Chapter 16: The Blood Test

The infirmary at Tempest House smells of lemon polish and old iron.

I had worked in an ER for six years, and I had never been this afraid in a room full of equipment.

June walked in beside me as if she owned the place.

"I'm the patient's nurse of record," she said to the doctor at the desk. "It's in the rules. Look it up."

The court physician was a neat grey man with a gold pen.

"The king's presence is barred," he said. "Nothing was said about a nurse."

"Then we're all very lucky."

He gave her a thin smile, and the door opened behind us.

The eldest member of the Council came in leaning on a cane.

"I am the Concord's witness for this test," he said. "Proceed, Doctor."

He sat down in the corner and folded his hands.

I rolled up my sleeve.

The physician set a tray on the table.

On it lay two sealed tubes, a tourniquet and a needle.

One tube was already labeled in black ink: Linnea Overend.

The other read: A. Tempest, the king.

"The reference sample," he said. "Drawn from His Majesty for comparison."

June picked it up before he could stop her.

She turned it in the light.

"There's a date on the seal," she said. "Three weeks ago."

"The king was kept in readiness," the physician said smoothly. "As is the custom."

"Was he?"

She looked at the councillor.

"Sir, where was the king three weeks ago?"

"At the Northern Court," said the old man. "In the middle of the border treaty. I signed the travel permit myself."

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