Neal nodded. His Gift curled around his fingers. Then he drawled, "Gentlemen, you are in the way. If I could have you step towards the door and keep an eye out that would help your Lady immensely." Arie nearly choked at the sarcasm that dripped from his words.
Judging from their expressions, the guards were unsure if the young noble was being sarcastic or just pompous. They exchanged looks before grudgingly moving to the door. Neal inclined his head to them in a mock bow when they passed. Then he turned to Imrah's wife and gestured to one of the couches.
"Please lie down my Lady. Then we can begin." The moment the she did as he bid, Neal looked to Arie with raised eyebrows. There was a question in his eyes that Arie didn't want to answer.
Not here.
Not ever.
Instead of answering his unspoken question she nodded towards their new patient. The silent plea in her eyes for him to take the lead without asking questions must have reached him. The knight shrugged and turned back to Lady Judith. Arie nearly sagged the relief was so powerful, but she steeled herself to help in whatever way was needed. Neal's Gift touched his eyes and was quickly followed by soft curses. No doubt he saw the same thing she had seen. Thick black poison choked Judith's body.
Neal began the processes of dragging out the poison. Arie snatched up a bowl off the floor and placed it on the table nest to Neal. He grunted when he dropped the first few drops of poison into the bowl. As he worked Neal muttered soothing words of encouragement to the Lady when pain twisted across her expression. It was that pain that caused a very uncomfortable churning in her stomach. She didn't want to look too closely at any the emotions she felt in that moment so instead she focused on finding the source. Her first thought was the food. With her Gift in her eyes she inspected the food that had been spattered across the couch's surface and spreading under the table.
Nothing.
Arie wandered away from Neal and Judith and into the bedroom. There was an expansive bed in the center of the room. Nothing as ornate and pretty as the furniture in the solar. Even the armoire was a simple affair. Everything was plain, but well made. Nothing showed signs of contamination. So Arie moved on to the door off to the right. This room was a bathing room, and it wasn't all that different from the one off Arie's room. Aside from the room's clear size difference.
There was a tub, dressing screen, even a vanity table cluttered with small jars and pots. The smell coming from the table was enough to have her head spinning. Not unlike the old spice stall down by the wharf. Arie wrinkled her nose, but braced herself to go over and inspect them. A few bottles were made of glass so she was able see through to some contents, and inspect them from the other end of the room. All of the glass bottles were clean. She sighed and took a deep breath through her mouth and pinched her nose. Then she began checking the contents of the clay and ceramic pots.
As it turned out, pinching her nose didn't do much to help. Most of the smells were so strong that they lay thickly on her tongue until it was all she could taste. Cringing, Arie hurriedly checked the various pots. She was about to give up when she noticed a small pot and brush tucked away in the back on a plush cushion. The wood of the brush was monogrammed with Judith's name and initials. While the jar itself was a miniature piece of artwork. The surface was painted to depict a beautiful with extraordinarily red lips. When Arie reached for it she felt a gentle brush of magic. It was a warm tingling in her fingertips that told her it was meant to preserve the contents of the jar.
Arie lifted the lid for a look. Inside was what looked like crimson paint. However her Gift revealed the paint was steeped in the very same poison that coursed through Judith. Both the jar and brush showed small signs that they were older than the rest of the collection across the vanity's top. Yet the jar was clearly well cared for, even cherished by the owner. The brush was free of poison or even flecks of the red paint, likely it was cleaned thoroughly after each use. And the jar wasn't dusty nor did it have smudges of red from careless fingers. Someone had either gone to great pains to give a gift that they knew would be well loved and poisoned it. Or someone had snuck in a contaminated this cherished gift. Even an idiot would have noticed this pot's position of honor on the cushion.
She wanted to scream as her rage boiled over into her body. Her Gift flickered to life around her and mirrored her emotions with its agitated swirling and rolling. It was only when heat bit into her wrist that she was able to gain control over her emotions. Arie glanced at the ribbon wrapped around her wrist. The cloth hummed with her father's power and something else the was achingly familiar. A feeling of a warm hand on her head and a soft word of encouragement whispered from the fabric. She blinked back tears and shoved at the regret that bubbled inside of her. But words whispered across her mind, she was not her mother and she would do things that will go against her mother's teachings. There would be blood on Arie's hands when this was all said and done.
A flurry of sound pulled her out of those dark thoughts. By the sound of it, several more guards had come, with them Lord Imrah. Arie rushed back to solar to see her grandfather looking murderous.
"What happened?" he demanded.
Neal was distracted with both healing Judith, but also her increased struggling and flailing about. Arie didn't even think, just inserted herself between the noblemen. She forced herself to swallow back the fear when the bigger man's anger was turned on her.
"My Lord, if you will step into the next room, I will explain." For a brief moment Arie saw he was tempted to refuse her and stand his ground. It was only when his wife mumbled soft pleading words.
"Don't look."
Then the Lord's resolve seemed to crack and Arie pressed, "Please, sir. Your wife doesn't wish you to see her this way. Healing is not always kind on the patient, and if she is trying to be strong for you, it will take longer and hurt more."
