Nessa remained seated on the floor. Devin finally took his eyes away from the poison long enough to see that she had not moved. He came back and sat beside her, her well-being outweighing his curiosity.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked as he tenderly took her hand in his.
Nessa felt fine, and Devin felt it, too, through the bond, but she still couldn’t move yet. Someone had tried to kill her with poison, and almost succeeded. What if Devin had not come back that soon? What if there was no Devin, or he didn’t have super sidhe powers? Would she be dead now? Nessa never pictured her life ending that easily. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she could have been poisoned. Who would stoop to that level? It wasn’t common to kill sidhe with poison. Assassins would use poison as a backup, like a blade covered in it, but it was never used alone. That wasn’t the way of the sidhe. It was strange and unheard of in all of Nessa’s time living here. She was trained as a warrior, and always thought the end would come fighting, not lying paralyzed due to poison. Reality hit hard, and she couldn’t move from her spot.
Anger and concern pulsed through the bond. Devin was a mixture of emotion over the situation, and the sight of her not back to complete health seemed to make him even angrier. Nessa could feel his power pulsating from him, but she couldn’t even speak to tell him to calm down. She still couldn’t completely grasp what he had just told her. Someone had poisoned her.
Devin stood back up, and walked a circle around the room to calm himself before squatting down to pick her up in his arms. He carried her through the sitting room and into the bedroom. Gently, he laid her on the sheets and grabbed a blanket at the end of the bed to cover her. Nessa was still too shocked by the events. He stroked the side of her face while gazing into her eyes. Nessa could feel him in her mind, looking for what was wrong. She didn’t have the willpower to hide it from him.
Suddenly, the world around Nessa had just become a bit more real. Before, it had been easy to ignore everything going on. She was always hidden away from the sidhe world due to her own solitary ways, or her brother keeping her out of it. She had heard of things, she had even seen the dead from all of the fighting that went on between the clans, but she’d never felt she was part of it. Even after returning home, Devin kept her completely safe and isolated from the truth. In that moment, she realized that she was no longer isolated. In fact, she was going to be king of the hill in a few days, and everyone would be trying to knock her down.
“I’m sorry,” Devin told her, lying down beside her and taking her into his arms. He had seen enough to know what bothered her. “I should have been here. I won’t make the same mistake again. I promise you that you are safe. I’ll make sure of that.”
Nessa shook her head no. That was the problem. Even if Devin had been there, nothing would have happened differently. He could save her from invisible assassins, but there was no way he could save her from poison every time. Yet Devin was sure that he could. Nessa wanted to believe that it wasn’t just words, but it was too hard to wrap her mind around what had happened.
Nessa gently rested her face against his chest. She felt safe in his arms, yet her world had been shattered. Was she ever going to be safe? Was it even possible to keep her safe? Devin had promised her, but there was only so much that he could do. Nessa didn’t want to think anymore, so she let the sleep that was edging at her consciousness take her. Blackness was a comfort compared to what her world had just become.
Devin slipped his arm out from beneath Nessa once he was sure she was asleep again. She might have felt better from the poison getting out of her system and regaining much of her strength, but she was still tired. Devin looked to the assassins standing just outside of the doorway. They could protect her physically, but what could they do against poison? The palace wasn’t safe as far as Devin was concerned. He had to figure out where the poison came from and if he could stop it. He needed to right Nessa’s world. Devin wanted her to feel safe, and he needed the sidhe to stop playing games. Standing by and letting them harm her again wasn’t an option. She hadn’t done a single thing to deserve the hate she was receiving from them.
“No one comes in or out of here until I get back,” he ordered the assassins. All four nodded. Nessa would be safe if she stayed right where she was, and no one was allowed to get close to her with poison again.
Devin left Nessa’s rooms and went straight to the kitchen. He had no doubts from her descriptions of pain that the food was poisoned. Most of the poison he found in her was concentrated around her stomach anyways. He didn’t even pay attention to the shocked sidhe that scampered away from him as soon as they saw him. He needed to find the source of the poison, and possibly the culprit if he were lucky. This had to end. The elite sidhe feared him, so he didn’t understand why this was happening. Who was that arrogant that they would go against him? Was that why they turned to poison? Would it be hard to find the person?
Pushing open the large wooden door, Devin stepped into the steaming kitchen. Food preparation was constantly going on all day for the palace. Cooks ran from place to place as some chopped, stirred, and even cleaned vegetables. No one noticed when he entered since they each all at their jobs diligently.
“Who is in charge?” Devin asked the closest person.
The young girl’s eyes went wide at the sight of him, and she mouthed a reply that had no sound behind it. Her finger pointed to a portly woman who was beating bread dough into submission. Devin walked over but didn’t say anything as the lady worked. As she finished with the loaf she was working on, he glanced around the room. However, he couldn’t feel a trace of the poison anywhere in the kitchen.
The cook finally looked up and jumped a little at the sight of him. Quickly, she curtsied to cover up her astonishment, and waited for him to speak.
“Were you the one to prepare the morning meals?” Devin asked.
