"Please! I-I I'm sorry!" the scraggly man in Alice's arms begged.

Alice held him up and lifted him higher, his feet dangling as he desperately clawed at the fingers locked around his throat.

"You sniffed my hair. Should I kill you?" she asked, her voice cold and unamused.

The man tried to speak, but Alice tightened her grip, and all he produced was a gargling noise as his face started to turn blue.

"If you please. That is Jeremy, the royal alchemist. He is loyal to a fault, but relatively harmless, I promise," Renner explained while eyeing the choking man.

Alice dropped him and stepped away. Jeremy scrambled on all fours and hid behind Renner, clutching onto his leg like a scared child. Renner grunted and gestured toward the rest of the room.

"Sorry about him. There wasn't much socializing in the orphanage, I'm sure you can understand," Renner apologized. He stopped his gesturing at a set of vials containing dark-green liquid. "This is the alchemy lab. We have more modern means, but most of our research is through the witch's grimoire. This is but one half of the project that consumes our time."

Jeremy continued to clutch onto Renner, but he did stand up and straighten his hair. The guy was handsome if one looked past the wild look in his eyes and the colorful stains along his hands and cheek.

Doesn't surprise me he sniffed Alice. He looks crazy enough.

He excitedly rushed around the room and knocked over a crate that crashed to the floor with the sound of shattering glass. Renner's eye twitched, but he kept his smile even as Jeremy flinched and slowly looked back.

With the comedy show out of the way, Jeremy quickly searched through the colorful vials and pulled out a small rack with two vials containing dark red liquid. He grasped them and ran up to Renner with excitement.

"Look! Look! I did it! New batch!" he said as he practically jumped in place.

Before Renner could take a look, Devon snatched one of the vials and uncapped it. He took a whiff, and his eyes narrowed to points.

Jeremy yelped and hid behind the taller man while Devon slowly lowered his hand.

"These," he said. "You are using blood magic?"

Devon stood taller than most people and had broad enough shoulders to intimidate grown men. But in this instance, he loomed over the pair and bore down on them with crimson eyes. If it wasn't for the absolute stillness in his limbs, he'd had looked predatory. But he was too calm, not that the cowering man behind Renner knew that.

To his credit, Renner remained stoic. "To a degree, yes. But it is not what you think. I have spent years taking apart the rituals described in the book and found a way forward without the blood of the innocent. Please, if you'd let me show you."

Devon backed off and tossed the vial. Jeremy rushed to catch it and nearly smacked into a wall in the attempt. Alice stepped past him, causing the man to almost drop the vial, but he clutched onto it for dear life and tiptoed away.

It seemed a little mean, but then again, I wasn't randomly sniffed. The fear coming off the guy disgusted me even as I brushed the feeling away. Past the cloying smells of herbs and the sharp tang of acrid chemicals, it oozed out like a rotten egg.

My senses rarely acknowledge people's emotions to this degree. But this guy is a living battery of the stuff.

I joined the others but tried to stay as far away from the alchemist as possible. There was no need to terrorize the guy who was scared of his own shadow.

Renner led us to a locked door. Thick metal and a complex series of chains connected to the middle lock barred us from seeing the other side. Renner pulled out a brass key, but I noticed something off about it.

Mana rushed into my eyes. "The door is enchanted? And the key is, too? What exactly is behind here?"

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He paused and looked up in surprise. His gaze focused on my eyes and then on the brass key. "Ahh. Should have known I couldn't hide it from a Grimm. But yes, it's enchanted. It's a small thing I discovered over the years, and it helps keep the gases from disturbing the plants."

Plants?

Renner inserted the key and twisted it. The chains lit up with faint glowing lines before they retracted, and the door swung open. Renner pushed on the door, and a wave of new smells assaulted my nose.

Alice scrunched her face, and as usual, Devon looked on with a nearly bored expression.

As we stepped inside, I inhaled deeply and sorted through the different scents permeating the greenhouse. Something familiar lingered in the air, faint but recognizable. I ignored the others and moved deeper into the rows of pots, stepping into a darker row lined with flora covered in deep shade. The smell lingered, stronger than before, but it was impossible to pinpoint its location.

"Is there something wrong?" Renner asked.

