Chapter 29: Codename: Blackheart Chapter Twenty-Nine

My brain begins to wake up as I feel the edge of my bed dip, alerting me to a presence in my room.

“I understand you have this well-thought-out intricate plan on how to handle the boy and this Grigoras mess, but does your plan have to involve me babysitting him while you’re off fighting the ultimate battle for survival?” I hear my grandpa huff. I turn my head away and dive my head under my pillow. What is with the people in this family always disrupting my sleep? “Alina, I’m speaking to you,” says Grandpa in a hard voice as he pokes me in the back.

“And I’m ignoring you. Take the hint,” I grumble.

“I’m trying to speak to you, young lady,” he scolds.

“And I’m trying to sleep. What does everyone have against me sleeping?” I groan. I feel the bed shift as Grandpa lays down beside me.

“With everything you told us, you know they won’t stop trying to kill you just because you’re in The Tournament,” he says gravelly.

I sigh. Deciding sleep is futile at this point, I lift my head from under my pillow and roll onto my back. “That’s exactly what I’m counting on. I have this under control, don’t stress about it,” I say, giving his hand a squeeze.

“How can you tell me not to stress? I may never see you again,” he says, looking at me with fear in his eyes.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I say sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood.

“Winning once was lucky. Winning twice was a miracle. Winning three times was messing with fate. I’m scared for you,” he admits.

“I know, everyone is scared. I hear it from you, Mum, and Dad constantly. It is doing nothing to help my nerves. I’m not trying to win, I’m never trying to win, I’m just trying to survive. Just like Mum did and Dad did, and you did. If I get knocked out in the first round but survive, then happy days. I would love for that to happen. I actually miss the days of getting rubbed out. Making it from one round to the next just means enduring more hell and it gets worse every year. I swear the fuckers who came up with this are more sadistic than every assassin combined,” I say with disdain.

“Maybe you can try to cripple yourself during the competition, but don’t make it look obvious,” he suggests.

“Are you insane?! Last time I saw someone try that they were killed. I’m trying not to get killed, remember?”

He sighs and wraps his arm around me pulling me close, allowing me to snuggle against his side.

“Your Grandmother would be a nervous wreck right now if she was still alive,” he says glumly.

“You’re all nervous wrecks on her behalf it seems. I know this is hard, but please at least try and be optimistic for me. I respect that you are all worried. I’m worried too, but I just can’t afford to dwell on those thoughts,” I beseech him.

He takes in a deep breath and nods his head. “For you, anything,” he says, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. “Want to go for a run in the woods?”

“Sure. Not like I’m getting any more sleep now anyway,” I grumble as I get out of bed.

***

After a rigorous jog through the woods that surround our property, I decide to hunt down Alec and make sure he’s not getting up to any mischief. I don’t feel the need to monitor him twenty-four-seven since A, where is he going to go? And B, I don’t see him standing a chance in a house with four trained killers in it.

I search all over the house, but I can’t seem to find him anywhere. I find my dad sitting in the living room reading the paper and decide to ask him.

“Dad, have you seen Alec?”

“Your mother took him to her greenhouse. I’m sure you can find them there. Though whether or not he’ll have a pulse when you get there, I cannot say,” he says nonchalantly as he turns to the next page of the newspaper.

“Don’t quit your day job,” I say patting his shoulder as I make my out to my mother’s greenhouse.

When it comes to poisons, my mother prefers to use naturally occurring poisons rather than chemical ones, so she grows and maintains them herself. Weirdly, the greenhouse is her armoury. It’s a stunning and expansive enclosure with a variety of flora, and while the greenhouse looks like the most exquisite garden you may ever see, with everything neatly arranged, what you’re really walking into is a room full of deadly weapons. Rule number one of Mother’s greenhouse: no touching unless wearing gloves. My mother is a very skilled botanist with a great love and respect for plants. Growing up I used to call her Poison Ivy; she always found that amusing.

As I step into the greenhouse, I am hit by an intense humidity and botanical aroma. I can see Alec and my mother standing by her lab at the far end of the greenhouse. Their conversation travels to my ears, and out of curiosity, I decide to hang back out of sight and listen.

“So, you’re called Aconite because you like to kill people using aconite?” Alec asks.

“I use many poisons, but aconitum is my favourite. There’s so much history to the genus that I find fascinating,” she says as she looks at something under a microscope.

“I’ve never even heard of it.”

“Of course, you have. Aconite has had many names throughout history. You might know it better as monkshood or wolf’s bane, a flower said in mythology to be the weakness of werewolves, or to have come from the drool of the Cerberus beast in Greek mythology. Though the Greeks also claim Hecate invented it,” she shrugs.

“Wait, that’s a real plant?” he says in shock.

My mother nods happily, “Much of mythology comes from real life. My favourite name for aconite is Queen of Poisons,” she smirks. Queen of Poisons should have been her codename. How badass would that have been?

