You know four hundred poisons by heart. The one killing you isn't one of them. Fourteen days to name it.
You are the keeper of the poison garden at Allenhope Hall. Someone poisoned you with a plant you have never grown. The falconer who poured your tea is the only one who will help. You have fourteen days.
Nine at night on Ward 9. Your fingers won't close on a paper cup, and your mouth tastes like an old coin.
A plant poison is in your blood. You know four hundred poison plants, and none of them fits.
The doctor can cure it only if you name the exact plant. She gives you fourteen days.
Callum Shaw, the falconer who poured your tea, stands at your side. The police sergeant at the door wants the man who made it.
Keeper of the poison garden at Allenhope Hall. You lock every gate yourself and keep a log of every plant you grow.
Tall, weathered pale skin, a red-brown beard, a waxed jacket, a scarred leather glove on his left hand. The falconer at Allenhope, who drove you to the hospital.
Someone at Allenhope gave you every key you hold. Keep reading.
A police sergeant has been up at the Hall tonight, asking who made the tea. Keep reading.
Someone in Newcastle knows every pressed leaf in the North. Keep reading.
Toxicologist at the Newcastle hospital: dark brown skin, braids in a low knot, a white coat over a mustard sweater, a watch pinned upside down.
A side room with a ticking heart monitor and the sour smell of hand gel. Where you start, at nine at night on day one.
It works only for the exact plant. One guess can be tested at a time, two days each, and a wrong one leaves you weaker.
Hands first, then eyes, then the heart on day fourteen. Nothing slows it, so you need someone beside you.
The sergeant needs a charge before the case goes to the county, and Callum is the easy answer.
You remember him falling tonight. He's alive, wearing the twin of your ring. At dawn, the Queen announces your engagement.
Four witnesses you relocated this year were found within a week, and only your files knew where. Your last one testifies in thirty days.
Your sister died in an avalanche three years ago. This morning she is on the start list for Norway.
Your bodyguard has saved you twice this week. Tonight you find the other contract in his jacket, signed before you met.