I shook my head and rejoined the others. "No, I just thought I smelled something familiar. Kinda sweet."

Renner smiled, and his shoulders relaxed. "That's not surprising. Many of the plants in that row are used in perfumes and odorizers. We may pride ourselves on our metal production, but noble ladies have a keen inclination toward good perfumes."

"Do you produce it here then?" Alice interjected.

"Oh no. This stuff is used solely for the royal family and our research. Dolun berries, in particular, are processed monthly into a small perfume. But the other plants are selected to help the queen's condition. In fact, if you follow me, I'll show you our latest breakthrough.

This time, Renner led us to the back of the warehouse, where a glass wall separated a metal pedestal. The plant inside the complex pot had long vines of dark red fibers. It extended throughout the entire glass box and curled up the sides. The giant rose in the middle formed what looked like teeth with white tips at the end of the petals. Even from outside the box, I could smell it.

Corrupted.

Deep and acrid, it smelled potently fresh. It wormed its way in and slipped onto my tongue. I could practically taste it. And past the copper, rust and vile crawled down your throat.

How come we didn't smell this before we got close? It's too strong.

"Another enchantment," Devon said.

"Indeed. For obvious reasons, we installed one around the plant. But the resources invested were worth it. We have bred a plant through careful breeding and rituals based on the queen's curse. This is the cure; all we need to do is find out how," Renner said, his voice filled with a near-fanatical fervor.

After showing us around the warehouse, he led us back into the alchemy room, where Jeremy ignored us and focused solely on mixing the liquids. His utter focus and sharp eyes completely changed how you thought about the guy. If I hadn't seen him nearly piss himself, I'd have never guessed the alchemist before me was anything other than confident.

Renner led us into a side room with a study where several notes were kept. Inside a locked chest was the witch's grimoire, which Devon scrutinized. Page to page, his face grew grim. Renner kept to the side but stared at Devon and the book nervously. When Devon paused on a page and ran his thumb across the ink, Renner would absently reach toward his neck, rubbing at his shoulders.

A nervous tick?

But in the end, Devon sat the book down.

"Is everything to your acceptance?" Renner asked.

Devon opened the book and pointed to a missing page where parts of the page remained. "And these?"

Renner set his staff to the side and grimaced. "Pages that were already destroyed before I acquired it. I don't know what that hag did with them, but I assure you, I searched."

Devon stared long enough to make Renner sweat, but eventually, he shut the book. "We'll be back if we have more questions. But I have a question regarding you and your friend."

"Yes?"

Devon leaned forward, close enough to breathe down Renner's neck. "The collar around your neck, what's the range of your shackle?"

Renner reached for his neck but stopped and visibly lowered his hand with some effort. His jaw clenched and pursed as if he chewed on something rotten. Devon didn't let up, leaning closer.

Eventually the court mage leaned away and coughed into his fist. "I am unable to leave the castle grounds. The witch marked me well, gave me access to magic. But the kingdom would only risk so much; even if they call me friend, family, healer."

His met Devon's eyes and waited.

The Grimm straightened himself and pointed to the alchemy room. "And him?"

Renner laughed, a bitter and hollow chuckle. "You've seen him. He barely finds an excuse to leave this room. He is unfit for the castle itself, let alone the outside world."

The sorcerer walked us to the door and promptly shut it once we left the room. It wasn't the nicest response, but it was more in line with what I expected.

I turned to Devon. "Do we suspect them in any way? I doubt Jeremy is our big bad and if what Renner said was true about his collar, he couldn't have messed with the chains."

"I recognize the rune on his chain. He didn't lie." Devon said, but paused long enough to catch my gaze. "They are still a potential culprit. We'll watch them in the coming days."

Alice frowned. "Then why didn't we confront them? The book missing pages is suspicious."

Devon stopped and glanced toward us. "Because the book has nothing to do with souls. And all of its blood rituals involve esoteric beast blood. Low quality, barely a fourth-ring witch's knowledge. Only a single half-written page involved the blood of children. And it was written over in black ink."

"Fourth ring?" I asked.

"Barely more than a beginner mage fresh from their coven mother's skirt."

I frowned. "So we wait and see if they mess up?"

"And if they do, we complete our hunt."