Page 92 of A Drop of Corruption

Ana raised a hand. “We go too quick now, sir. I am no sorcerer, able to summon the culprit out of the shadows. Such things take time and caution.”

“Then that is ill news! For Pavitar and his supporters expect me to have Kardas slain before this day is done!”

“Before the end of theday?” asked Ana.

“Yes, and I was lucky to delay it that long! The very second my father died, this hall filled up with eager counselors. Darhi and Pavitar were but keenest and most powerful among them. They’d never even spoken much to me before! They spoke only to my father, and their own nobles, and the Treasury, but never me. Now I cannot get them to stop!” He moved to bury his face in his hands, but stopped, remembering his paints.

“Then we must move quickly, sir,” said Ana. “May my people inspect the body of your father?”

“You…you may view my father,” said the prince uncertainly, “but you cannot touch him. That I cannot permit, even in these times.”

“Certainly, sir,” said Ana. Then she waved to Malo and me.

I stepped forward and studied the dead man. I did not need to grow close to see his swollen, red lips and mottled throat: the telltale signs of kerel poisoning, just as Ana had said. It must have been a significant dose, I gauged, so much so that his death had to have been quick.

Malo leaned over the body and sniffed deeply. She shut her eyes, as if savoring the aroma, then opened them and shook her head—Nothing of note here.

I returned to Ana and whispered all I saw into her ear. She listened closely, gripping my arm, and when I finished she bowed her head, lost in thought.

The prince gazed down at his dead father. “A strange sight he makes,” he said softly. “I come and watch him, sometimes, hoping his chest will twitch. A breath, perhaps, or a heartbeat. But not because I love him and wish him to live—for a king is a difficult thing to love. Rather, if I see he lives, then…then I will be saved from this waking nightmare. I can go back to how things were. Isn’t that a horrible thing to say?”

Ana said nothing. Her face shivered as she swept through some complex mental calculus. “Prince Camak, were you present for your father’s death?”

“I was.”

“Then I would like you to provide me with your account of it,” she said. “As quickly and carefully as possible—for we cannot sit with you in vigil forever, surely.”

“Oh! Of course.”

—

The meeting hadbeen a diplomatic tea, the prince told us, taking place yesterday evening. It was a somewhat common occurrence in the court of Yarrow: important folk would gather and drink a brew of the saca berry, a bright red, bitter concoction that grants one an unpleasant buzzing feeling—one that the Yarrows believed made people more honest, he said.

“Where did this tea occur?” asked Ana.

“In the eastern hall, just down that passageway,” said the prince, pointing to one of the three doors. “It is a passingly good place, with a fine view of the water. My father and I were in attendance, and Darhi and Pavitar, of course. And Prificto Kardas and his…girl. The one with the twitching eyes.”

Ana gestured to me impatiently.

“Signum Gorthaus, ma’am,” I said. “She is his engraver.”

Ana’s face briefly brightened. An engraver would be a very useful witness. “Please continue,” she said.

The meeting had concerned high state business, the prince said, so they’d had no servants present. This meant all six people at the meeting would have to serve their tea themselves, going to a cauldron along the wall and pouring a cup with a ladle. They went back and forth a few times, pouring their cups of saca as they discussed matters. This went on for nearly an hour, with no issue.

“I brought my father two cups of tea, as is my duty,” said the prince. “Then Prificto Kardas poured and brought him the third. Myfather sipped from it several times, but then he…he cried out and…” His words trailed off.

“It was thesamecup, every time?” asked Ana. “He wasneverbrought a new cup?”

“No,” said the prince. “It was always the same cup. I refilled it for him, and later Kardas did the same.”

“And the times you served him, sir—when he finished with his tea, what did you do with this cup?”

“I returned the cup to the cauldron, until he asked for more.”

“So, there was a moment, then,” said Ana, “when this cup sat by the cauldron empty,beforePrificto Kardas filled it for him?”

“I…believe so.”