“Think about it, honey. I know you were caught up in what you were doing, but did it feel as if I could have actually saved Kaden without you?”
More frowning and biting on her lip. The long lashes veiled her eyes while she replayed the healing session in her mind. Jonas was right there with her, but he kept his distance. She fascinated him the way she remembered every detail. He was able to see more clearly how the various elements in the bloodstream had rushed to Kaden’s defense. She had marshaled Kaden’s body’s natural defenses but also used others. Where had she gotten them? She hadn’t just manufactured them out of thin air.
“You’re using abilities given to you from Middlemist Red,” he guessed. “The properties she has in her. Whitney suspected all along she possessed far more benefits than oils to be used for skin care or antiaging. Does she give you the ability to create the mist and the illusions in it?”
Camellia nodded. “Yes.”
“She’s the reason we can hide in the mist.”
“Absolutely.”
Jonas drummed his fingers on the table. “Do you know why Middlemist Red disappeared all at once when she used to be so plentiful in China?”
Again, Camellia nodded slowly. “Plants communicate with one another, and Red is extremely advanced. She uses the mycelium network to reach out to trees and plants for miles, not to take over the world, as some came to suspect, but to ensure the health of the plants. Humans became suspicious and she caught wind of a conspiracy to burn the camellias down. To prevent that, she had them all disappear.”
“How?”
“She took them underground. Just as she did in England when the Nazi bombs blew out the windows to the conservatory and let in the freezing cold air. She took all the rare camellias underground with her, where they could stay warmer and survive.”
Jonas sat back in his chair and regarded his woman. “That is one scary plant, Camellia. I can see why people would fear her. Do you think Whitney had any idea of what he was actually dealing with?”
“Not a chance. He doesn’t like anyone smarter than he is. Can you imagine if he thought a plant was more intelligent? He sure wouldn’t have taken a chance putting Red in our DNA.”
“What do you think he was hoping for?” Jonas asked. “Antiaging?”
“I think he believed she might have some healing properties, but nothing nearly as advanced as she does. He may have suspected she had some ability to communicate as well, but he had no idea of her true abilities. He had theories, but he changed them all the time. He wanted to know how she survived when other plants died out.”
“Longevity then?”
Camellia shrugged. “Whitney was big on experimenting with anything he thought might help his soldiers survive when the enemy couldn’t. He put Middlemist Red in me when I was very young. When nothing happened, he operated a second time when I was around ten. I remember being very ill. After that, he watched me like I was an insect under a microscope. He brought me to his office once a week and into the greenhouse—or as he referred to it, the hothouse—at least once a week. I think he thought the plant would react to me or I would to the plant.”
“You felt nothing?”
“I felt her gathering power. She doesn’t feel rage in the way we do. She feels disgust.”
“What does she do when she feels this disgust?” Jonas couldn’t help the wariness creeping into his voice. He was used to being at the top of the food chain. But now, he had the feeling he wasn’t quite as high up as he had envisioned himself.
Camellia stood up and stretched, raising her arms above her head before reaching for her plate to take it to the sink. He suspected she was buying herself time before she answered him. He would know if she lied to him—or even deflected.
“Camellia?”
She turned to face him, leaning against the sink. “I just told you what she did when she was disgusted. You weren’t listening—or you didn’t want to hear. You do it too. So do I. We both have Middlemist Red in us. I might have more of her, but you have far more natural aggression in you than I do. She allows you to draw on that when you gather power.”
Jonas pushed back his chair and paced away from her. She stated it so softly, almost gently—matter-of-factly, as if a plant gathering power didn’t mean anything—but it did, and they both knew it. Middlemist Red was a weapon. Pure and simple. He kept his breathing under control as he paced, trying to keep his thoughts from going to places Camellia would be upset with him for going.
She watched his agitated motion with a slight frown on her face. “Honey, why would you think this is any different than you or me being disgusted with an evil person doing evil things and reacting to it? You accept that a leopard retaliates against something or someone hunting it. Or that a wolf pack does. You utilize the strengths of those animals. You admire the cunning intelligence of them. Why is it so much more difficult for you to accept that Red might react to Whitney’s evil?”
Jonas had to think about that. Why was it so much more upsetting? He looked out the kitchen window at the plants that hadn’t been there before. They could effectively block his sight if an enemy was coming. Even as he thought it, the branches parted to show him a clear, unobstructed view. Just as the plant had reacted to his thoughts when he’d been in Camellia’s garden, the ones outside his kitchen reacted to his. How was that even possible?
“I can understand how Whitney managed to insert animal DNA into us, Camellia, but plant? I don’t know. I’m not a science expert like a couple of the others. Some of it, like the communications network, I can get that even on some small level. I get the healing maybe because I can visualize it. But the way the plants react when I’m thinking . . .” He trailed off, shaking his head.
“We’re connected to them.” She sighed and shoved both hands through her hair. “When I first escaped, I didn’t want Whitney to ever be able to take me back to his laboratories. Not ever. I wasn’t going into his breeding program. No child of mine was going to have to go through what I did. No son was going to grow up a soldier the way he wanted him to be. And no daughter of mine was going to be used for his purposes. I knew, sooner or later, he’d find me. That was inevitable. I moved often to buy myself time, but also so I could get stronger.”
There was something in her voice that warned him. Jonas stopped moving and went very still, nearly fading into the wall behind him. He kept his gaze fixed on her expressive face. There was so much passion there. So much determination. His woman. Camellia. Little did Whitney know the warrior he’d created. The man had been so certain women were inferior. All along he had evidence to the contrary, but he refused to see it because he was so certain of his preconceived beliefs.
“I always loved gardening. Always. I also loved ecology and botany. I studied mycology. I found all the subjects so fascinating. I had no idea why, and all the other girls thought I was a little crazy. They kept asking me how that was going to benefit me. It made no sense to them, because I excelled at tracking and using just about any kind of weapon. The point I’m making is this: all those studies came in handy when I found myself alone and in need of figuring out how I was going to defeat Whitney when he sent a team of his supersoldiers against me.”