“Are you ready to tell us why you needed our assistance?” Iannis asked. His expression was calm, but I could sense the fury thrumming under his rigid control.

“Yes, it might be best to move on,” the Minister said with a slightly nervous glance at Iannis. He initialed the report he’d been reading and tucked it away before giving us his full attention. “As you know, I have recently expended a great deal of time and effort to thoroughly purge my office of anyone untrustworthy.”

“Yes, I remember.” The anger in Iannis’s eyes died away, replaced by intensity as he focused on the subject that had brought us three thousand miles away from home. “Have you discovered something useful during said purging?”

“Indeed I have.” The Minister scowled. “I managed to identify the human staff member who administered the drug which made me so ill—according to her confession, it was put into the milk I use with my coffee. I have taken to drinking it black now. Thank the Creator that you were able to cure me. It seems the conspirators were confident that no mage would be able to do so.”

“Healing is one of my stronger talents,” Iannis said drily. “It was not easy, even for me, especially as we caught it so late.”

“Just so. After lengthy questioning, the staff member, who worked in the Capitol kitchens as an assistant cook, confessed that the substance she put in my milk came from a Doctor Elan Mitas. He’s a physician with a successful practice right here in Dara.” The Minister’s lips twisted into a grim smile. “For some reason, the idiot human had chosen not to flee, so it was easy enough to apprehend him.”

“That is excellent news!” Iannis leaned forward a little, like a bloodhound that had suddenly latched onto a promising scent. “What have you learned from him?”

“Not nearly enough.” The Minister frowned, looking quite irritated now. “He has a remarkably strong mind and is resistant to truth spells, which is likely why the Benefactor recruited him in the first place. But we had his house and practice searched, and postal receipts in his house lead us to suspect that the substance might have been forwarded from somewhere in the Northwest. We did find one smallish parcel dispatched from Wacoma. However, there is no proof, and it might have contained something else entirely. Dr. Mitas refuses to say.”

Iannis looked grave. “That is not much to go on, but better than nothing. You want us to follow up on the origins of this deadly substance?”