Asa hooked his thumbs into my belt loops. “The siblings’ locations?”
“Maybe?” I couldn’t make sense of it. “That would make her an uncontested heir, but what do we know about her father? Or her mother? Are they likely to have more children? If the parents can reproduce, independently or together, they’re moot. If the parents can’t, then we might have motive.”
Siblicide was her favorite extracurricular, and she struck me as a woman serious about her hobbies.
“Can we call Aedan?” Clay hit on the simplest, if most awkward, solution. “Ask him?”
“I haven’t set him up with a cell yet.” I checked the time. “The shop is open. I’ll try there first.”
“Hollis Apothecary,” Aedan answered in a professional tone. “How can we help you today?”
“You sound so official.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “Can you get someplace private?”
Human ears had limits. We could talk without fear of being overheard. If he could find a quiet spot.
“Yes, ma’am.” He kept his customer service voice dialed high. “Let me check the back for you.”
That was a line straight out of Camber’s mouth when she wanted a minute to chat with a friend.
He was a quick study. Good for him. That would come in handy wherever he landed workwise.
“Okay,” he said, lower. “That bought us some time, but not much.”
“Are your parents still producing heirs?”
“Um.”
“I hate to be blunt, but I need to know.”
“They’re dead.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I’m not.” He rustled papers in the background. “They were pretty terrible, but then again, they did protect their line. Now that they’re gone, the only thing standing between Delma and the rest of our siblings is…me.”
“Can I ask how they died?”
“Delma poisoned the water in the small pond kingdom where our father was born. He went home for a visit, breathed in the poison through his gills, and died in days. Mother too. And about a dozen others.”
“Fun times.” I bit my tongue, but it was too late, and he did say they were terrible. “Have you ever heard of the Devlin Wildlife Center?”
“No.” He sounded curious. “Should I have?”
“Your sister hasn’t mentioned it?”
“The only thing my sister has mentioned to me lately is wanting me dead, so no.”
“Hmm.”
“You don’t think I have anything to do with this? The creatures and Delma showing up, I mean?”
“No.” I was quick to reassure him. “I’m just nailing down loose ends.”
“Colby emailed me a picture of you covered in spiderweb, FYI.” He paused, suddenly unsure. “Hope you don’t mind, I checked my account on the shop computer.”
A door shut in the background, and a spurt of hiccups announced the visitor. “H-hey.”
“I apologize, ma’am,” he rushed out to me, “but we’re out of the flavor lip balm you requested. Should I add you to a waitlist?”