing delicate work, and I didn’t need a bunch of jocks freaking out because their liege was trying to die. They were upsetting Cassandra. They were upsettingme. We’re safe enough in here, between her watching the air for changes and Fiac standing guard. More bodies in the room only complicates things.”

“He was fine. He wasfine, and then he wasn’t fine. It all happened sofast.” Maida sniffled, and I realized how close she really was to breaking into tears. “I didn’t want to send the guards away,but Fiac and your alchemist both said it was safer for us to be in a closed room where we knew everyone was safe and who they said they were, and their first responsibility is to the High King, not the High Queen. And I think the guards felt bad for not somehow detecting the poison before he could be exposed.”

“No one will attack him again while I still breathe,” said Fiac. “I should have been faster the first time. I will be faster if it happens again.” His lips set into a thin line. “I will bemuchfaster.”

I wouldn’t have wanted to be the next person to attempt to kill the High King. Fiac looked like he was about ready to break anyone who tried. “As soon as Aethlin fell, I gave him the blood you’d given me,” said Maida. “I thought it would make him better, but it didn’t make him better.”

“It did, however, stop him from getting any worse,” said Walther, eyes on his braziers and beakers as he added a pinch of this and a dash of that to one or the other. His valise was open, revealing a dizzying array of tiny bottles and jars, none bigger than a few ounces, most visibly at least partly full. “So kudos for that. You did no harm, and you may have saved yourself from a sedition charge. If this is where you want to suddenly remember the High King’s evil grand vizier who you just forgot to tell us about until now, that would begreat.”

“Why do we always jump to ‘vizier’ as the title for the evil member of the court?” asked Cassandra. She and Walther exchanged a look, said in unison, “Racism,” and went back to work.

“No... no one in my husband’s council would want to harm him. Most of them served here when they were younger, learning how governance is done, and then returned to serve again when they failed to inherit. He doesn’t elevate unfairly or put people into positions they aren’t suited for simply because of their titles.”

“Sounds more functional than the human government,” I said. “But clearly, someone holds a grudge, against both of you. We’re finding Doppelgangers all over your knowe, and this attack was an obvious attempt to incriminate you.”

Maida looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean when a Doppelganger attacked in full view of the court, they did it with a knife, while they were standing next to someone who’s pretty well known for preferring knives to just about any other kind of weapon,” I said.

“Because any other kind of weapon would keep the violence at a sensible distance, and we can’t be havingthat,” said Quentin.

I ignored him. “And when a Doppelganger attacked in a small room with a limited number of people, it used another knife, and went for a quick kill that could easily have been overlooked and would have left no time for even the fastest healer to work. And now, when the High King has been attacked in his private rooms, they used poison.”

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