Venomous Gaze - Chapter 8 - Plans within Plans (Patreon)

“So, what do you think?” Kathrine whispered as soon as she caught up with me in the hallway.

“I think that even though she tried to hide it, your mother is absolutely livid right now,” I replied. “I mean, when’s the last time you saw her interrupt dinner to talk about something, or damage the furniture in rage? She’s pissed.”

Kathrine nodded. “She doesn’t care that Uncle Andreas was injured; she sees this as an attack upon her authority and wants it taken care of. She’s sending us because she’s taken me to a few diplomatic events before, and some of the factions might recognize me and think that we’re fully cooperating with them, but I doubt we’re the only ones she’ll be sending.”

“We’re the distraction,” I muttered. 

“Well, I’m sure she’d be thrilled if the task force took care of the problem, but knowing her, there’s absolutely no way she’d rely upon them; She doesn’t think very highly of the other families.” Kathrine declared quietly. “She’s sending us to keep up appearances, not to take care of the problem.”

“What I don’t get is why she singled me out to go,” I said. “The only time I’ve dealt with the other families is during clandestine meetings when I’m fully masked up. We must have, what? Two dozen registered alchemists in the capital? It’s not like they actually need me there.”

“Unless whatever the council was dosed with is something that the locals can’t deal with,” Kathrine replied. 

“That’s a scary prospect. The local guild leader should have a copy of the Salvenum compendium; it has a list of all our known toxins and cures,” I said.

“All of our publicly acknowledged toxins,” Kathrine whispered. “It doesn’t include our serums, or any of the family’s personal poisons.”

“You think someone in the family betrayed us?” I hissed, lowering my voice to make sure no one could hear me.

“I can’t think of another reason for Mother to send you. Not only have you memorized most of the family’s private archives, including your mother’s personal journals. If anyone can figure out what they used, it’s you,” she replied.

“If the council was exposed to the family archive, it wouldn’t be necessary to send me,” I muttered. “They’d already be dead.”

“And if it’s something completely new you’d still be the best person to send, you know that. Stop being difficult,” Kathrine growled before glancing back at the dining room. “I don’t know how long we have until everyone else completes dinner, but I have a feeling that once they get out of there Mother will want us to leave almost immediately. Do you have anything you need to do before we go?”

I leaned back and thought for a moment. “I’d like to grab a couple of things from the greenhouse,” I finally said. “If the locals can’t deal with whatever poison the council was exposed to, it might be a good idea to have some rarer herbs on hand in case I need them.” 

“Alright,” Kathrine agreed. “While you’re doing that, I’ll use a communication crystal to contact the estate in the capital to get an update on the situation, and to make sure there’s a tailor on standby when we arrive.”

“Why would we need a tailor?” I asked with a frown. 

“Because we need to look presentable when we meet the other houses, and I know you. You probably have three or four formal outfits in your closet for family functions, and the rest will be either work or combat gear,” Kathrine said. 

“I haven’t needed anything else until this point,” I said.

“Well, you do now. We need to make a good impression with the other houses,” Kathrine declared sternly.

“Fine. It’s not like I have much of a choice,” I grumbled. 

“What do you want to do about that maid you met?” Kathrine asked.

“Ugh… I forgot about her for a minute,” I groaned. “I don’t know what to do about her.... I was planning to send her to Brighthome, more to spite Dimitri than anything else, but I doubt I have time to arrange that now. Your brother doesn’t respect his underlings, and I have no doubt he’ll try to dispose of her after she failed to drug me.”

“Well, I think it’s far more likely he’ll beat her half to death in order to work out his frustration after you humiliated him. It’s still debatable whether she’d survive that,” Kathrine casually declared.

“I cannot wait for that failure to be disowned so I can deal with him properly,” I muttered. 

“It won’t be long now. He’s still under the impression that he’s favored by our mother, despite being repeatedly admonished and receiving less and less support. The idiot doesn’t understand that despite favouring the family over outsiders, the inner circle is still a meritocracy,” Kathrine grunted. “Anyways… since you don’t have time to sort everything out, how about we take those maids with us. Most noble ladies travel with either a maid or secretary, so they’ll help us with our cover, and we can arrange a new position for them while we’re in the capital.”

“Won’t they slow us down?” I asked.

“Why would they slow us down?” Kathrine asked, looking at me through narrowed eyes. “We’re going to be cooperating with the other four great houses, not jumping across roof tops or luring someone into a dark alley so we can stab them in the back.” 

“That’s what you said back in Brighthome,” I scoffed. “And you know what happened there.”

“Touche,” Kathrine replied smoothly. “I should say we probably won’t be doing that during our regular investigation. We need to keep up appearances.”

“Well, you know me, I’ve always been far more interested doing research and field work than playing noble, so you’d know the in and outs of that world better than I would. If you think it’s a good idea, then I’ll trust you,” I said.

“Then I’ll make the arrangements,” Kathrine replied. Her eyes shifted back to the dining room for just a moment, before flicking back to me. “We’re wasting time. Dinner was almost over when we were excused, and we still have a lot to do. Is your bag packed?”

“Of course. I never bothered unpacking it,” I snorted. “I don’t like being here any longer than necessary. You know that.”

“I do,” Kathrine agreed. “I’ll send that maid to pick up your bag and bring it to portal. Go get whatever you need from the greenhouses and meet us there as soon as you can.”

I nodded and started to turn away, but paused and glanced back at her. “Do you need anything? ” I asked.

Kathrine stared at me for a moment through narrowed eyes, obviously thinking. “Rubra,” she finally said. “I know I’ve said we shouldn’t expect trouble but…”

“Better to have something and not need it, than need something and not have it,” I said with a nod before finally heading towards the foyer. “I’ll meet you at the portal in a few minutes.”

“Be quick,” she shouted after me. “And don’t let Marielle distract you!” 

“I know, I know,” I muttered as I descended the staircase three steps at a time. A couple of the servants glanced my way, but despite the fact that I wasn’t following standard etiquette not a single one dared say something, or approach me. 

I sprinted out the door and turned towards the row of greenhouses, just barely peaking over the sculpted hills in front of the house. 

Despite herbs being the lifeblood of house Salvenum, the greenhouses weren’t keep anywhere near the main residence. There were a lot of extremely rare, and extremely dangerous plants raised in there, so most people required either permission from an Elder, or an escort to even enter the grounds. 

Thankfully, I wasn’t most people. 

I mentally made a list of herbs I’d need as I ran down the paths. It would take some time for me to harvest and store them all properly to maintain freshness, but if I knew anything it was herbcraft. 

The guards didn’t even bat an eye as I came jogging up. In fact one of them even opened the door, and nodded politely towards me. I returned the gesture but didn’t stop, rolling up the sleeves of my outfit as I strode into the impressive glass house.

“Time to get to work,” I muttered to myself.