For a long moment, neither of us said anything. I wasn't sure what to say, and it looked like Jacob was trying to gather his thoughts. He frowned, looking at me. But he didn't seem angry, he seemed more confused than anything else.
I wanted to help him find his words, but I knew that there wasn't much that I could do. I knew that the best thing to do would just be to give him some time to work through everything on his own.
“I," Jacob said eventually. “I," he hesitated, swallowed hard, and then spoke again. “This is my fault. I haven't impressed on you the importance of safety in my line of work."
Whatever I'd thought he was going to say, that wasn't it. He was wrong, this wasn't his fault, I hadn't been poisoned because I hadn't understood the dangers properly. But I knew that I couldn