He opened his mouth as if he might refute her words, but the Lady made a soft moan and struggled to cover her face and turn away from Neal. Finally he nodded. He directed two guards to stay at the door and not let anyone else through. The rest were directed to come with the Lord into the bedroom. Arie waited for them to leave the room before she siphoned off some of her strength off into Neal.
"The Lord is gone." Arie told her step grandmother. She waited until the older woman's struggles lessoned to a more normal level before she followed after the Lord. When she entered the room Arie was grateful for its large size so she wasn't crammed in with the Lord and his guards. She sighed to herself and closed the door behind her.
"Why do you have my wife's lip rogue?"
Arie looked down at her hand. She had actually forgotten that she still held the jar. "I'm holding it because this, " she held up the jar. "is how someone chose to poison your wife."
Imrah clenched his fists.
"I take it from your expression, that this was a gift from you?"
"Are you accusing me?" The Lord's guards all put their hands on their weapons.
She couldn't help the snort. "If the level of devotion for your wife is anything to go by, then no. However, knowing when you purchased this and where could help me figure out when and where it was likely tampered with."
Imrah paused briefly to collect his thoughts, but it didn't take him long to answer. "I got that in Corus, seven months ago." Then he explained, "It was a gift for our anniversary. Judith loves to celebrate it."
Arie blinked. Seven months was a month or two before the first cases even happened. "Are you absolutely sure?"
"Yes."
She bit her lip in thought, "Did your wife ever take it with her on any trips?"
"No, my wife hasn't traveled much in the past few years. She gets sick in carriages and the guards were uncomfortable about her being out on a horse where they couldn't really protect her from bows."
Arie very much suspected it was the Lord who had worried too much about his wife being attacked, but she didn't comment on it. Instead Arie looked around the room which was in neat. "Did she have servants? Other than Nadia." The last thing she wanted to do was potentially draw the Lord's wrath down on the servant girl.
"She had a few ladies-in -waiting, but she sent them away when she stopped taking her meals with me."
It was on the tip of Arie's tongue to demand if that hadn't struck him as unusual. She managed to bite back the accusatory words. But Imrah's face softened as if he too were wondering the same thing. The nobleman scrubbed the back of his head.
"I suppose in hindsight I should have known something wasn't right. Judith takes rules as if they were handed down from the Gods themselves. She wouldn't have sent the ladies-in-waiting away unless she felt she had no other choice. I just didn't see."
"Do all of them still work in the castle, the ladies-in-waiting?"
Imrah nodded.
"Have any of them been acting strange?"
His eyes narrowed in thought. "I can't say for sure. I don't ad didn't have much to do with them. Should I have my guards speak to them?"
"No, no," Arie replied hastily. "I think it would be better to take a subtler approach. Then if someone in the castle did have anything to do with this we don't spook them and risk anyone else in the castle
Imrah seemed to think about it then agreed with a jerk of his chin.
"Is there any other way to enter these rooms, other than the main door?"
"Other than the windows, no."
Arie looked past Imrah towards the windows in the room. Both were fine things wrapped in metal and had tiny latches on them. It was hard not to cringe at such small pitiful locks. Even a novice could have them open without effort, not to mention that simple force would break them. Without a word Arie went to the windows and inspected the latches. Neither of them were broken or open. There were no scuffs on the stone from the window opening and scraping metal on stone. Then she tried to open the windows. Neither opened more than a few inches and both screeched in protest of opening. Only enough room for Arie to get her head out the window.
From where she was she got a beautiful view of not only the garden below, but also the forest just beyond the curtain wall. Arie tore her gaze from the familiarly stunning sight and focused on the garden and the wall below her. Plenty of hiding spots for a intruder to move between in the garden, and the wall itself had perfect hand holds for the person willing to look. But somehow she doubted they came through the bedroom window.
"Did you find anything?"
Arie was about to answer her grandfather with a no when she spied something under the bathroom window. "Maybe." She pulled herself back into the room and ran to the bathing room window. It was a bit smaller than the other two, but unlike the other two windows this one opened silently. A glance at the hinges showed they were well greased, fish oil by the faint smell. Arie turned back to the window and squeezed not only her head but her shoulders through the opening. Then she swiped the scrap she had seen from the other window.
It was course fabric, the kind often used by fishermen for their cloaks in the colder or rainier months. This fabric however was dyed black. Most fishermen wouldn't waste the coin to dye the fabric much less a color that would make them impossible to see. Arie brought the fabric to her nose and sniffed it. Unsurprisingly there was no scent save for the faint smell of the garden. She doubted if even a mage could track down whoever it belonged to.
"What did you find?"
Arie held up the scrap to the Lord. Then asked, "Is there any reason this window is greased and the others aren't?"
"Judith likes to watch the sunrise."
Arie opened her mouth to retort, but thought better of it. Instead she handed the fabric to Imrah. He took it and a dark ugly look crossed his face. It made Arie shuddered and think that whoever was behind this had better pray that the Lord never comes across him.
"I will have my mage try and track the person down."
Arie couldn't help the surprise that showed clearly on her face. The question popped out off her mouth before she could even think to stop it. "You don't have the Gift?"
Imrah looked at her as if he were startled by the question then a slight smile touched his face. "No, sadly it skipped me. My first wife and daughter had the Gift though."