“When the Northern Courts were fighting the Southern Alliance, both sides weaponized emotional magic.” She gestured to the plants with her pencil. “There are accounts of entire groves being corrupted this way, plants severed from their connection to the land’s emotional resonance as a form of psychological warfare.”
“Wasn’t that at least six centuries ago?” Sasha asked.
“Indeed. The techniques were supposedly lost when the peace accords banned such practices.” Lady Kenneth’s eyes gleamed with the particular excitement scholars got when they had the chance to speak about a favorite subject. “Here we have a perfect example of magical necrosis achieved through emotional starvation. From what I can tell, this isn’t spell damage. That would leave residue, a fine, gritty powder on the leaves themselves. This is a sustained dampening effect.”
I reached out with my magical senses again, forcing myself past the instinctive recoil. Lady Kenneth was right. I found no spell traces on the plants. Whoever had done this was either very good or they’d taken care not to leave obvious evidence.
“Show me,” Sasha said, her hand finding mine.
Our connection had been strengthening the plants around us for days. Maybe together we could read what had happened here in a way neither of us could alone.
I laced my fingers through hers, and warmth sparked between our palms. Her plant magic rose to meet my fae intuition, the two energies weaving together with increasing ease. I sensed Savory adding her own magic to strengthen ours.
We focused on the nearest orchid, letting our senses probe the blackened flower.
I felt what Lady Kenneth had described. This wasn’t death but a severing. Someone had cut their connection to the emotional energy that sustained them, much like strangling a person by cutting off their air supply.
“It’s skilled work,” Sasha said. “Whoever did this knows exactly how emotion-responsive plants function. They didn’t just dampen the magic, they methodically dismantled the plants’ ability to receive it.”
Around us, other plants in the greenhouse began responding to our joined presence. A cluster of ferns in the corner stretched toward the light. Herbs along the windowsill straightened, reaching toward us.
Hope flickered in my chest. Our connection created islands of healthy energy even in this corrupted space. Maybe we could use that. Maybe?—
A servant appeared at the greenhouse entrance, slightly out of breath.
“Lady Kenneth? A package has arrived for you from the Eastern Winds court.”
The lady’s head snapped up, her excitement overriding even the magical mystery inside the greenhouse. “The texts are here already?”
“I assume so, my lady. We’ve placed the delivery in the main hall.”
“If you’ll excuse me, Your Majesties.” Lady Kenneth closed her notebook and hugged it to her chest, moving around us and toward the entrance. “I’ll review the volumes immediately. Given what we’re seeing here, there may be relevant historical information that could help our investigation.” She paused at the open doorway. “I’ll have them catalogued and waiting in your office as soon as I can.”
She left.
With a growl, I turned back to the orchids, clenching my hands into fists.
“This isn’t just sabotage anymore,” I said. “This is an attack on everything our court represents. The festival is sacred. Without it…” I couldn’t finish the thought.
Sasha leaned into my side. “We won’t let them win.”
“We only have one day left to solve this and save the festival.”
“If need be, we’ll adapt.” Her gaze swept across the greenhouse. “Whoever did this will be back, not to do damage here, but to make sure everything is ruined.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because they’re escalating.” She gestured to the blackened plants. “The earlier dampening wasn’t enough. My assumption is that they need to make sure the festival fails, which means they’ll want to verify their work succeeded and make sure everything else is in the same state. Or…” Her eyes lit up. “We could set the trap. It would be perfect.”
“I can have fresh plants delivered this afternoon for festival backup.”
“And we make sure everyone knows about it.” Sheturned to face me fully. “Then we’ll watch who shows up tonight to sabotage the new plants.”
Our plan might be risky, but we were running out of time.
“I need to coordinate with the gardener,” I said, my mind already racing through logistics.
“And we need to review whatever Lady Kenneth finds in those texts. Historical precedent might tell us what we’re really dealing with here.”
