Page 68 of The Dark Hiss of Magic
I met Adrienne’s eyes and spoke to her gently in the same way I’d have spoken to She Who Loves Sunbeams. ‘Let’s go in so you can sit down, then we’ll tell you.’
Adrienne folded her arms, clearly determined to refuse, but despite her attempt at a tough-guy exterior tears were alreadybrimming in her eyes. My heart lurched. Breaking bad news never got any easier.
Before I could respond, something brushed against my ankles. I glanced down and saw a sleek tabby cat. Without thinking, I crouched down to stroke him. When I straightened up, Adrienne’s jaw had dropped. ‘I’ve never seen him let a stranger touch him before.’ She shook her head in amazement. ‘Ever.’
The cat miaowed softly. ‘He Who Guards,’ I said quietly. ‘Nice to meet you.’ The cat purred.
Adrienne’s tongue wet her lips. She looked from me to the tabby and back again. ‘Okay,’ she said in a strained voice. ‘You can come in.’
Her hands were shaking as she unlocked the front door and they were still shaking when she sat down opposite Thane and me in her large living room. He Who Guards butted his head against me, reiterating his tacit approval of my presence in his house, then jumped onto Adrienne’s lap. Good. She would need him.
‘Tell me,’ she whispered. ‘Tell me everything.’
I got straight to the point: delaying would only prolong her misery. Not that my words would cheer her up – I suspected it would be a long time before Adrienne felt cheerful again. ‘There have been three murders in the past few days. We’ve identified the victims as Knox Thunderstick, Simon Campbell and Ian Ravensheart.’
Adrienne didn’t immediately react; in fact, my devastating words barely seemed to register. The tears that had been threatening vanished. I swallowed, wishing I had a glass of water.
‘We’re not the authorities, Adrienne,’ Thane told her. ‘We’re not from the MET, and we don’t have any vested interest beyond bringing the killer to justice. We believe the sameperson has murdered all three of them. As far as we can tell, it’s because…’
He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence before Adrienne interrupted him. ‘Silphium,’ she said flatly. ‘It’s because of silphium.’
I leaned forward. ‘You know about it?’
‘I thought it was a damned weed,’ she muttered. ‘But Knox was sure it was silphium. I’d never even heard of it until a few weeks ago. But when I started researching what it was …’ Her voice trailed off miserably.
He Who Guards nudged her hand and his small pink tongue darted out to lick it in sympathy.
‘Where did it come from?’ I asked.
‘Drumelzier,’ she said, her eyes vacant.
I knew immediately where she meant because I’d been there myself a couple of times. There was a spot sacred to druids to the west of Coldstream but still close to the River Tweed. Myrddin – or Merlin as he was more popularly known – was supposedly buried there. The enchantments buried into the ground were certainly strong, although whether Myrddin was actually there or not remained up for debate. If an ancient magical plant was going to show up anywhere, I guessed it would show up on the grave of the most famous Preternatural of all time.
My mind flashed back to the trail of complaints I’d overheard from the beardy druids at the bar on Hirsel Street. They’d been upset that they were banned from visiting the site by the druidic board of governors, which meant that the druid governors also knew about the existence of silphium and were hoping to find more of it for themselves. It explained their raging desire to question Fetch Jackson at the MET station. Shit.
‘Is it still there?’ Thane asked. ‘Is there any more silphium at Drumelzier?’
She shook her head. ‘There was only one tiny plant. It was small and bedraggled and looked like nothing at all. Knox dug it up and brought it back here because he said it was silphium. We all laughed at him, but he was certain. He reckoned that if he could grow more of it he’d earn a fortune.’
‘Did he manage to propagate the plant?’ I pressed.
She nodded. ‘Not from cuttings – he found a way to extract seeds from the stalk of the original plant.’ Her eyes flicked between us, then she carefully nudged He Who Guards away from her lap. She stood up, walked to the mantelpiece and retrieved a small wooden box. ‘See for yourself. There are some dried silphium leaves inside.’
When I opened the lid, the effect was instantaneous: I was enveloped in a cloud of magic so strong that my eyes began to water. Thane choked as I snapped the lid closed. Bloody hell.
‘Knox gave us all a free sample,’ Adrienne said. ‘He wanted us to test it out.’
‘When you say “all of us”,’ I prodded, ‘who do you mean exactly?’
‘Me, Ian and Simon. He wanted us to show it to anyone we knew who might be interested in buying it.’ She gestured to the box. ‘The sample was proof that it worked, that it really was silphium.’
‘Did he give any to Harriet?’ I asked, worried that she might also be a target.
‘His foster sister?’ Adrienne’s mouth twisted. ‘Definitely not. She disapproved of Knox’s schemes so he knew better than to tell her what he was up to.’
I put the box on the table between us; even holding it felt dangerous. ‘Are there any more seeds?’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes shifted. ‘Knox thought he was being followed so he gave them to Simon to hide until an agreement had beenreached with a buyer. Before you ask, I don’t know where Simon put them. He didn’t tell me.’
