Luce leaned over the bed, testing strips in hand to check Becka’s food for poison. “Are you paying our bills? ‘Cause I’m sure that’s the duchess.”
Becka frowned. “Ouch.”
Luce carefully pressed her testing strips against the lavender lemon bars, then the brownies, and lastly she came to the croissant bread pudding with raspberries and chocolate drizzles. She frowned and then used the spoon to scoop up a chunk of the ingredients, glaze dripping from the spoon. Luce smashed the test into the gooey goodness, a look of disgust on her face.
“This looks… decadent,” Luce muttered, extracting the strip by the end with her sharp fingernails to avoid covering her fingers with glaze.
“Do you need to smash some raspberries too?” Becka asked.
Luce shook her head. “They laced your teacup with poison via a liquid poured into the mug. But that doesn’t mean it was one of the kitchen staff. Besides, we’ve been watching them and have seen nothing untoward. The working theory is that it’s someone who has access to the kitchen, but that’s anyone in the house. This one is all clear.”
“Thanks,” Becka replied, digging into the bread pudding.
“You discovered something about the book?” Quinn asked.
“Uh huh,” she mumbled around a mouthful of warm glazed croissanty goodness.
Becka grabbed her bag from the floor, tossing it onto the bed. She opened the bag and then motioned for Quinn to pull out the book, as she didn’t have her gloves on. He fished around for the ancient tome, found it, and then placed the book on the bed at her feet, opening it to a random middle page.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
Becka recounted her experience earlier with the tome, how the glyphs had gone transparent, how there were curious squiggles that had spelled out the word TEA over and over, and then how the book had gone back to normal after Becka had asked Hanna her questions.
“I was hoping we could try getting the book to give up another clue. I feel like it somehow knew about Hanna’s connection to the tea, and I’d like to see if we could learn more,” Becka said.
“Keep in mind this book is a Shadow-Dweller artifact. I’m thankful it alerted us to Hanna’s connection to the tea Vott used, but how can we know why it revealed what it did?” Quinn asked. “We can’t trust it, but perhaps the book can still be useful. We need to understand the pattern of what it does. Only then can we guess at the why.”
“Agreed.” She took a bite of the fragrant lemon bar. “Oh, oh my gods. The lavender in these bars is truly inspired. It elevates them into another dimension entirely.”
Quinn raised a brow in her direction. “You’re devouring those with such abandon.”
Becka raised a brow right back at him. “Does my lack of decorum offend thee?”
His rich baritone laugh rolled over her. She could almost forget the ache in her solar plexus. Almost.
“Never.”
Saige tsked in their general direction, a not-so-gentle reminder of Maura’s directive.
“Maura’s not going to kick the enforcer out during an active investigation.”
Saige and Luce both shrugged.
“It’s unlikely you’d be disowned,” Quinn replied. “But, based on the conversation she had with Chief Elowen, she may still try and get me removed.”
Becka held up her hands, one of which held a brownie while the other had a lemon bar. “In my defense, I apologize.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “I accept, and I implore you to put down your weapons so we can focus on the book.”
“I’ll shift my focus, but I’ll never give up my lemon bars,” she replied, putting down the brownie and focusing her attention on the tome. Becka pulled on the blankets, moving the book a little closer to her leg. “I see nothing other than the glyphs right now. You?”
“Just the glyphs. Let’s see, last time you were talking to Hanna and it started to act funny. What if you talk about Saige or Luce right now and ask them something?”
“You mean what if I started talking about Saige and asking her if she’s involved with the poisoning?” Becka watched the book, but nothing happened.
Saige walked over to them, finished with her sweet potato hash, frowning at them both. “I’m not sure I enjoy being the subject of your testing with that thing.”
“It’s not like you have anything to hide, do you?” Becka asked.
On cue, the squiggly lines returned to the pages, surfacing under the glyphs once more, which again turned transparent. The lines slid around, their sinuous forms reminiscent of worms or snakes skulking about. But, unlike the episode with Hanna and the tea, they didn’t point towards Saige. Instead, they wandered around the page, seemingly without aim.
“The lines are back,” Becka told Quinn, “but they don’t seem super interested in Saige. Let me try something else. Saige, is there anything Maura asked you to do besides chaperone Quinn and me?” she asked.
The squiggles reacted, moving around as if agitated or excited. They formed patterns across the open pages, but not in a sunburst like before. This time the pattern reminded Becka of waves in water, as if the truth was trying to surface through the squiggles.
“And don’t explain it to me,” Becka said. “Just give me a yes or no answer.”
Saige’s gaze narrowed at her. “I don’t like where this is going, but yes.”
“Did Maura ask you to watch Quinn and me for other reasons?”
“Yes,” Saige replied.
“Why would Maura want Saige to report on us?” Becka asked him.
“Perhaps to be the first to hear updates on the investigation?” Quinn asked.
The squiggles churned and heaved, roiling over each other. Words formed in the morass, coming and going almost too quickly to track. Becka caught a “first,” and then an “ear.” The last word she could make out was “more.”
“I can make out the words first, ear, and more.” Becka looked to Saige. “Quinn is correct, but is there more to it?”
She gave a curt nod. “Yes.”
The lines swirled and swirled backwards upon themselves, and then settled into a sunburst pattern, but they didn’t angle towards Saige, as Becka had expected. Instead, they pointed to Quinn with a single word, repeated in every line.
Informant.
Becka gasped, and looked up at Quinn, who had no idea what the book had revealed. Was Maura worried Quinn wasn’t just here for the poisoning but to dig into House Rowan affairs?
“What is it?” he asked.
She recalled the council conversation about sending Iona out to gather defensive information for the house. Becka had questioned it as borderline sedition at the time. If Quinn found out, would he report them?
She hesitated for only a moment. “Maura thinks you might be an informant, I would assume to the Enforcers’ Guild about private House Rowan affairs?”
Becka looked to Saige to confirm, and she gave Becka another quick nod.
“Clever toy you have there. I wouldn’t trust it.” Saige wandered off towards the door where Luce was standing.
Quinn sat back on the sofa while Becka grabbed another brownie. She took a small bite, but her stomach had soured, and the brownie suddenly tasted too rich. She took her plate and placed it on her bedside table. After wiping her hands thoroughly with a napkin, Becka ran her fingers through her damp hair, working out the tangles.