Page 98 of Tamed By Her Touch

“Yes.”

“You’re telling me forty percent of the plants on this planet haven’t been scientifically analyzed?” Clair was amazed.

“Not thoroughly.”

Clair put a hand over her heart. So many new plants!

“I think I just fell in love,” she murmured.

Maera laughed.

“Doctor Kaelus may be jealous.”

Clair smiled at her.

“He’ll get over it.”

Though strangely, the image that came into Clair’s mind was Kaelus growling possessively that she belonged with him rather than with a planet full of plants. Which was ridiculous of course—they might be pretending to be married but he wasn’t really possessive of her—he was just pretending to be. Right?

She pushed the thought aside—there was work to be done.

The healing conservatory was set farther back from the house, though calling it a conservatory seemed inadequate. It was an enormous domed structure made of something resembling crystal, but unlike ordinary glass, the walls appeared almost liquid. Colors shimmered through them as the plants inside moved in the breeze, turning the entire building into a glowing jewel.

When Maera touched the entrance, the wall simply parted, rippling like liquid glass as it drew away to form an opening for them.

Clair stepped through behind her and stopped dead.

“Wow,” she whispered. The interior was breathtaking.

Warm mist hung lightly in the air, catching shafts of colored sunlight from the transparent dome above. Hundreds—possibly thousands—of alien plants grew in carefully arranged beds separated by narrow streams of bright turquoise water.

Some were familiar enough in shape to remind Clair of ferns, orchids, vines, and flowering shrubs, while others looked like nothing she had ever seen. There were tall stalks topped by floating seed clusters that hovered several inches above the parent plant, thick purple vines that pulsed slowly as though they had heartbeats, and delicate white flowers growing upside down from root systems suspended in midair.

“This is incredible,” Clair whispered. “It’s like I died and went to Heaven.”

“I thought you might like it.” Maera smiled. “Many of our oldest medicines came from plants grown here—or rather, from the wild ancestors of the plants now cultivated here. Some have been used for thousands of years.”

Clair was already moving toward the nearest bed.

“What does this one do?”

Maera came beside her.

“That is selverin. The leaves are crushed to a moist paste and used on burns.”

“And that one?” Clair pointed.

“Marra root. It reduces fever.”

Clair pointed toward a cluster of small crimson flowers which appeared to close whenever she looked directly at them.

“And those?”

Maera grimaced.

“Those make you vomit for approximately six hours.”

Clair immediately lowered the hand she had been about to extend to touch the blossoms.