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 theplant 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 plantswas 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 outon 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. Isuggestwe turn the other way to save our own necks.”