“I supervise all meal preparations,” she replied proudly, but with a hint of fear. Devin couldn’t decipher if the fear was from him, or something she had done.
“Were there any new people in the kitchen today?” Devin asked. The cook wouldn’t be prideful if she were the one that had done it.
“No, just my regulars,” she replied. She answered as quick and short as she could. Her eyes darted around the room as Devin watched her. She was still afraid of him, but she was dedicated to her job.
“Can you get everyone that was working this morning to line up here?” he asked, pointing next to him. It was going to make meal preparations halt, but Devin didn’t care. He needed to find the poison and poisoner.
The cook nodded and began calling to several of the people working around the large kitchen. They all moved promptly at her voice and formed a line in front of him. The cook didn’t even question Devin. She gave orders, and seemed to follow them just as dedicatedly. Devin looked from scared face to scared face.
“Do you know who I am?” Devin asked, and all gathered quickly nodded their heads. “And you know that I can tell if you are lying?” The heads rattled again. The former king was legendary. Even the young women before him who had never met the king knew what his powers were like. Everyone knew that Devin now had those powers. He wasn’t completely sure how to turn on and off the lie detecting abilities, but everyone feared him, so he was fairly certain they would tell him the truth even if it didn’t work.
“Can I ask what the problem is, sir?” the cook asked as her workers all trembled in fear. She was braver than the rest for sure.
“The future queen was poisoned this morning. It was in her food,” Devin replied curtly. “Food that was made here, in the kitchen.”
Gasps around the room were heard as everyone stopped working to watch the commotion Devin was causing. It wasn’t just the line of women before him that heard his declaration. He didn’t like being a show, but he needed answers. The kitchen was now quiet—except for the sizzle of cooking food—so it was going to be easier to speak to them.
“Is she alive?” the youn
g girl, who couldn’t speak at the sight of him before, asked from behind Devin. He was happy to find that at least one person was concerned for Nessa.
“Yes, she is,” Devin replied, and looked over the line of women standing before him. All were shaking in their boots, but that was the same as before he had announced what he knew. Nothing had changed.
Devin moved in front of the first girl. “Did you poison the food?” he asked.
She stared at the floor and shook her head vehemently. No. Devin pushed her face up to view her eyes.
“I need a verbal reply,” he told her. He knew enough about the power to realize that he needed them to speak. It had something to do with the tone of their voice that gave all lies away.
“No,” she squeaked out. Devin could see that she was telling the truth.
Devin moved down the line to each of the girls. They were all innocent. As he stopped in front of the cook, he looked to her. She was the last one left to ask. He doubted she was involved, but he sensed that everyone else was innocent. Who else was left?
“Don’t even think of asking me,” the cook replied. “I have been working here my whole life. Keeping the nobles fed and happy has been a lifelong goal. I’d never hurt a single one, and certainly not Miss Nessa. She’s the kindest of the bunch,” the cook replied. She was truthful, too. Another sidhe that was on Nessa’s side was reassuring, but that still didn’t answer his plight. Who could it be? Devin was sure that it had been in the food. Was he wrong?
Devin nodded and moved to walk away to inspect the room. He looked around, but kept watch on the line of cooks. It didn’t add up. When the cook reached up and wiped her forehead with a rag that hung from her waist, it hit Devin. He could feel the poison now that he’d removed it from Nessa, and he’d just felt the warm tug of the poison on the rag. Quickly, he stopped the cook from moving the rag closer to her face. He was near enough, and fast enough, that the rag didn’t make it to the skin. His sudden movement startled the cook.
“Everyone turn their hands over,” he said, looking around the room. He realized he was right. He could feel the poison everywhere. Minute pieces of it were on almost every person. The room was filled with the poison. They were lucky no one had died there yet. “No one move,” Devin ordered the shocked women. They obeyed him.
He closed his eyes and concentrated. The warmth of his hands expanded in the already hot space. He needed to get the poison out of the kitchen, or more people would die from it. He searched for the poison and drew it from all of the corners of the room. It pulled to him, and it solidified a mass in his hands. He had no clue how he did it, but it was happening. He kept the liquid ball suspended above his hands as he finished cleaning the room. All of the poison was with him now. Carefully keeping it suspended, he turned back to the cooks in the room.
“The poison was in here, and most of you have touched it. I believe none of you had anything to do with it, but from now on, Cook, don’t let anyone in the kitchen that isn’t here right now,” Devin ordered. She nodded, still shocked by the poison hovering above Devin’s hand. She was close to having ingested it herself. When her shock wore off, she hurried over to a cupboard and got Devin a vial with a lid to put the poison inside of. Step one of finding the poison was successful, but he was nowhere near close to finding out who had done it. He could call the usual suspects, but each family wanted Nessa dead now. He’d have more than enough people to search through and he needed to narrow it down, but was unsure of how to do it.
‘Devin, Bray O’Ryan is dead,’ Nessa told Devin urgently through their bond.
The sidhe were back to killing each other. Now Devin was unsure if Bray had been the target or Nessa, but it didn’t matter. Devin had told them no assassins, but he wasn’t clear enough. He should have said no assassinations. Nessa McKinny didn’t seem to be the only target of this poison, and the sidhe were back to their old ways. Devin needed to be sure they understood what he had meant.
