Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards #2)(74)

Dahlia and Helene engaged in the usual polite chitchat, asking me about Seven Spire, the weather, and other harmless, inane things. This was a game I had played many times before, and I slowly relaxed, although I only answered their specific questions and didn’t volunteer any extra information in return. But the meal passed pleasantly enough, and the servants eventually cleared the food off the table and left the chambers.

Once they were gone, Dahlia smiled. “Now, we can speak a bit more freely.”

Helene leaned forward. “Yes, I want to know everything that happened last night. Of course I saw you and Dominic in the library, but to think that assassins would be so bold as to attack the two of you in there.” She shuddered, as if she simply couldn’t imagine such a thing.

“Yes, it was quite unexpected,” I said in a neutral voice. “As was the weather magier’s death later on in her cell.”

I still had no idea who had poisoned the magier, but this seemed like as good a place as any to start fishing for information.

Helene nodded. “Sullivan asked me to examine her body. Whatever poison she took was almost immediately lethal.”

I frowned. Helene hadn’t come into the dungeon while I’d been there. “Why would Sullivan ask you to examine the magier’s body?”

“Helene is a plant master,” Dahlia explained. “So she knows all about plants, along with the poisons you can make with them.”

The younger woman gave a not-so-modest shrug. “The Blumes are rather famous plant masters in Andvari. We have several large farms in the countryside where we grow fruits and vegetables, but we’re most well-known for our gardens here in the city. We use the plants and flowers to make face creams, perfumes, and the like, all of which we infuse with beauty glamours and other magics. My father passed away several months ago, so I run the family business now.”

Dahlia reached over and patted her hand. “Helene also helps to maintain the Edelstein Gardens. You should see her greenhouse workshop. It’s almost as lovely as the gardens.”

A pleased blush flooded Helene’s cheeks, and she smiled at Dahlia.

So not only was Helene Blume stunningly beautiful, but she was also extremely smart and wealthy and a powerful plant master. No wonder Sullivan had loved her. Even I was impressed with her, despite myself.

But I pushed my jealousy aside and kept fishing for information. “So what did you find when you examined the magier’s body? Wormroot poison?”

I knew that it hadn’t been wormroot, but I wanted to see what Helene would say about the poison.

Helene drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “No, it wasn’t wormroot. I’m not quite sure what it was. I’ve never encountered it before, but the Mortans are known for finding clever ways to kill their enemies.”

Yes, they were, and Maeven was probably more motivated than most, especially since I’d now survived three of her assassination attempts. The Mortan king couldn’t be happy with her continued failures to eliminate me.

“I’m going to look through some of my father’s journals in my workshop and see if I can find anything useful,” Helene finished, then took a dainty sip of her tea.

“Is there any way to tell if the magier took the poison herself?” I asked.

Helene blinked in surprise, while Dahlia’s hands curled around her teacup.

“Well, no, not really,” Helene admitted. “But legend has it that Mortan assassins are under strict orders to kill themselves rather than be captured and questioned. Rhea and the guards didn’t find anything on the weather magier when they searched her, but the magier could have had that poison hidden away in a hollow button or tooth or something like that. You know how sneaky the Mortans can be.”

Dahlia murmured her agreement, then poured herself and Helene some more tea, as if closing the mater.

Frustration filled me, but I let them change the subject. I didn’t think that the magier had killed herself. Otherwise, she would have done it in the library the second she realized that she wasn’t going to escape, not waited until after she’d been taken to the dungeon.

And once again, I couldn’t help but wonder who at Glitnir was working with the Mortans and why that person wanted me dead. What did anyone here have to gain from my demise? Despite all the vicious, cutthroat games I’d seen the nobles play at Seven Spire, I couldn’t figure out the answer to my question. Or maybe Maeven and her accomplice were simply that much smarter than me. Either way, I wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence, especially when it came to my chances of making it back to Bellona alive.

So I sat there and silently stewed while Dahlia and Helene chatted about other things, including some noblewoman who was getting married.

Helene gave me a sly look. “Perhaps that’s not the only wedding we’ll have to attend.”

She was obviously talking about Heinrich’s insistence that I wed Dominic. I took another sip of my juice to hide my grimace and give myself a few more seconds to think of a clever reply.

“Oh, I doubt that,” I drawled. “Dominic will probably never want to be in the same room with me again, given what happened in the library. Being around me is probably quite a bit more hazardous to his health than he would like.”

Dahlia and Helene tittered politely at my joke. Helene opened her mouth, probably to ask some more pointed questions about Dominic, but I looked at Dahlia.