A Princess in Theory (Reluctant Royals #1)(97)

Ledi looked at Thabiso and her face warmed. “Um, I didn’t do very much . . .”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Thabiso murmured.

“Oh my god, you two.” Portia rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone and started typing.

Thabiso cleared his throat. “We went to her uncle’s house, and she slept because she was exhausted. We got trapped by a snowstorm and spent the night in a cave. But, um, if this virus is transmissible, it doesn’t seem to be through bodily fluids.”

Thabiso looked awkwardly defiant but Dr. Bata simply grinned as she took notes.

“Well, what’s different about you from the other patients?” Portia asked. “Are there any specific infection factors that you can think of?”

“Aren’t you an artist?” Thabiso asked, face scrunched in confusion.

“I contain multitudes, Your Highness” Portia said in a sweet tone that wasn’t sweet at all. “You should know a thing or two about that, Jamal.”

She cringed and glanced at Ledi. “Sorry.”

“None of the other patients are foreigners, are they?” Ledi asked, not bothering to mediate since Portia wasn’t wrong. Best friends who would shank your man for you were as valuable as any crown.

“No. As you know, the illness has been restricted to the mountainous region, until you,” Dr. Bata said. “Though you are originally from that region and recently visited.”

“So maybe we should be looking for some kind of genetic marker in the native population that might indicate sensitivity to a particular bacteria?” Ledi’s mind was still muddled, but possibilities were coming fast and thick. “Or something in the local environment.”

There was a knock at the door and Likotsi walked in carrying a tray laden with a ceramic teapot and several cups. “It’s teatime. I figured since you were awake you might need to rehydrate.”

“What kind of tea is it?” Portia asked. “She’s more a coffee kind of girl.”

Portia glanced at Ledi and gave a knowing nod and Ledi had to smile.

“It’s our local bush tea, which is also said to help fight illness—”

The world around Ledi went very still as facts and data and suppositions congealed into hypothesis. “Wait. Wait, I think I might have something. When I got sick, it was right after chugging an entire thermos of strong bush tea.”

“And after facing my mother,” Thabiso added.

“Pfft.” Ledi cut her eyes at him. “Your mother wouldn’t last a day in New York without her retinue. She’s not that scary. So, I drank a substance that my body is not accustomed to at a high volume, very quickly. I immediately threw up, passed out, and broke out in hives. Maybe . . .”

Ledi wished her brain wasn’t still fuzzy with sleep. The connection she was trying to make was so close. She began massaging her temples, hoping that would get the synapses popping even though it was entirely unscientific.

“Are you all right?” Thabiso leaned close, enveloping her in his signature scent. The same scent she had smelled in the tea she’d sniffed, and even more strongly in the tea she’d drunk from Alehk.

“May I taste that, please?” she asked Likotsi. It was light and delicate, nothing like the strong, earthy tea Alehk had given her and she’d been drinking from arrival. And it definitely didn’t have the same floral scent.

“Dr. Bata, do you know anything about the effects of the eng plant on the human body when ingested in high doses?”

“Not particularly,” the doctor said. “It’s just part of our local culture. It has been used medicinally in the past, but most of those effects were considered to be psychosomatic.”

Likotsi cut in. “I don’t know much, but I do remember my grandmother always telling us to be careful that the balance of ingredients in the tea was right because just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is safe. ‘Less is more, and more can kill you’ she’d always say.”

Ledi nodded. “I’m guessing that my throwing up was caused by an overdose, of sorts. Most people here would have trace amounts built up in their bodies from everyday or occasional tea drinking, making the sickness more gradual. Because my body expelled the poison all over the queen’s shoes, my eng overdose wore off comparatively quickly.” Ledi looked at Thabiso as the idea in her head expanded and branched out into more sinister corners of her mind.

“Thabiso . . .”

“I’m guessing you don’t suspect that this was just a bad batch of tea,” he said gravely.

She shook her head. “Sesi said she was giving my grandparents a special blend provided by my uncle. And do you remember how Nya bundled me out of the house when he came in with the tea? That wasn’t the first time.”

Nya had given her vitamins, told her to take them every day. But Ledi had forgotten for the last couple of days, though she hadn’t forgotten to drink her tea.

Thabiso’s eyes widened. “You think your uncle is a fuckboy?”

She nodded. “And if what I think is correct, his case isn’t curable.”

He stood. “Likotsi. We must keep this quiet to prevent unrest, but please have Alehk Jarami brought in for immediate questioning.”





Chapter 33


Two weeks later