“I didn’t realize we could be poisoned through our skin,” Margosha said as she peered into one of the bowls. “So you’re hoping some of the poison will seep into the water?”
“If the poison is there, yes. Then we can test the water and return the items where they belong.”
Margosha nodded. “If she notices any of the wet items, I’ll just tell her I had them washed. She’ll never know what we’ve done.”
“Was Her Majesty angry when she found out that we’d returned Eviana?”
“Actually, she took it very well. But then she’s surprisingly lucid today. Every now and then, she seems almost normal, and we get our hopes up.” Margosha heaved a sigh. “But it doesn’t last.”
“I’m sorry.” Gwennore wandered about the room, checking on each of the bowls. “I can’t imagine the pain of losing five children.”
Margosha sat at the dressing table, her shoulders slumped. “It’s taken a great toll on the queen. The king, too.”
“I heard that women all over the country are having trouble conceiving.”
Margosha winced. “That is true, but it’s considered a state secret. Silas and the king believe it would be disastrous for other countries to know that our population is dwindling. It has gotten so bad that Silas has allowed women to become soldiers in order to make it look like we have a full army. He worries that other countries will attack if they realize we’re vulnerable.”
“I don’t think he needs to worry about Eberon or Tourin. They both want peace.”
“Yes, but that’s a new development because they have new kings.” Margosha wrinkled her nose. “The former kings were so nasty, they would have attacked. And there’s still the problem with Woodwyn. Silas has been trying to convince his brother that we should make peace with the elves. We can’t afford to lose any more of our people in battle.”
“Why is Norveshka at war with Woodwyn?”
Margosha shrugged. “Who knows? Every now and then, the elves attack one of our villages. We don’t know why, but we have to defend ourselves.”
“Mayhap—I mean, perhaps—you should send an envoy to Woodwyn to discover the motivation behind their attacks.”
Margosha nodded. “Silas’s father tried that about twenty years ago. He sent an envoy, Dimitri’s uncle, but Lord Tolenko never returned. We can only assume the elves murdered him.”
Gwennore winced.
“Has enough time passed?” Margosha motioned to the nearest bowl. “We can’t be caught doing this.”
“I’ll start testing.” Gwennore dipped a silver spoon into the first bowl. No reaction.
“What are you looking for?”
“The most commonly used poison reacts to silver by turning it black,” Gwennore explained as she wiped the spoon dry. She went about the room, dipping the spoon into each bowl. No reaction.
“So the queen’s not being poisoned through her belongings?” Margosha asked.
“We can’t be sure yet.” Gwennore removed the nightgown sleeve from the water and wrung it dry. “This only means that the guilty party is not using poison derived from the seeds of the darca flower. It’s the most common poison, since darcas can be found in almost every garden on Aerthlan.”
Margosha nodded. “There are some here in the castle garden.”
“I’ll go through the garden tomorrow to check for other plants that can be used to make poison.” Gwennore poured the water from the bowl into a small glass vial, then rammed a cork in it.
“I was wondering why you wanted all those vials.” Margosha motioned to the sack she’d brought into the room, along with all the bowls and a pitcher of water.
“Thank you for bringing all the items I requested.” Gwennore wrote WHITE LINEN NIGHTGOWN on a label and tied it to the vial.
“I’m happy to help.” Margosha watched as she moved on to the next bowl. “So you plan to keep a sample of water from each bowl?”
“Yes. So I can test for other kinds of poison.” Gwennore removed a ring from a bowl and dried it. “Could you put this back?”
“Of course.” Margosha helped her, and soon all the clothing and jewelry items were back where they belonged and they had thirty labeled vials of water.
They were drying the bowls and stacking them in a sack when a knock sounded on the door, startling them.
They whirled toward the door just as Silas peered inside.
“Oh, Holy Light.” Margosha pressed a hand to her chest. “You scared the life out of me.”
“Her Majesty is on her way here,” Silas whispered. “You need to leave now.”
“We’re almost done.” Gwennore quickly dropped another bowl into the sack.
“I said now,” Silas ground out.
“You go.” Margosha motioned for her to leave. “I’ll finish up here and sneak everything out.”
“Are you sure?” Gwennore gasped when Silas grabbed her arm and hauled her toward the door.
“It’s part of my job to keep the queen’s dressing room in order,” Margosha quickly explained. “Hurry now!”
“We’ll create a distraction,” Silas said as he pulled Gwennore through the doorway, then shut the door.
“I don’t like the way she keeps endangering herself,” Gwennore whispered.
“Then help me distract the queen.” He led her a short distance down the hallway, then stopped close to a doorway. “This is the queen’s bedchamber. She’ll be sure to see us here.”
Gwennore tugged her arm free from his grip. “What are you planning?”
He turned his head toward the end of the hallway. “She’ll be coming up the stairs soon with her ladies.”
Gwennore shut her eyes, focusing on her extra-powerful sense of hearing. “They’re on the stairs now.”
“Your hearing is that good?”
She opened her eyes to find him peering curiously at one of her ears. “Stop that.” She stepped back against the wall and covered her ears before he could see them turning red from embarrassment.
“Why are you hiding them? I think they’re cute.”
She gave him a
