She took off at a run.
“We’ve called for Lord Vega,” Captain Byrne said. “But—is there anything I can get for you, anything you need?” He swallowed hard. “Anything at all?” he whispered, as if hoping the gods were listening.
Ash shook his head, wishing there was something he could ask for, an antidote he knew would help.
Unbidden, Taliesin’s words came back to him, like a curse she’d laid on him long ago. The time will come when you will wish that you were a better healer.
He turned back to his mother, pressed his hands into her shoulders, sent up a prayer that he could last long enough to do some good, and called the poison to him.
It was like a body blow that brought tears to his eyes and formed a bitter film on his tongue. His head swam, and his skin prickled and crawled.
Again. Oddly familiar.
Taking a deep breath, he called the poison again. Black spots swam before his eyes, and it took everything he had to keep from fainting.
Scent is the seat of memory. He was drowning in memories—of that morning in the market, of his father saying, No. Wait for help. You’re not strong enough. Of the scent of death. His amulet buzzed against his chest, as if trying to get his attention.
He was startled when somebody touched his arm. Talbot was back with a cloth bag filled with the herb the pirates called tay. “Put a bit on the plate, next to the other, and wet it down,” Ash said.
Talbot complied. They looked virtually identical. Ash sniffed at them again. They both had the same fragrant, toasty scent.
“We’re still searching the quarters the Carthians occupied,” Byrne said. “We’ll bring you anything else we find.” He leaned closer. “Is it the same?”
Ash hesitated, then nodded. “It’s the same,” he said. “But it’s not what poisoned the queen.”
Byrne gazed at him, understanding kindling in his eyes. “Somebody’s trying to blame them, then. To distract us from the real poison.”
Ash nodded. Despair bubbled up inside him. Who knew there were so many poisons in the world—poisons that he’d never seen, never studied, didn’t know how to treat?
“Call Speaker Jemson,” he said, hoping the speaker could call on a higher power.
And then, like a miracle, his childhood friend, the healer Titus Gryphon, was there, looking across the bed at him. “How can I help?” he said simply.
After that, it was the two of them, trading off, supporting the queen’s breathing, her heartbeat, keeping her blood flowing, sharing the burden of the poison but not making much headway otherwise. Magret Gray helped, too, fetching and carrying, cooling her mistress’s brow, nursing the Gray Wolf queen as she had since Raisa was little.
Adrian couldn’t help worrying that he was just pushing the poison into every part of her body. Sweat rolled down his face and dripped onto the coverlet. He blotted at his forehead with his sleeve. His amulet grew warmer and warmer as the battle for his mother’s life continued.
Captain Byrne stood by, his hand on his Lady sword, his face pale and haggard. Standing guard as always. Micah Bayar lurked in the corner of the room, like a mourner waiting for a funeral to begin.
Others packed the doorway—Aunt Mellony, chewing her lower lip, fingering her pearls. Julianna beside her, face pinched with worry.
Then the human blockade parted and Harriman Vega swept in, with Finn a pale shadow on his heels. “Make way,” he said. “We are here to attend the queen.” He dropped his kit bag on the floor at the foot of the bed with a thump.
“Thank the Maker,” Mellony whispered, giving Julianna a reassuring squeeze.
Ash and Titus looked at each other across the queen’s bed, sharing a question silently between them. Ash could tell that Ty didn’t want to let go of their patient, either. Behind him, Magret muttered, “We’re doing as well as anyone can. We don’t need him.”
And, yet—he had to give way. Vega had years of experience in the healing halls that Ash couldn’t match. It would be wrong to refuse his help because he was a pompous ass. Ash had too much blood on his hands already. He didn’t want to preside over his mother’s death as well.
He nodded at Titus, took a deep breath, and let go of his mother.
Vega took hold of his amulet, bowed his head, and murmured a charm that sounded more like a prayer. He rested his hand on the queen’s forehead, murmuring another charm. She flinched under his hand, the first she’d moved since she collapsed. Her eyes flew open, staring into the wizard’s face. Then closed again.
Ash’s amulet seethed and burned, all but blistering the skin of his chest beneath.
Vega looked up and shook his head. “She’s gone,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
Captain Byrne appeared to fold, bringing his fist to his chest as if to prevent his heart from ripping free. Aunt Mellony began to cry in deep, heaving sobs.
Adrian reflexively wrapped his hands around his amulet and heard his father’s voice, as clear as the day he died. Ash. Take me to her. Take me to Raisa. There’s not much time.
Ash stared down at the amulet his father had put into his hands that day in Ragmarket. Then dropped to his knees beside his mother’s bed. She still lay cold and silent. He set the amulet on her breast and brought her hands up, doing his best to wrap her fingers around it. The amulet brightened under her touch, brightened so that it illuminated the entire room. Then he closed his hands over hers, to keep them in place. He could feel the heat of the flashcraft through her skin.
It was as if his mother was lit from within, her skin like time-darkened parchment with a candle behind it. And gradually, though it might have been a trick of the light, it seemed that the color was returning to her cheeks.
“Prince Adrian.” It was Vega’s voice behind him, a clamor in his ears. “I did everything I could. Please. You must let her go.”
“Go to hell,” Ash said.
The healer leaned in beside him, reaching for the serpent amulet. Flame exploded from under their fingers. Vega pitched himself backward, landing on his ass with a metallic clatter.
Familiar. But he couldn’t focus, with his head still clouded from the poison.
“Ash,” Finn said. “Please. Don’t blame Lord Vega. It’s not his fault. He was too late, is all.”
He’s always too late, Ash thought.
“Leave him be, Finn.” It was Bayar, of all people. He leaned down and whispered something in Finn’s ear, and Finn and Vega withdrew.
Help me, Ash. He could feel his father’s presence, his embrace.
Ash braced himself. Take whatever you need. Take whatever is left.
Power flowed from the amulet, a river of magic that joined the three of them together. The queen took a breath, released it, took another breath. Ash could see her eyes moving under the lids, as if she were dreaming. Her fingers tightened on the amulet, and she smiled. Ash pressed his fingers into her wrist, and her pulse thrummed strongly under the skin.
And, then, his father’s voice again. I sent her back to you. You are spent, and I need to go. Come see me in Aediion. You and your mother and sister have enemies at court. Enemies on the Council. Don’t give your trust easily.
And his father was gone.
Eventually, he felt Ty’s presence beside him. “Can I help?”
“Yes,” Ash said softly, without taking his eyes off his mother. “Get everyone out of the room except for you, Magret, Jemson, Talbot, and Byrne. Now.”
Ty nodded and slipped away. Dimly, Ash heard people protesting, demanding answers as they were ushered from the room.
“But . . . can’t we help?” Julianna said. “Isn’t there anything I can do for Aunt Raisa? If we can figure out what kind of poison was used, perhaps my eyes and ears—”
“At least let me sit vigil with my sister’s body,” Aunt Mellony argued.