“I had the distinct pleasure of attempting to discern the contents of the queen’s stomach, once she’d expelled them. What became abundantly clear was that she had recently ingested some form of wild mushroom. I learned from the cook who prepared her morning repast that the queen had recently discovered them and requested that they be served in her eggs this morning.”
“Poisonous mushrooms?”
“Would be my best guess, yes.”
“It would account for her hallucinations? Her irrational behavior? Her . . . heart attack?”
“As far as I can tell, considering the appalling lack of equipment, it wasn’t a heart attack per se, just pure and unadulterated poisoning. You saved her life giving her CPR and keeping her alive long enough to let me help, Izzy.”
Isabel smiled. “CPR. Which you taught me a long time ago.”
“Who knew you were such a good student? I thought you were just amusing me when you agreed to be my test dummy.”
“How did you get her to vomit?”
Tom grimaced. “The old-fashioned way. The super-model special.”
“Two fingers down her throat?”
“Exactly. She wasn’t exactly happy about it. Almost bit my fingers off. But if not for you, Izzy, she would not be here.”
ARTHUR could not believe the jealousy that had turned his stomach over as he stood in the doorway and witnessed Isabel’s familiarity with the tooth doctor. He should be worrying about his wife. He should be considering the idea of a possible murderer wishing harm to Gwen or any at Camelot. But his mind only saw the touching between Isabel and another man. He strode into the room, attempting to keep his need to rid the tooth doctor of all of his own teeth under control.
“And I bore witness to it all,” he said.
They both turned.
“Arthur!” Isabel said.
“King Arthur,” toothful Tom said, offering something of a clumsy bow. There must not be much formality in Dumont, because all seemed out of practice.
“I bore witness to many things today,” he added. “And I know no way of repayment that will be good enough to express my gratitude.”
Tom and Isabel glanced at each other, grinned, then said at the same time, “Hey, it’s what we do.”
They both chuckled as Arthur frowned in confusion.
Isabel smiled, then took Tom’s arm in hers and bumped against him playfully. “We have been friends for many, many years, since we were both in school back in Ok—”
“Dumont,” Tom interrupted.
“Yes, Dumont.”
Arthur stared at their hooked arms, and Isabel detached and stepped slightly aside.
The king looked down at Gwen. “Will she recover?”
“Fully. She needs bed rest, plenty of water in small amounts. If she feels an insatiable need to keep drinking, she needs to be stopped. Small quantities in everything. She needs to be reintroduced to food gradually. Chicken or beef broth at first, maybe rice or bread pudding. Nothing greasy or heavy for quite some time. But give her a few days and she should be good as new.”
“I must needs relay all of this information to her servant, Jenny.”
“Already done,” Tom said. “I gave her the drill. I then sent her to rest because she herself was quite shaken. But she will be here to relieve me shortly.”
“So the mushrooms were the poisonous substance, as you suspected?” Arthur asked.
“I am nearly positive that must have been it. Nothing else in her routine had changed, according to Jenny.”
“And Gwen brought these mushrooms to the cook herself?”
“She did. There was nothing nefarious here, King Arthur. It was just a horrible accident.”
“I wonder where she came upon these mushrooms? I have seen nothing like this on the property or in the gardens. Then again, I suppose I do not monitor such details as I should.”
“She found them at the farthest cottage at the southeast end of the grounds,” Tom said. “At least, that’s what she told me in between . . . expelling some.”
Arthur’s eyes first rounded, then narrowed. “I know the cottage of which you speak.”
“Then I suggest you get your gardeners out there to pull and dispose of them as soon as possible. Before someone else sees them as potential delicacies and not the deadly poisons they might be.”
Arthur nodded, then glanced down again at his wife. He should have felt a need to stroke her pale face, to pull a chair to her bedside and sit vigilance.
“If you would like us to leave the two of you alone, Arthur,” Isabel said, “we will be happy to give you privacy.”
“No need,” Arthur said, as he stared at his wife. “She appears to be in much better care than I am capable of providing.” He took Tom’s hand and shook it. “My eternal gratitude.”
Isabel was a bit shocked. She had not witnessed handshakes in the normal form since she’d been here. She’d assumed such a practice had not been invented yet. Just ring kissing and groveling and manly grunts of approval between the men.
“I cannot begin to repay you. Either of you. For saving her, I mean.”
“No need, sir,” Tom said. “It’s—”
“—what you do,” Arthur finished, a slight smile tipping up his lips. “I am very grateful that you are here to have done it.”
“You’re welcome.”
“May I escort you out, Countess?” Arthur asked.
“You may,” Tom said before Isabel could reply. “And don’t forget, Izzy, we still have that bet.”
“I know this is an unseemly request,” Arthur said as they walked the never-ending steps down to the great hall, “but would you agree to walk with me to the cottage where I believe Gwen found her mushrooms?”
“The scene of the crime?” Isabel teased. Then seeing Arthur’s confusion, she sighed. “Yes, I will be happy to help you find the poisons.”
They strolled down winding mulch paths, the vegetation becoming much more dense the farther they walked. The quick flash of the earlier thunderstorm had passed, and the sun was shining once again.
Both were silent for a while before Arthur finally said, “I assume you consider me a bastard for not sitting by Gwen’s side.”
“It’s not my place to judge, Arthur.”
“Yet you have opinions on all things, Isabel, you must have one on this.”
She stopped and faced him. “You truly want my opinion? No matter what?”
He actually grinned. “Yes, Countess, I really do.”
“Great, then gird it up, tough man. Here’s what comes to mind, just off the top of my head.”
“I am girded.”
“I believe we are heading to the cottage where Lance and Gwen meet. I think after their last meeting she found the mushrooms. I believe you are not sitting by her side right now because you refuse to be a hypocrite. You have made certain that she is in no danger of dying, and you have those around her making certain she is well taken care of.”
“So far, you are correct.”
“Don’t stop me, I’m on a roll.”
He continued to grin, and damn, she loved that grin. But he kept silent.
“You asked me here to not just help you, but because you wanted us to be alone in a beautiful, isolated spot. You wanted to tell me things you could not say inside the castle. In short, Arthur, you wanted to get me alone.”
