Gabby finally lost her temper entirely. “Yes, you should have! Because you and my father are two of a kind. You are childish, whining, stupid men!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “You made an absurd vow not to take medicines, which you adhered to out of pure stubbornness. And now—and now that you’ve been cured, you stand around and complain, rather than saying thank you!”

Quill’s eyes flared. “Stupid, am I? At least I haven’t tried to kill anyone in the recent past!”

“I didn’t try to kill you!” Gabby shrieked. “This medicine is harmless! Harmless!”

“Yes?” Quill said, his voice low but razor-sharp. “I don’t see you volunteering to take poison! It’s easy enough to sneak a so-called harmless poison to someone else.”

Gabby met his eyes, and then with a lightning-quick movement she twisted off the top and poured the medicine into her mouth, just as Quill lunged forward and knocked the bottle to the floor.

“Too late,” Gabby said defiantly, her chin jutting forward. “I am not afraid to try the medicine, and I did not try to kill you.”

Quill had gone dead-white. “My God, Gabby, what have you done?” he whispered. “Where is Sudhakar?”

She shrugged. She walked past him and sat on the side of the bed. She was feeling a bit embarrassed by her own dramatics. “On his way back to India.”

“That medicine was measured for a grown man, wasn’t it, Gabby?”

“I’m as big as a grown man, almost,” she said.

“Hardly,” Quill said.

“I don’t mind feeling drowsy for a day or so,” Gabby said, “as long as you don’t keep saying I tried to kill you. Because I didn’t.” But her tone wasn’t very defiant anymore. She had a terrible feeling that her temper had gotten the better of her once again.

“Do you know what vessel Sudhakar was planning to take, Gabby?”

“No,” she replied vaguely. “But he’s likely well out to sea by now. Don’t worry. He said the dose wears off in twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” She felt as if her eyes were crossing. She could see two or three Quills. He was clutching her hands so tightly that it hurt.

Suddenly he threw open the bedroom door, shouting for Codswallop. She could hear him as if from a long way off, instructing the butler to find Sudhakar if he was still in London. She curled her fingers into the edge of the coverlet. She was starting to feel dizzy.

It felt like hours before Quill suddenly reappeared before her. She gasped as his face swung close to hers.

“The drug affects your eyesight,” Quill said. “Remember? I thought you had a halo last night.”