“Oh!” Blessed Saint Adder, of course. Most people were used to healing involving a lot of blood. “No, it’s not that kind of thing. Just water.”
She fled. Javier looked at me. “What do you need?”
“I don’t know yet.” I curled my fingers around Snow’s wrist, trying to feel a pulse, but there was nothing. Not that it meant anything. Finding a wrist pulse in children can be nearly impossible. I tried her throat and then finally just rested my ear against her chest.
When Rinald arrived, panting from the run, that was the pose he found me in. He put his hands on his knees, doubling over, and managed to gasp out, “Is she…?”
“Not yet,” I said. Saints, maybe Grayling was right about humans. We did all ask the same questions. “Listen.”
He took my place, his ear against Snow’s chest. I knew what he was hearing—terrifying silence, finally broken by a thump, then another long silence.
“Saint Sheep’s shit,” Rinald growled. “Uh—begging your pardon, Healer—”
“No, that about sums it up.” I rubbed my face. “She took a massive dose of the poison. The smaller dose causes intense vomiting, but this…”
“No convulsions,” said Rinald, sitting up. He lifted one arm and let it drop. “No stiffness.”
I nodded. “It’s not arsenic. I still don’t know the exact nature of the compound.” I was already digging through my bag. “We’ll start by inducing vomiting. Then we’ll see if we can get some charcoal in her.”
Eloise arrived with water, and I took it with heartfelt thanks and set to work.
Forty-five minutes later, Snow still wasn’t dead, but we’d acquired an audience. Aaron stationed himself at the door. The only person who came through was Lady Sorrel, who, for a wonder, did not ask if she was dead. She looked the situation over and asked, “Is there anything the house can provide that will make your lives easier right now?”
“A stiff drink,” muttered Rinald.
Lady Sorrel turned her head and barked an order.
Rinald flushed. “Didn’t actually mean…”
“I am told that brandy is medicinal,” Sorrel said calmly. “Anything else?”
I shook my head. “Eloise, are you tired yet?”
The maid, who had been tirelessly cleaning up the mess left by our treatment, shook her head. “I’m here for the long haul, Healer.”
I felt an unexpected pang of gratitude. I barely knew Eloise, beyond the fact that she was very good at what she did, but she was familiar where most of the staff was not. I needed that familiarity right now. “Thank you. Javier?”
He shook his head.
Sorrel nodded. “Inform me if there is anything else that can be done. And now I shall get out of your way.” She swept out again. The thought came to me in passing that she would probably enjoy the company of the Sorrel in the mirror.
Snow wasn’t dead, but she was cold. We’d piled blankets around her but had to leave her chest free so that we could track her heartbeat. I didn’t know how much it was helping. I didn’t know how muchanythingwas helping. We’d managed to get the remains of the apples from her system and put charcoal in at bothends, with no notable change. I was starting to suspect that this wasn’t actually from the poison so much as it was from the effort required to push the Mirror Queen through the mirror. I had slept for hours after failing to bring a bird the size of my thumb through the silver. It was hardly surprising that someone the size of the Mirror Queen would induce a coma. Charcoal wasn’t going to help with that.
Rinald had come to a similar conclusion, even without knowing about the mirror. “Almost reminds me of a laudanum overdose,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “Only thing to do is wait and see if she wakes up.”
“Laudanum overdose,” I said blankly.
“Saw it a few times,” Rinald said. And then, very quietly, so that only the four of us could hear, he added, “It’s not a bad way to go. She’s not in any pain.”
“Laudanum,” I said again. A thought, terrible in its possibility, had come to me. It hung suspended in the middle of my mind, fearful and glorious as a god. “Presents almost like lotus smoke…”
Javier met my eyes.
“Do I dare?” I asked him. “It almost never works. It could kill her.”
“Is she dying now?” Javier asked.
Rinald sighed. The sun was setting outside, and the shadows were deepening all the worry lines on the horse leech’s face. For a moment I could see how he would look when he was old. “Yeah,” he said. “She probably is.”