“Is it common?” he asks curiously as he picks up an aconite flower from the lab bench, examining its long green stem and deep purple petals.

“For thousands of years aconite was used around the world to coat the tips of arrows to be used in both hunting and warfare, so yes, it’s actually very common. That’s what makes it so perfect,” she teases.

“Is it a painful way to die?” he asks thoughtfully.

“It depends. Aconite roots contain aconitine, mesaconitine, and hypaconitine, along with cardiotoxins and neurotoxins,” she says absentmindedly as she works with various items on her counter.

“Um, English please?”

She chuckles. “The less severe symptoms are gastrointestinal. So, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, that occur within the first ten to twenty minutes after ingestion. This is commonly followed by severe stomach pain along with a burning, tingling or numb sensation to the mouth and face. Then cardiac symptoms begin. These are the symptoms, that if left untreated, will lead to death. The larger the dose, the quicker the death. With a large enough dose, you can induce cardiovascular symptoms that will kill someone instantaneously,” she says like she’s reeling off notes from a book she has memorised.

“How much would kill someone right away?”

I raise a suspicious eyebrow at Alec’s question.

“Twenty to forty millilitres would do the trick. Less than that and it may take two to six hours for death to occur. Depending on the dose, it can take almost an hour for symptoms to present themselves. So, who are you planning on killing?” she asks casually.

“I don’t want to kill anyone. I’m just… trying to find a way out,” he says with a conflicted look on his face.

“Let me guess. You’re being forced to do something you don’t want to do and you’re torn between doing what you’re told and what’s right?” she surmises.

Alec blinks in surprise, “Actually, that’s exactly it.”

“Let me give you some advice. In this world you’ve gotten mixed up in, there is no right or wrong. There is kill or be killed. It’s up to you to decide which it will be. Personally, I vote kill,” she says offhandedly as she begins crushing something in a mortar and pestle.

Alec goes quiet as he silently contemplates something to himself before his face flashes with a look of determination I’ve never seen from him before.

“Is there a cure for aconite poisoning?” he asks.

“There’s no specific antidote, though I do have a little cocktail of my own creation that can subside the symptoms enough to keep fatality at bay, long enough to seek medical attention.”

“How long would it buy someone?” he asks urgently.

“In a lethal dose, not very long. In a smaller dose, it could buy them hours or even a day or two. But without medical assistance, death would still occur. You’d only be putting off the inevitable. Sounds to me like you’re cooking up a plan,” she says knowingly.

“I’m not sure yet. I just know that I can’t keep being the victim and under everyone’s thumb. You said it’s kill or be killed. I don’t think I’ll ever have it in me to kill someone, but I’m sure as hell not about to die either,” he says firmly.

“I think that’s a good start. Seems my daughter is rubbing off on you,” she smirks.

He smiles bashfully as his cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink, “They definitely broke the mould with her.” Damn fucking right they did.

“It’s why I never wanted more children. You can’t top perfection,” she says smugly. Leave it to my mother to take credit for my awesomeness.

Alec chuckles, “You know, for a bunch of killers, you’re good people.”

“Oh, aren’t you sweet?” she smiles, patting his cheek affectionately. My mark/lover and my mother are becoming buddies. This is just creepy.

I decide to make my presence known by closing the greenhouse door loudly and moving out from behind the plants I’ve been carefully standing behind.

“There you two are,” I say as I walk over. The look on my mum’s face tells me she knew I was there all along. I never have been able to sneak up on her.

“Alec has been keeping me company as I replenish my stock,” she says with a bright smile.

“You teaching him how to poison me?” I ask with a raised eyebrow, making my mum laugh.

Alec rolls his eyes. “Do people just ignore me when I say I don’t want to kill people? You’re the ones always talking about killing me.”

“Nothing wrong with a little mental preparation. It’s like being told you have terminal cancer with four months to live. It gives you time to process your own mortality and tie up loose ends,” I smile.

His face looks unimpressed. “Hard to tie up loose ends when I’m stuck here.”

“Remind me again who invited you?” I smile. He makes a face and then looks away. Ha, I win!

“Get a room,” my mum teases. I roll my eyes, but Alec smirks as if he likes the idea. Hey, he wanted one last time and I gave it to him. If we wanted multiple last times, he should have been more specific.

“I was thinking maybe tonight we could all have a nice dinner. Grandpa woke me up to talk about my impending death, and since I leave in a couple days, I thought a nice, fancy dinner would be fun,” I say happily. This makes Alec tense and my mum give me a sad smile.

“Then I guess I better go get started. Nothing but the best for my girl,” says Mum, walking over to cup my face, her eyes turning glassy. She brushes her thumbs against my cheeks, kisses my forehead softly, and exits the greenhouse. I guess I could have worded that better, but hey, everyone else has been hellbent on reminding me I might die, so I’m just going with it.

“You’re really going through with this?” Alec asks sadly.

“I’ve already told you; I don’t have a choice.”