Free A Little Taste of Poison by R. J. Anderson Page A

she heard Paskin’s snide comments about Isaveth being poor and decided to put this upstart back in her place?
    She brooded over it for the rest of the afternoon, so distracted that she’d walked halfway to the gate before realizing she hadn’t checked the library for a message. What if Esmond had found out something important about Eryx? Could that be why he’d made a point of greeting her and Eulalie this morning?
    Squinting into the icy wind, Isaveth ran back, up the steps, and through the pillared entrance of the library. She searched the shelves for the books on agriculture, and flipped through one after another until a scrap of paper fluttered out.
    Same place and time. Be careful. —Q
    The Q was for his nickname, of course, so if anyone found the note they wouldn’t guess who had written it. But the sight of the initial made Isaveth’s throat ache. Quiz had been eccentric, erratic, and occasionally exasperating, but at least he’d been an equal, someone whose feelings and motives she could understand. She crumpled the note into her bag and turned away.
    When she came up the stairs of the bell tower, Esmond was pacing the landing, hands clenched behind his back. “There you are,” he said. “I thought you’d forgotten.”
    Isaveth didn’t bother explaining. She crossed to the makeshift bench and sat down, waiting to hear what he had to say.
    â€œLook, I’m sure you’ve been wondering about this morning. But Eryx already knows how I—I mean, he knows we’re friends, so I thought it would be more suspicious to pretend I didn’t know you. And acting the plummy noble was the only way I could keep from punching that noxious little weed in the face.”
    Well, at least he was honest about it. “What made you so angry?” she asked. “I don’t mean Paskin. I mean before.” And afterward in the dining hall, too. Why was he so different with Isaveth than he was around his fellow nobles? Surely they couldn’t all be unworthy of his friendship. . . .
    Esmond sighed and dropped onto the bench beside her. “I really thought I was on to something,” he said. “All I had to do was hunt down Eryx’s stash of blackmail letters—you know, the ones we were trying to find when we searched his study. They’ve got to be in the house, or so close that they might as well be. You know why, don’t you?”
    Isaveth nodded.
    â€œWell, I poked through everything papery I could get my hands on—I even had a look through Father’s office, just in case. But I couldn’t find anything, and there’s nowhere left to search.” He raked his fingers up into his hair. “It’s driving me mad.”
    Which was only half an answer, but still a relief. Isaveth had been starting to wonder if Esmond hated everyone who wasn’t poor, and she didn’t care for that idea at all. . . .
    But then, she was beginning to have similar doubts about Eulalie. In many ways she was the kind of friend Isaveth had always dreamed of, a girl her own age who liked her just as she was. Yet the way Eulalie had insisted on buying her lunch made Isaveth feel more like an adopted pet than an equal. Did Eulalie really believe she was clever and interesting, or was it only flattery? And why had she chosen Isaveth, over all the other girls at the college?
    â€œIsaveth?”asked Esmond, and she gazed at him blankly before remembering they’d been talking about Eryx. Focus, Isaveth.
    â€œHe might have moved the papers after he found us ransacking his study,” she said, hoping her distraction hadn’t been obvious. “Wouldn’t you?”
    Esmond gave a short laugh. “Eryx is far too arrogant for that. It would look like he was afraid of us.”
    He is, Isaveth wanted to say. That’s why he offered me two regals to stop being friends with you. But she couldn’t say so