The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(42)
“Coming at whom? Do we even have any leads?” Dinah Chauveau asked, her mouth tight. Her quarter had been hit hard by the spell last night too, though she’d been safe at Blue’s farmhouse, a situation that Kellan wanted to examine in more detail once he didn’t have a crisis and a betrothal to manage.
“Do we really want to announce to someone capable of creating a fire that can’t be extinguished that we’re openly hunting for them?” Georgiana Faure spoke, her skin paler than usual against the black of her dress. Deep wrinkles dug in around her mouth, which was perpetually pursed as if she’d recently sucked an unripe shirella.
“I agree,” Martin said, as if a decision had now been reached. “Best to move in secrecy, boy.”
It was the first test. The first slice of a sword to see if the prince had any weaknesses to exploit.
Kellan cut his gaze toward Martin and said coldly, “Did you just refer to me as boy?”
Martin sat back. “I simply—”
“A yes or no will do.” Kellan held the older man’s gaze and waited.
Martin blinked first. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”
To belabor the point would cost Kellan the ground he’d just won, so he turned away from Martin and said, “We need a public response because our people are panicking, and people do foolish things when they panic.”
Senet Aubert tapped the polished table with her bold red nails, her graceful spine ruler-straight, and her close-cut dark hair covered with a crimson headscarf. “My guards had to stop a small mob this morning from dragging our quarter’s alchemist out into the street on the accusation of being a witch. I think they might have tried to hang her if the guards hadn’t intervened.”
Kellan’s skin went cold, and he found his mother’s eyes in a moment of sheer, blind panic.
What if people in the Gaillard quarter were even now deciding that Blue might be responsible? In all his thoughts, his plans to approach the problem, it had never occurred to him that people might assume the city’s alchemists were to blame.
The queen lifted her chin, a clear signal that he was to show no emotion beyond complete resolve. He drew in a slow, measured breath and looked to his notes for a moment. Took control of his voice. His expression. Looked up and said calmly, “First order of business, then, is to assign a guard to each of your alchemists immediately. Any other occupations at possible risk of being blamed?”
When no one had any suggestions, he continued, “As I said, we need a public response to restore confidence in the city’s security. A show of going door-to-door, interviewing everyone, keeping an eye out for evidence of spell making within each home and business your guards approach.”
“Do you honestly think the witch who devastated our quarters is just leaving spell ingredients lying about?” Dinah asked, her tone kind, as if he was too young to realize how things actually worked.
He met her eyes. “Of course not. But this is just our public response. Maybe we’ll get lucky, but that’s not the point. We have to show people we’re working on this. That strong measures are being taken to assure their security.”
“And our private response?” Warrane Barbier, his maternal grandfather, spoke from his seat beside the queen. His dark eyes found his grandson’s, pride lurking in their depths, though his voice was gruff.
Kellan leaned forward, tapping his quill against the parchment in front of him. “You tell me. At least half of you occupied your family’s council seat during the time of the blood wraith. How did we catch it?”
Several of the members exchanged glances, and then Georgiana spoke. “We had help. Her sister and the alchemist—”
“Valeraine de la Cour,” the queen said quietly.
“Valeraine de la Cour?” Dinah sounded startled. When all eyes landed on her, she straightened her spine. “I’ve taken guardianship over her daughter, Blue, after the death of her poor father. I wasn’t on the council at the time of the wraith, of course, so I didn’t realize Valeraine’s involvement.”
The queen frowned. “But you were close enough to Valeraine to have her sign guardianship over to you.”
Dinah shrugged, though her jaw was clenched. “Valeraine was always very discreet. I’m sure she felt protecting her role in things was best for her family.”
“Could an alchemist help us now?” Kellan asked, bringing the discussion back to its purpose.
“Perhaps with a potion to find lost things, but I believe that only works if you put something from the thing or person you want to find into the potion,” Senet said, her crimson lips a slash of color against her light brown skin.
“I didn’t realize you were a budding alchemist,” Martin said.
Senet’s nails tapped the table impatiently. “Read a book sometime, Martin. It’s amazing the kind of things you can learn if you show the least bit of intellectual curiosity.”
“So without knowing who we’re looking for, we can’t use a finding potion, and we’re back to having nothing to go on.” Warrane rubbed a hand over his face, scratching at the gray beard that covered his jaw.
“Not necessarily.” Kellan pulled one of his parchment sheets free and glanced at the list he’d made. “We might not be able to track the person, but we can track the ingredients used in the spell.”