Chapter 36 #2
The gatekeeper’s expression relaxed slightly. “All right, then. Follow the drive until you reach a fork, then take the road to the right to the greenhouse. Unload there and come back the way you came. The gardeners on staff will be there to help you.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Theo urged the horses on.
Once they were out of earshot of the gatekeeper, he leaned closer to Jade, saying in a low voice, “Take a plant inside, and when the gardeners go to the wagon to unload, start a round of the greenhouse. If they notice you’ve disappeared and ask about it, just say you were admiring the collection.
I’ll stay at the wagon to keep them occupied. ”
“Understood, Captain.” Jade smirked as she emphasized Theo’s title. Having him call the shots was different, exciting . . . fun, even. Although the reminder of why he was running lead on this one stung. Would she ever be able to fully regain Matherson’s trust?
Jade shook the thoughts clear of her mind. She could worry about that later. Right now, she had a mission to focus on.
They continued down the right lane at the fork, catching sight of the glass-walled greenhouse in the near distance.
The structure was massive—a testament to the size of Marchand’s collection of plants.
It stood two stories tall, though it was only one level, and extended the length of about three average-sized barns.
While the greenhouse’s size would make searching for two particular plants challenging, it would be easy to get lost in, which was exactly what Jade planned on doing.
Along the lane to the greenhouse, they passed magnificently manicured hedges, thoughtfully designed gardens, rows of varying trees, and lush, short-clipped grass.
To maintain all of this along with the plants in the greenhouse, Marchand’s many gardeners had to be highly skilled and varying in abilities.
One gardener ran a rotating blade over the open lawn while another pruned flowers.
A third and fourth glanced up from where they worked on their knees in a flower bed, a sack between them to collect weeds.
The wagon rolled to a stop outside the greenhouse, and Theo hopped down to meet a few gardeners who exited the building and approached them.
Jade slid down from her seat and went to the back of the wagon.
She threw open the wagon door and wrapped her arms around a pot on the smaller side, then she gave the gardeners a small smile as she approached where they spoke with Theo.
She was ready to get in the greenhouse before they even tried to stop her.
“We’ll unload these inside, yes? They must be watered at once.” Without waiting for a reply, Jade strode past the group of three gardeners and immediately dove into the jungle that awaited her inside.
Voices called out to her, but she pretended not to hear as she pressed on deeper into the greenhouse, and soon the sounds were gone.
Jade sat the plant she carried on a nearby shelf and closely examined each piece of vegetation she passed as quickly as she could.
She had an intermediate knowledge of plant life, primarily versed in plants that provided either remedies or poisons, so she could only identify about half of what she observed.
That didn’t matter, though. She only needed to spot firra and morsbane, but she had to find them both to confirm the possibility of rienevoir production.
Jade passed rows of shelves and tables loaded with plant life, purposefully grouped into categories that she couldn’t determine.
Some plants sat on the floor of the greenhouse and extended upward, reaching high into the open space below the tall ceiling.
Greens and reds and purples and whites and oranges and pinks surrounded her, a stunning array of colors that continually drew her attention.
Leaves brushed against her arms and legs as she walked through the close quarters, and the mingling fragrances of the flowering plants filled her nose and tickled her senses.
Lined pathways wound through the vegetation, a functional space as well as a beautiful one, thoughtfully designed in its layout and organization.
Jade passed benches among some taller plants and even came upon a fountain in what she assumed was the center of the greenhouse, spraying water in arcs back into the pool below.
The sheer number of various plant species made Jade’s progress through the greenhouse slow.
This building had been searched before, and neither morsbane nor firra had been found.
It would have been too easy to hide the plants away, especially if Marchand did not have a huge supply, and they may have been missed during the previous search. Jade refused to make the same mistake.
A voice echoed through the greenhouse—not Theo, so apparently one of the gardeners. Jade pressed on, ignoring the call to return and studying the plant life surrounding her. She left nothing uninvestigated. They would not get another chance like this, and she had to make it count.
Jade rounded a corner and began down a new row of plants.
Precious minutes had passed with no success.
If Marchand had stopped to talk to Thierry on the road, he might have realized Jade and Theo weren’t quite who they said they were.
He might have come back. But Jade held on to the hope that Marchand would cater to his wife’s wishes to not be late to their destination instead of coming back to see about the plant delivery.
Still nothing. Jade’s heart rammed her chest with every second that passed. A successful ending to their mission was slipping through her fingers.
Yes, there was a colossal number of plants to search through, but the components of rienevoir had to be here. Didn’t they? The military was running out of options for potential suspects, and at this point, Lord Marchand was not only a reasonable candidate, but possibly the only one left.
Someone called out again, but Jade ignored them. She went from crouching to her tiptoes, searching each and every shelf for a sign of the plants she sought. She was running out of time.
A familiar long, tapered leaf at eye level caught her attention, and Jade’s heart missed a beat.
Firra.
The potted plant sat on a shelf of leafy green vegetation, the only one of its kind. The soil in the small pot was loose and smelled fresh, as though it had been recently changed. Odd, Jade thought. It must not have been put in this pot very long ago.
Jade reached for the stem of the firra plant, its rippling leaves and white flowers jutting out of the rich brown soil.
Though she was tempted to dig her fingers in the dirt and confirm the presence of the thick tuber—the portion of the plant used in the poison—she refrained, trusting that if the plant was indeed living, it had roots.
She plucked a stem with a flower and a few leaves just as the pounding of hurried footsteps reached her ears, growing louder quickly and coming in her direction.
