Because, for a moment, when I was at my worst, I felt powerful, and most of the time, I felt powerless, despite being a prince and the son of the High King of Faerie.”
“That’s an answer,” I say.
“Is it?” And then, after a moment. “You should go.”
“Why?” I ask, annoyed. For one, this is my room. For another, I am trying to keep him alive.
He looks at me solemnly. “Because I am going to retch.”
I grab for the bucket, and he takes it from me, his whole body convulsing with the force of vomiting. The contents of his stomach appear like matted leaves, and I shudder. I didn’t know wraithberry did that.
There’s a knock on the door, and I go to it. The Bomb is there, out of breath. I let her in, and she moves past me, straight to Cardan.
“Here,” she says, pulling out a little vial. “It’s clay. It may help draw out and contain the toxins.”
Cardan nods and takes it from her, swallowing the contents with a grimace. “It tastes like dirt.”
“It is dirt,” she informs him. “And there’s something else. Two things, really. Grimsen was already gone from his forge when we tried to capture him. We have to assume the worst—that he’s with Orlagh.
“Also, I was given this.” She takes a note from her pocket. “It’s from Balekin. Cannily phrased, but breaks down to this—he’s offering the antidote to you, Jude, if you will bring him the crown.”
“The crown?” Cardan opens his eyes, and I realize he must have closed them without my noticing.
“He wants you to take it to the gardens, near the roses,” the Bomb says.
“What happens if he doesn’t get the antidote?” I ask.
The Bomb puts the back of her hand against Cardan’s cheek. “He’s the High King of Elfhame—he has the strength of the land to draw on. But he’s very weak already. And I don’t think he knows how to do it. Your Majesty?”
He looks at her with benevolent incomprehension. “Whatever do you mean? I just took a mouthful of the land at your behest.”
I think about what she’s saying, about what I know of the High King’s powers.
Surely you have noticed that since his reign began, the isles are different. Storms come in faster. Colors are a bit more vivid, smells are sharper.
But all of that was done without trying. I am certain he didn’t notice the land altering itself to better suit him.
Look at them all, your subjects, he’d said to me at a revel months ago. A shame not a one knows who their true ruler is.
If Cardan doesn’t believe himself to be the true High King of Elfhame, if he doesn’t allow himself to access his own power, it will be my fault. If wraithberry kills him, it will be because of me.
“I’ll get that antidote,” I say.
Cardan lifts the crown from his head and looks at it for a moment, as though somehow he cannot fathom how it came into his hand. “This can’t pass to Oak if you lose it. Although I admit the succession gets tricky if I die.”
“I already told you,” I say. “You’re not going to die. And I am not going to take that crown.” I go in the back and change around the contents of my pockets. I tie on a cloak with a deep hood and a new mask. I am so furious that my hands shake. Wraithberry, which I was once invulnerable to, thanks to careful mithridatism. If I had been able to keep up the doses, I could have perhaps tricked Balekin as I once tricked Madoc. But after my imprisonment in the Undersea, I have one less advantage and far higher stakes. I have lost my immunity. I am as vulnerable to poison as Cardan.
“You’ll stay with him?” I ask the Bomb, and she nods.
“No,” says Cardan. “She goes with you.”
I shake my head. “The Bomb knows about potions. She knows about magic. She can make sure you don’t get worse.”
He ignores me and takes her hand. “Liliver, as your king, I command you,” he says with great dignity for someone sitting on the floor beside the bucket he’s retched in. “Go with Jude.”
I turn to the Bomb, but I see in her face that she won’t disobey him—she’s made her oath and even given him her name. He’s her king.
“Damn you,” I whisper to one or maybe both of them.
I vow that I will get the antidote swiftly, but that doesn’t make it any