CHAPTER 3
Nessa stood over the dead body of the man that had accused her of premeditated murder only a day ago. Bray O’Ryan thought he could get Nessa dethroned before she could actually take it, but that had ended when they returned from the crypt with her grandfather’s powers. In reality it wasn’t Bray that had accused her, but rather his likeness. His grandson, disguised as him, was running the farce of a trial. It was still eerie to look at the man dead, even if she hadn’t really known him well.
“You can’t come in here. This is the O’Ryan wing, and neither of you are welcome here. We don’t like traitors who kill their king,” Owen O’Ryan, Bray’s grandson, stated. He was still set against Nessa, even though there was no way to keep her off the throne now. “Besides, you probably did this to him. This is a girl’s way of killing—poison. You’re the only girl I know that would have a grudge against us.”
Devin glared at the younger man. He was testing Devin’s patience, and Nessa didn’t know how much Devin would take before he did something. Owen had caused them enough grief already. It wasn’t like they wanted to be there. Neither Devin nor Nessa really wanted to see Bray after what he and his grandson had put Nessa through. If they didn’t need more answers about the poison and poisoner, they probably would have avoided seeing the old man.
“Nessa was poisoned this morning as well. I doubt she’d poison herself, too, if it were her,” Devin replied, stooping down to take a closer look at the old man. He was still warm, and there was nothing that one could see as physically wrong with him. Devin was being good about keeping his anger at Owen inside himself, but Nessa could feel it right beneath the surface.
“If it wasn’t her, then it must have been the Miller family. We killed one of the nephews of the lead Miller a month ago. Without assassins he must have sent one of the women. This is how they retaliate,” Owen replied, who was obviously still caught up on blaming women because it was a poison. Nessa would have much rather put a blade through his neck. Did that not make her a girl?
Two men dressed all in white entered the room. They looked to Owen, and then to Devin, before they examined the old man. Nessa moved out of the way, as they were the collectors that came to take dead bodies.
‘They’re here for the dead man,’ Nessa explained to Devin quickly since he didn’t move. Nessa was beginning to forget that there was so much of the sidhe village that Devin still didn’t know.
“We need to prepare the body for interment,” one of the men stated quietly, explaining what Nessa had already told him through the bond.
Devin nodded and stood up. When the white-robed men began to wash the dead man, Devin walked a few steps away, and Nessa stayed right at his side. The air in the room was charged. Owen was upset about his grandfather, and he didn’t seem to believe Devin that Nessa wasn’t involved. Owen had already proven unpredictable, and Nessa wasn’t sure Devin would let him live if he refused to cooperate. It was best for her to keep close to Devin at that point.
“What exactly happened?” Devin asked Owen, being direct and to the point.
Owen looked startled by the question, but did reply. “I went and got food this morning. I brought it up, but grandfather had said he was hungry, too. I gave him my tray and went back for more. When I returned, I found him lying right there. He was still alive at that point, but he couldn’t move and told me he wanted to sleep.”
“And you didn’t call for anyone?” Devin asked, a bit suspicious, but Owen didn’t seem to catch what Devin was really insinuating.
“We take care of our own families. I know a few things, and I figured it was something I could handle,” Owen replied, his hubris showing through.
Devin nodded and watched the men preparing the body. Nessa looked to the men, also. She had seen the ritual several times before, so it was nothing new to her, but she was trying to see what Devin was searching for. The collectors were from each family, and these were the O’Ryan collectors. They were basically the same, but none of the families shared or interacted with them. Nessa knew par
t of the reason Owen was upset that Devin and she were there was that he didn’t want her to see how they handled the body. They would prepare the body to be put into the crypt. In general, after they bathed the body they would cast spells on it to preserve it for one year. Those spells were sacred and unique to each family. Nessa didn’t care about the spells. She cared about the poison and wondered what Devin was analyzing.
“What were his symptoms?” Devin asked, pulling his eyes from the men handling the body.
“He complained that he was cold, and it was quickly done. When it happened like that, I knew I couldn’t help him and stood to call for my father. Before I could even find someone else, he was dead,” Owen explained. Nessa shivered. She might not have had much more time if Devin hadn’t been there. “It was that quick.”
Devin nodded, again analyzing the body. Nessa was constantly amazed by how much Devin understood and could get from just small conversations. She was thankful that he was around. He would make her life easier and maybe, just maybe, the sidhe needed someone like him. They might not agree, but Nessa could see it. Devin was unique, and the sidhe had a lot to learn.
“Is that the food he was eating?” Devin asked. Nessa had noticed the half-eaten food, too.
“No, that’s mine. I don’t know where my grandfather’s food went,” Owen replied, a little shocked as he glanced around the room as well. How could a tray of food disappear?
‘What does that mean?’ Nessa asked Devin, who began to look around the spacious sitting room. He wasn’t as baffled by the news as she was.
‘Someone knew we would look at the food. I went to the kitchen earlier. I didn’t find any food contaminated there either,’ Devin replied. ‘Someone is very good at covering their tracks.’