#balekin greenbriar

Oh my god I figured out who poisoned Cardan at the end of The Wicked King.

We know that Balekin is behind the poisoning, but surely it wasn’t Balekin himself who put the actual poison in Cardan’s food. Balekin is now an ambassador, but he wouldn’t have kitchen privileges and the Court of Shadows would be watching Balekin closely.

So who poisoned Cardan?

Tatterfell.

Tatterfell is Madoc’s servant who was assigned to Jude while she lived in his household. Taryn brings Tatterfell to Jude in The Wicked King to take care of Jude, since Jude’s bad at hygiene. Of course, Jude is immediately suspicious:

I look into the imp’s inkdrop eyes. “You mean Madoc has her spying for him.”Tatterfell’s lip curls, and I am reminded how sharply she pinches.“Aren’t you a sly and suspicious girl? You ought to be ashamed, saying such a thing.”

Note that Tatterfell never denies that she’s spying for Madoc. She just makes Jude feel guilty for suggesting it. Tatterfell never swears allegiance to Jude. She is loyal to Madoc, who spared her lover’s life. 

The last time we see Tatterfell, she’s back at Madoc’s house looking after Jude following Jude’s Undersea ordeal. But Tatterfell could get back into the palace as an acknowledged and recognized servant of the High King’s seneschal. And as Jude discovered in The Cruel Prince, servants often fade into the background and are quickly forgotten by others. As a servant, Tatterfell would be able to go to the kitchens, and she would have access to Cardan’s food and drink. 

Of course, this would require Madoc to re-team up with Balekin. It would require Madoc to form an alliance with the man who imprisoned his foster daughter, and for Balekin to trust Madoc again after the crown debacle in The Cruel Prince. Which I admit is a stretch.

But Balekin may be feeling short on allies, and Madoc doesn’t mind teaming up with people he dislikes so long as he feels he can maintain the upper hand. At the final revel when Cardan is poisoned, Madoc disgustedly tells Jude:

“Is this going according to your plan?” he demands under his breath. “Your puppet is drunk. Get him out of here.”

“I’ll try,” I say.

“I have stood by long enough,” Madoc says, his cat eyes staring into mine. “Get your puppet to abdicate the throne in favor of your brother or face the consequences. I won’t ask you again. It’s now or never.”

Madoc tells Jude that Cardan is drunk. Jude assumes, like the rest of us at this point, that Madoc means drunk on alcohol. But what if Madoc was twisting his words? ‘Drunk’ can mean a variety of things. Cardan could have drunk any beverage recently. Cardan could be drunk on something other than alcohol - a good argument could be made that Cardan is drunk on love for Jude at this point. Madoc follows his observation up with a threat: get Cardan to abdicate or face the consequences. Is that a veiled threat at Cardan’s demise from poisoning?

The more I think about it, the more I believe that Madoc has prepared for the moment he breaks with the Crown. Taryn (or Tatterfell) has already scouted out Jude’s clothing and then had the clothing handy for Taryn to change into (Taryn couldn’t have grabbed Jude’s clothing during the final revel because Jude, Cardan, and co. camp out there fairly quickly to deal with the poisoning, so she must have obtained it beforehand). Madoc has assembled and prepped his troops, and considered exactly how many he needs for a proper civil war and how many he can convince Cardan to part with. 

The moment the revel begins, Madoc is already ready to launch his civil war.

So Madoc knew that Balekin was going to make his move, and had his own pieces in place. Madoc was aware of Cardan’s poisoning in advance.

And Tatterfell was the pawn that made it all happen.