“How fascinating,” Eli said. “But if we can leave the history lesson aside for a moment, I’m afraid we’re in a bit of a bind. I don’t think a wizard other than myself has entered this room in a century. The whole place was dead asleep before I came in, which was why this took so long. If they had been awake, it would still have been tricky since you, Adela, and the servants all seem to be spirit deaf, but I could have found out something. As it stands, they just want to tell me stories of grievous abuse at the hands of your violent ancestry.”
“So,” Josef said. “No wizard solution?”
“No wizard solution,” Eli said, shaking his head. “But while I was waking things up, I did find this.”
He held up a plain porcelain medicine bowl filled with a dull yellow powder that smelled vaguely bitter, like walnut shells. Josef looked at Eli skeptically. “Is that poison?”
“No,” Eli said, pulling his hand back. “It’s called orobin, and it’s a perfectly normal stimulant. I’ve taken it myself on long jobs where I couldn’t afford to be dozing off.”
“If it’s perfectly normal, why are you showing it to me?”
“Because this is a very large amount of orobin,” Eli said, hefting the bowl pointedly. “A pinch dissolved in tea is plenty for any normal person. This is enough to stock a reasonably sized shop.”
“So?” Josef said, crossing his arms.
“So,” Eli said. “I found it tucked away in a cabinet full of lady’s supplies, which means, unless you’ve taken to washing your hair with essence of rose water, that this bowl belongs to your lovely wife. Who, I might add, eats and drinks the same as you, but does not seem to suffer from involuntary deep sleep.”
“Wait,” Josef said. “You think Adela’s behind this? That she’s drugging both of us but is taking the stimulant to counteract the effect?”
“That would be where I’m going,” Eli said, placing the bowl on the table.
“But why would she drug me?” Josef said. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Maybe your pillow talk needs some work,” Eli said with a smug smile.
“Shut up and listen,” Josef growled. “I’m not saying I trust Adela, but she owes the queen everything. Even if she didn’t, why would she knock me out? She needs this baby to secure her position or Finley’s going to send her and her mother packing the second the crown is on his head.”
“I don’t know the whats and whys,” Eli said. “I’m not even saying for sure that she’s the one drugging you, but I think we can safely assume she knows what’s happening and how to counteract it. That alone is proof enough that thing’s aren’t what they seem. If Adela was pregnant, this would be more damning. But with you being, well, you, and totally uninterested in the throne, a baby’s her only shot at keeping her position. That leaves us with circumstantial evidence but no motive, which isn’t much better than where we started.”
“Well, I intend to find out,” Josef said, crossing his arms. “Next time I see Adela, she’s not leaving until I have an answer.”
Eli frowned. “I’m not sure direct threats are going to—”
He was interrupted by the soft clatter of someone trying to open the door. Nico, Eli, and Josef froze as the door’s handle turned down. But the person on the other side didn’t get much farther. The moment the door hit the Heart of War, it stopped cold. The person cursed and tried again, harder this time. The sword didn’t even wobble.
Silence fell again as the person stepped back, and then there was a soft, almost embarrassed knock.
Josef walked over and pulled the Heart out of the way, opening the door to reveal an elderly man in a somber suit. He looked shocked and a little bewildered by the sudden opening, but his face quickly arranged itself into an expression of bored politeness the second he recognized Josef.
“My lord prince,” he said with a perfunctory bow. “I was sent to find you.”
“So I gathered,” Josef said, sliding the Heart back into place on his back. “Get on with it.”
The man’s eyes widened, but he gathered himself again. “My master, the excellent Duke Finley, requests your presence this afternoon.”
“Oh yeah?” Josef said. “What’s Finley want?”
“Only your company, my lord,” the man said.
Josef looked back at Eli, who shrugged. “Company, huh? When?”
“At your earliest convenience, sire,” the servant said. “Though I have been led to believe it is a matter of some urgency.”