“Sabotage?” The girls around us burst into loud chatter.
“Could it be possible? How would she do it?”
“Anything’s possible. She could have done it.”
“Someone get the guards! If it’s true, that’s an attempt on the Queen’s life!”
At the sound of that accusation, the guards closed in around my table. One of them scurried off, only to return quickly with Joseph himself in tow.
“This is getting out of hand,” I said. “Linda, tell them this wasn’t sabotage.”
“Why would I?” Linda said. “How else would my appetizer make the Queen sick? You didn’t… poison it, did you, Piper?”
At the mention of poison, the crowd gasped.
“What? No!” I held my hands up, but the guards had taken renewed interest in me.
“What’s this about poison?” Joseph said, bullying his way to my side.
“Nothing,” I said quic
