Chapter 20: The Wedding Cup

The bell was the call back to the hall.

The houses were still on their feet when I came through the great doors.

I had the black ledger in my arms and Hester at my shoulder.

Rooke stood in the middle of the floor, and when he saw the book he stopped talking.

"That belongs to me," he said.

"It belongs to the court," I said. "It has your hand in it."

"That is a theft, Your Majesty. A human thief took it from my desk."

"A human thief you paid," said the gray woman, from her chair. "Let the book speak."

I carried it to the dais and gave it to Edmund.

He opened it at the folded corner and read for a long moment, and his face did not change.

Then he looked up.

"The ledger records a purchase eight days before our wedding," he said. "Silverthorn, a strong sleeping draught."

He turned the page.

"The old texts say a king who sinks into dormancy with it in his blood cannot wake until someone sets him free."

A murmur went through the hall.

"The sum was paid to the keep's wine steward," said Edmund.

"And a second sum went to the same man the night before the rite."

"Fetch him," I said.

Two blue guards had already fetched him.

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