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"Perhaps I can co your … Weed Gatherer has yet to try" Leesha kept the bitterness from her voice, but the duchess picked up on it anyway

"No doubt Bruna ranted at length on the evils of weed gathering," Araine said, "but she never had more than a few hundred children to care for, and, as I recall, was never shy about dosing folk without their knowledge"

"Always to help," Leesha said "Never to hurt"

"Oho!" Araine said "So she was helping when she threw blinding powder in someone’s face? Or hit theood," Leesha said "She didn’t poison"

"Perhaps" Araine smiled over the rim of her delicate cup "But you have, haven’t you? All the Sharum in your caravan this surow cold How had the duchess heard of that? "That was a mistake One I won’t repeat"

"A promise like that makes you a fool or a liar," Araine said "Time will tell You have power, and a day will come when you have to use it, or be destroyed"

She set down her tea, picking up an eers belied her advanced years as she worked "Regardless, Mistress Jessa was trained by Bruna herself, and has the royal libraries at her disposal I’ll wager she’s forgotten more about herbs than you know If she says she’s tried everything, then she has"

"Then what do you need me for?" Leesha asked

"Because you have tools she doesn’t," Araine said "Jessa knows her herbs, but she’s less skilled with the knife"

"And if Rhinebeck needs a cut between the legs to let his seed flow?" Leesha asked "How are we to arrange that, if he won’t even let me examine him?"

"If it comes to that," Araine said, "we’ll put tampweed and skyflower in his ale and keep him out till it’s done Tell hi and took a tusk between the legs

"But now there’s a third option" Araine kept her eyes on her hoop "Magic"

"It doesn’t work quite like that," Leesha said "The body heals itself, ic just speeds the process If Rhinebeck was born with a … defect, there isn’t ht with you?" Araine demanded

"You want to involve her in this?" Leesha asked

"Don’t be stupid," Araine said "We tell her it’s some other noble exists," Leesha said

"You’d best hope it does," Araine said "Tio to the backup plan"

"And that is?" Leesha asked

Araine s duchess"