Free The Fall of Ventaris by Neil McGarry, Daniel Ravipinto, Amy Houser

and anything else that could possibly be consumed. Before long it got so that neither would eat nor drink anything he hadn’t either prepared himself or seen prepared. Then it was envenomed clothing and other personal items. After a few temple servants unaccountably died after handling laundry or changing bed sheets, the other keepers decided that things had gone far enough, and they sent a message, subtle but unmistakable, that the issue had to be either settled or dropped.”
    “And that ended it?” Duchess asked.
    “Of course not.” Minette gestured to a water boy, who rushed over with a dripping bladder and filled a wooden cup. “It did force both of them to be more circumspect, and in the bargain ruined a good deal of gossip from Temple District. Still, the best was yet to come.” She sipped thoughtfully and offered Duchess the cup. “You’ve heard of the Feast of the Many?”
    Duchess took a drink. The Feast was not celebrated by the common folk, but amongst the well born it was a yearly ritual. Held just before the harvest, the Feast of the Many was a great banquet at which the food was provided not by the host, but by the guests themselves. Each attendee was required to bring a dish already prepared, to share with the other diners. The original intent was to show humility to the gods, and to curry favor in hopes of a good harvest, but as with all things noble, it became another chance to outshine one’s peers. Duchess remembered the Feasts her father had hosted, and the wide array of mouth-watering food the guests had brought. She had only been allowed to attend the opening of the meal, and the next morning Justin and Marguerite, who were allowed to stay up later, teased her with tales of what she’d missed. Well, Justin teased. Marguerite had always been too proper for such antics. “I know of it,” she replied, fighting back the sudden wave of nostalgia.
    “The keepers always attend, and figures like Jadis and Malachar, both candidates for First Keeper, were of course invited to the most popular events. So it was last autumn, when Lady Vorloi hosted the Feast at her city estate. Very few can turn down one of her invitations, and so there was no question that either Jadis or Malachar would decline.” Minette smiled obscurely. “She’s a saucy one, our Lady Vorloi, and not one to be trifled with.” Duchess waited to see if Minette would elaborate, but of course she didn’t. “In any case, everyone who attended that dinner was wild to see how Malachar and Jadis would behave. After all, the two had spent much of the last year avoiding eating or drinking anything the other had prepared, and at the Feast it’s bad form to refuse to sample anything. You don’t have to eat much, mind you, but it’s expected that each guest try at least a nibble of every dish. To do otherwise is to insult both the host and the person whose dish was refused.”
    “So Malachar ate the food Jadis brought?”
    “Hardly.” Minette sipped more water and rested the half-empty cup on her knee. “All through dinner Malachar kept a wary eye on his rival, making certain to eat only what Jadis did, which of course was everything. Jadis seemed quite unfazed by the scrutiny, and dined as if nothing were amiss. He even ate the food Malachar had brought. He himself had brought a dish that not only looked delicious but was exotic as well, a Domae delicacy known as yaggat . Some kind of fermented goat’s milk, I’m told, thickened with cheese and sweetened with honey and almond paste. The guests were wild to try it. Malachar, of course, held off as long as he could, attempting to turn aside attention with clever conversation, but all eyes were on him. He fretted and fidgeted and sweated, but when the yaggat was finally set before him he put down his spoon, red-faced. He held his life in higher regard than his reputation, you see.” She shrugged. “In the end he lost both. Two days later, he died of a bad belly.”
    Duchess was