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Anything else.

Even celestial children weren’t prone to illness.

My knees cracked against the floor as I knelt beside them, and Cáit all but threw her daughter into my arms. Cradling her like porcelain, I lowered her to the floor, my hands already glowing as they scoured her body.

“What happened?” I demanded as my power rushed through her, searching and prodding.

“I don’t know,” Cáit sobbed. “She said she was dizzy, and then she just fainted.”

“What’s on her mouth?” A young male voice cut through the panic—Fletcher, already kneeling beside me.

I ran my thumb over the discoloration as my mind whirred, hunting for a way out of this that wouldn’t implicate me.

How in the hell had Cora gotten into the royals’ wine?

“Tell me everything. Everything she did—anything she touched, ate, drank?” My magic was already busy, counting her racing pulse. “Tachycardia,” I breathed. “Redness around the mouth. My magic feels… too much.” Of course it did. I’d brewed that potion to take down Moros and his warriors—fully ascended, seven-foot males. In a child’s body…

Godsdammit.

“Charcoal,” I demanded of no one, relieved when that familiar shift of shadows announced a departure. “Back up,” I barked, and even Caitrìona scrambled away. Her faith in me felt like a blade to the chest. I closed my eyes, pulled one steady breath, and sank into the depths of my magic.

I’d done more with less.

Saved victims of worse attacks with only my hands.

And so, I rode the light.

Became the light.

Down through her skin and veins, through her inflamed airway, through her⁠—

There.

“Gotcha,” I breathed as I caught the enchantment.

My eyes found Mhairi as she hit the floor beside me, coaxing a dark liquid between Cora’s red lips. “Poison?”

I nodded as my magic wrapped around the toxin… and burned. Just as the sun soothed, it seared. Cora whimpered in her sleep, her little body writhing against the stone. Fletcher was there in an instant, sliding a hand beneath her head as he muttered something unintelligible.

A prayer, I realized. Ancient and lost.

I couldn’t process that. Every scrap of focus went to finding any trace of toxin I’d missed. “Physostigmine,” I ordered Mhairi. She nodded and vanished just as quickly. Overkill, maybe, but if I missed anything, being prepared with human tactics wouldn’t hurt.

My fault. I had done this. It would serve me right to get caught saving her.

Just as my magic told me she’d be fine, my enemy’s voice had me turning.

Desperate.

Panic-stricken.

“Fi.”

I jerked my gaze up to find Adrastos steadying the little brunette, who looked completely dazed. Beside her, the blonde collapsed.

I lashed out, snatching Cáit’s wrist and forcing her attention to me. “Get her to the infirmary. Now.” Relief hit when she wasn’t the only one who nodded. Fletcher scooped the girl into his lanky arms without another word, rising like he’d trained for this.

A deafening clatter whipped me toward the royal table. Marlana blinked rapidly, clutching the chair for purchase, her other hand gripping the glass she now regarded with bleary, accusatory eyes. Blood trickled over her lips.