Ava shook her head. "Not until I get my hands upon some of the caterpillar mushroom and test it myself, but... fairly certain. We think it's poisonous to blue bloods and dhampir."
And just as she dropped that explosive revelation, the door burst open. Kincaid strode inside, scowling over the top of a good day's growth of black beard, his blue eyes bloodshot, and wincing at the afternoon light that filtered through the window. He saw them all and swayed. "Jaysus. Thought you wanted me, Ava?"
Truer words had never been spoken. Or at least they had, if he wasn't planning on murdering blue bloods, and reeking of ale.
Where the hell has he been? She'd spent five minutes knocking on his bedroom door this morning.
Had he even spent the night there? The argument echoed loudly in her ears, but she couldn't ask him what he'd done after she stormed off.
What if he'd gone to another woman? He'd been so angry, and so had she.
"I thought we all needed an update," Ava said primly, pointing to a chair near the window. "How on earth did you manage to imbibe so much between now and last night?"
Kincaid sank into the chair, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I'm not drunk anymore, but could you keep that particularly strident note out of your voice?"
Strident? Her temper blazed.
"I believe this is the aftereffect of imbibing," Gemma noted, with no small amount of smugness. "I must note I've seen livelier-looking statues, Kincaid. You smell like a brewery-and a woman's perfume, if I dare to breathe a little deeper."
A woman's perfume? Ava froze. She could only smell liquor.
Kincaid shot Gemma his darkest scowl. "Seem to recall a morning when I didn't mention what time you staggered in-considering it was well after dawn, and you were last seen in the company of-"
"Truce?" Gemma broke in.
Kincaid gave her that particularly evil smile. "I was pulling my punches too. But agreed. Wouldn't want to corrupt innocent ears." This, with a glance at Ava. "And the perfume you smell is probably my cousin's."
Ava shoved one of her handwritten information pamphlets at him.
If she heard the word "innocent" one more time....
And now she took a delicate sniff; there was definitely perfume lingering on his skin. Orla's?
He wouldn't lie. He never had. It was one of the things she liked so much about him, but logic was failing her today. There was a visceral surge of pure fury lighting through her veins. She wanted to yell at him again, and there was no damned reason for it beyond.... Ava blinked. Was she jealous?
The duke finally arrived, handing his top hat and coat to Herbert. "I trust this is important," Malloryn said, and suddenly Ava felt a little overwhelmed.
What if it wasn't? What if she was only conjuring a case, putting a theory to a handful of innocuous clues....
"It's important," Kincaid said, clasping his hands behind his head and exhaling. "But I think Ava should be the one to do the honors. It was her discovery."
Carefully, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Few people championed her, and despite their argument last night, she shot him an undecided look, and then cleared her throat. "If you'll examine the information I wrote for all of you," she said, and then continued to fill them in on everything she and Kincaid had found.
When she'd finished, you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Ava cleared her throat, trying to read Malloryn's reaction.
"This is what killed Zero?" Gemma whispered, looking ill.
The duke finally lowered his pamphlet and met Ava's eyes. "You're right. This is important." Then he was on his feet, taking over the room. "Who else knows of this?"
"Dr. Gibson," she replied. "From the Nighthawks. He was the one who performed the initial autopsy. He knows it's some sort of serum or elixir that was injected into Mr. Thomas, but that's all. Garrett is aware something is killing blue bloods, and I'm sure a few other Nighthawks suspect there's a problem. They're not stupid."
The duke shot Kincaid a hard look, and he shook his head sharply.
He hadn't mentioned it. Yet.
"Then we keep it that way." Malloryn included them all in a heated look. "If what Ava says is true, then this information has dire repercussions for the entire country. This could mean civil war, or at worst, a bloodbath."
"And who's behind the murders of Mr. Thomas and the others?" Gemma asked. "Someone clearly murdered the major, but who? Are the two cases connected? Are they aware we're onto them? Were they watching the major? Or were they following Ava and Kincaid? Was it simply coincidence?"