Jade shoved the plant in a pouch at her waist and turned to leave, but she crashed into the broad body of the person who had been running toward her.
“Theo!” she cried in a whisper as she saw the face atop the body she had slammed into. His brow was creased as he dipped his face close to hers.
“We have to hurry. The gardeners are unloading, but they won’t be occupied for long.” Theo threw a glance over his shoulder. “I told them you had probably gotten distracted by the collection and I would come looking for you so we could leave as soon as they were done.”
“Any sign of Marchand coming back?” Jade asked, her eyes flicking past Theo down the aisle of plants.
“Not yet, but that doesn’t mean he won’t.”
Jade opened the top of her pouch to reveal the stem shoved inside. “I found firra. We need to comb the rest of this place for morsbane, and then we have our evidence.”
“Right.” Theo nodded. “I’ll finish this row if you take the next one.”
Jade nodded in return and rushed to the neighboring pathway, picking up her pace.
Adrenaline pushed through her veins with every beat of her heart, bringing a slight tremble to her limbs.
If she wasn’t careful, the rush would make her sloppy, and she could miss a hidden morsbane plant.
Jade inhaled slowly, bringing down the clamoring of her heart, and as she released the breath, she narrowed her focus on the shelves in front of her.
Though she surveyed each side of the path from top to bottom, she found no morsbane. She could only hope Theo was having better luck than her.
Voices called again from the front of the greenhouse. The gardeners must have finished unloading. Jade’s time was almost up.
She passed another table, coming up on a break in the row, but she did a double take to her right. Tucked in between other vines and creeping plants was a loose bundle of the thin vine and heart-shaped, mottled leaf that composed morsbane.
Jade gasped, reaching out for the plant.
Her hand trailed the length of the vine, but she couldn’t find its root.
She plucked a piece of vine and stem and added it to her pouch before turning the corner and searching for Theo.
He stood farther down the next row of plants than she did, and Jade ran to him.
“I’ve got it,” she said, but approaching footsteps stopped her from saying anything else.
Theo’s eyes flashed in the direction of the footsteps, and in one swift movement, he wound his arms around Jade’s back and pulled her in for a kiss.
Jade’s stomach tumbled at least twice, the kiss completely taking her by surprise. She picked up on what Theo was doing and entwined her arms around his neck as he dipped her back and deepened the kiss.
“Oi!” shouted a voice from down the row. “Whaddya think you’re doin’?”
Jade and Theo broke apart and looked over at the gardener, who had his hands on his hips as he stared them down. Jade brought her fingers to her lips and dipped her head, trying to appear thoroughly embarrassed. Theo ran a hand through his hair as he turned away from her.
“Tryin’ to sneak off and hide so you can snog?” The gardener blew out an annoyed breath in a harrumph. “There’ll be no canoodlin’ in here! I’m sure your employer would be interested in hearing about this. Out with ya!”
Jade hurried past the gardener, keeping her head ducked in perceived shame, and Theo muttered apologies to the gardener as he followed her out of the greenhouse. They climbed up onto the seat of their now-empty wagon, getting the horses moving down the lane without delay.
“We’ll have to go out the gate again,” Jade began as they put the accusing eyes of the gardeners behind them, “but as soon as we get back out on the main road, turn opposite of the way we came. It’ll reduce our chances of running into Marchand.”
Theo cocked his head, a half-smile on his face. “I thought I was running this mission.”
A snarky laugh left Jade’s throat as she rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Captain. I suggest we turn the other way to save our own necks.”
“That’s better,” Theo said, his smile still curling his lips and a humorous gleam shining in his eyes. He sobered as he added, “So, you found both?”
Jade nodded. “Yeah. I’m surprised they weren’t found in our initial investigation.”
“Unless Marchand knew the military was coming and hid them somewhere,” Theo suggested. “He had no idea we were coming this time.”
“Still,” Jade mused. Something about it didn’t sit quite right with her. “I imagine he would have tried to hide them better than that.”
Theo angled his head toward Jade with a grin. “I think you’re just discounting how good you are at your job.”
Jade smiled at the compliment, but it didn’t settle her. Normally, she would have gladly accepted the praise and moved on, but the plants hadn’t been exceptionally difficult to find, and it didn’t make sense.
They fell silent as they rolled through the opening gate, giving polite nods to the gatekeeper as they left the grounds.
Following Jade’s suggestion, Theo turned the horses to the right.
It would take longer to get back to base this way, but as long as they made it back, it didn’t matter. They had done it.
The military would be able to accuse Lord Marchand of organizing the murders of all those connected to the Conflict of Succession who had been poisoned with rienevoir.
With Lord Grannam dead, nothing else stood in the way of Prince Reynauld taking his rightful place on the throne following the death of his brother.
Only some new push from Arabella might interfere, but she’d been quiet recently.
It didn’t make sense to Jade, not when Arabella was so close to the throne.
Something must have changed, but Jade had no idea what it was.
Nicolas had asked Jade to gather information on Arabella, and she hadn’t. Her stomach squirmed as she thought back to Nicolas, to the moment in the Fellsrin home when he had saved her . . . and what had followed. She closed her eyes to banish the thoughts from her mind.
But they didn’t leave completely. Had Nicolas ever suspected Marchand? What would he do with the evidence she had found?
Those questions didn’t matter. Jade was taking the evidence to Commander Matherson, and the military would take formal action. The better question was: How would Nicolas react to finding out she had chosen to not bring it to him?