Page 86 of Don't Bite the Botanist
He just tried not to think too much about how the witch in Seacliff had gambled with his life, considering how close he’d come to drinking the ‘potion.’ If there was a mystical guardian angel watching over him, he was definitely keeping them busy.
Tressa’s laugh brought him out of his thoughts and back to the climate-controlled greenhouse laboratory Marquin had constructed for him within the first week of their return. When Tressa said he was rich, she wasn’t joking.
“Well, it wasn’t like I had time to give you a full lecture about the history of vamps,” Tressa teased. “Next time I’ll be sure to start with our weaknesses and make sure I coverallof them.”
Ethan grinned and grabbed his glasses from the table. There was nothing vision-altering in the frames given his vampiric sight, butwhen Tressa told him she thought they were sexy, he’d had a special pair made just for her. “It’s just so fascinating. I mean, I grew up hearing the story about the apple and the garden of Eden just like everyone else, but still… To find out there was supposedly a spark of heavenly magic in the apple Adam brought with him when he was kicked out of paradise, and therefore all apples on earth are lethal to vamps is… It’s a little difficult to wrap my brain around.” He paused, then let out a sigh. “And still a little disappointing, considering how beneficial that medication could have been. The Camellia should yield effective results one day, but we won’t have enough blooms to do real testing for years. The apple blossoms really were the perfect plant in the meantime, given their abundance in nature and high concentration of antioxidants.”
Tressa peered around him at the equipment on the table. “So does that mean your new experiment isn’t going well?”
Ethan perked up at that. If there was one thing he loved, it was talking about his work with his mate. She would never be as invested in plants as he was, would never see the Middlemist Red Camellia as anything but a pretty flower, but she always let him ramble on for as long as he wanted, and that meant everything to him.
“Actually, it’s showing a lot of promise,” he told her. “Once I accepted magic had to be real, I started to wonder if maybe it was related to vampirism in some way. If you think about it, how else do you explain our existence, let alone the individual Gifts we possess?” At Tressa’s inquisitive look, he continued. “So I started to wonder if this ‘magic,’ or whatever it is, did something to alter my blood. I think…” He trailed off to let the dramatic effect build. “I think I might be able to find a way to use the healing magic in my blood to neutralize the apple poison. If that works…”
Tressa gasped. “Ethan, are you saying you could create anantidote?”
He held up his crossed fingers. “Maybe, just don’t get your hopes up quite yet. It’s still just a working hypothesis.”
Tressa propped her chin in her hand and gazed at him, that light in her eyes sparkling brighter than ever. “Trust my mate to find a way to mix magic and science.”
Ethan shrugged. “I think Arthur C. Clarke said it best: ‘Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.’ If I keep working at this, there’s a chance I can uncover the deeper layers of how it works, and then…” He leaned over to Tressa and kissed her. “Who knows what things I can do with this. And it’s all because of you, Sunflower. You gave me an eternity to spend developing new ways to help both people and vampires.”
His glasses slipped down on his nose, and Tressa nudged them back into place. “Only you would get excited to live forever so you could keep doing work, Dr. Rose.”
Ethan winked at her, then turned back to his research. He didn’t even mind the cute nickname anymore. Yeah, he had a rose on his ass for the rest of eternity. But it also meant he would never forget Jake, so he could put up with a little teasing.
“Now I just need Saiden to agree to capture a rogue and keep them alive so I have someone to test my theories on,” he said, adjusting the eyepiece on the microscope.
Tressa dropped her head to the table and groaned. “Well, there’s definitely no shortage of those lately, and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse given everything that’s happened. Saiden is headed down to LA for Cora’s premiere tomorrow, but maybe when he gets back you can talk to him about finding a way to do experiments. Just don’t go all mad scientist on me, okay?”
Pushing his microscope away, Ethan slid his hand under Tressa’scheek and lifted her face back up to meet his. He kissed her softly, lingering with his lips pressed lightly against hers. “No promises. You wouldn’t love me if I was boring.”
“You know I love you for so many reasons,” she murmured, running her hands up the back of his neck into the long hair he hadn’t gotten around to cutting.
Though, considering how deeply he melted whenever she gripped it firmly and tugged, he might just forget a little while longer.
“And I you,” he whispered. He pulled back and gave her a heated look. “If you’re not busy, the sun has gone down, and you keep saying I could use a break. Care to join me in the garden?”
Tressa’s lips curled up into a knowing smile. “I might still have grass in my hair from the last time, but what the hell. I don’t think we’ve done it by the Hyacinths yet.”
Ethan’s face lit up. “Look at you spouting off flower names.”
“Of course I was going to learn,” she said, sliding his glasses off and tossing them on the table. “My mate is a botanist after all.”
“And you will always be the most beautiful flower in my life.”
He jumped from the chair and drew her in for another kiss. When they broke away, she gave him a mischievous grin, then blurred away. He could chase after her, but he’d never catch her. Not until she wanted him to. And it wasn’t like they were in a hurry.
He still had days where it was hard to remember that it was all real. That he had a fully stocked lab at the compound, unrestricted access to samples of the Camellia that would soon have its extracts isolated, and even a few part-time human lab techs to help with the easier work. None of them were Jake, of course. They could never even come close to his friend’s intelligence and wit. But he’d learned to accept that and embrace the positives—he now had the chance to twist magic into science and genuinely find a way to do good in the world.
To help people was all he ever wanted for his life.
To be happy was all his mother ever wanted for him.
And Tressa had given him both.
His Sunflower.
His light in the dark.
