Chemistry of Magic: Unexpected Magic Book Five (Unexpected Magic #5)(61)

Bessie studied them, then paged through the drawings of the new pharmacopeia. “I am no expert but they look fairly common. I’m sure Lady Dare will know immediately. I know greens can be dried, but I really know nothing of the process. Perhaps you could simply lay them on her workbench?”

Dare studied the weeds with interest. “They can be dried? Of course, that is one way to mix them in elixirs. Interesting.”

He studied the shelves of herbals in the office until he found one that sounded as if it might teach him the techniques of drying. Whistling—he could whistle now at least—he carried the book out to his workshop.

Emilia found him bent over his bench when she came home. He knew the instant she entered. Her lavender scent gave her away, but so did her. . . Dare sought a word as he finished up what he was doing. His wife simply had a presence to which he was attuned.

Setting down his pen, he took her in his arms and pressed kisses down her cheek and throat until she giggled. Apparently, their earlier argument had been satisfactorily resolved.

“I have never known peppermint to cause arousal,” she said breathlessly. “And what else is that you have there? Ginger leaves? How did you find ginger out here and why would you cut the leaves?” She broke from his hold to examine his workbench.

He chuckled, not insulted that her curiosity won over his lust. He knew he wouldn’t be neglected once they were in their chambers.

He poked the weeds he’d spread out on a piece of tin over a lamp. “Your gardener handed these leaves to me and called them what sounded like dinbernt. I assumed there was more where these came from, so I’ve been trying drying techniques.”

“Dinbernt? Zingiber is the genus name for ginger, although I don’t know how he would know that. Perhaps Grandfather used the name and Mr. Arthur is combining the names of ginger and mint? The combination makes a soothing tea. He may be trying to help you.

“But if there is ginger here somewhere. . .” She looked up with excitement. “Would ginger grow in a hot spring? Or perhaps he has potted them and brings them in for the winter. But it is the rhizomes of ginger that I need, not the leaves.”

“He came out of the garden carrying them is all I know. What is so valuable about ginger?”

“It is almost the perfect medicinal plant! It will be excellent for your damaged gut and for Bridey’s morning sickness. It’s shown some promise for inflammation from arthritis and other uses. It might even help prevent diseases like diabetes.” She headed for the door. “But it’s a tropical plant. I cannot imagine how he can be growing it.”

Dare followed her. “How can you be certain it is ginger? It looks like any weed to me.”

“Anything green looks like a weed to you. It is a good thing you have a cook or you would starve. I cannot be positive it is ginger until I have the root, but this looks like the specimens I have seen in drawings and the one plant I’ve seen in a botanical house. I cannot imagine it surviving in a kitchen garden.”

The gate creaked as they entered the furrowed plot. Debris and weeds had been removed this past week, and neat rows promised vegetables in the future. Dare located the rounded leaves of the plant she’d called peppermint in a concrete box in a far corner. Even he was aware that peppermint was used for digestives. Arthur was trying to quack him too? Did that mean the old man accepted him? And why should he care?

Emilia surveyed the garden like a general preparing for war. “There.” She marched toward a corner nearly concealed by what Dare thought might be a grapevine. Beneath the arbor, hidden among the leaves, was an old tin pail with a few tall stalks that appeared to be on their deathbeds.

Emilia cooed over them as if they were precious jewels, then dug into the dirt. “They won’t be ready to harvest for a month or so, but I really need to see. . .” She produced a broken piece of misshapen root and glowed as if she’d been given riches. “Ginger! We have our own ginger! I really must speak with Mr. Arthur. Do we have any notion where he resides?”

“I have been wondering the same. He must have a burrow, like a rabbit. I don’t suppose ginger is something we can sell for a profit?”

She granted him a look of disdain, which turned thoughtful. “I cannot imagine we can grow much of it. It will not survive the winter where it is now. It’s usually imported, which makes it valuable. But if the hot springs could heat a small nursery. . .” Her voice trailed off as she considered it.

“There might be money in an herb crop?” he asked, knowing she had never considered how money was made.

“I truly cannot say,” she replied in bewilderment. “All I have ever done is buy the more exotic herbs and roots from apothecaries, but they must obtain them somewhere. Do you think Mr. Arthur is suggesting we can save the hot springs garden by selling exotic plants?”

He did not have the years left necessary for learning a new trade. With a grimace, Dare offered his hand to help her up. “Let us wash and prepare ourselves for dinner. Perhaps I need to be teaching you how to survive in trade instead of how to distill arsenic.”

“Ladies do not deal in trade,” she asserted.

“Call it agriculture,” he said. “Even dukes buy and sell cattle and grain.”

“Their stewards and estate managers handle it,” she informed him loftily, but he could tell by her tone that she was interested.