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Tonight I'm heading back to a forgotten corner that I came across a few nights ago—a night garden that nature had begunto reclaim. I've heard them called night gardens, moon gardens, dark gardens; all titles seem appropriate to me. The plants here only bloom at night, and many of them are a glowing white color under the moonlight. But it's been sadly neglected and I've been clearing it out a little, trying to coax it back to life.
It gives me something to do, if nothing else, and the moon is bright enough tonight that I can see quite well. Kneeling beside a tangle of vines, I gently free a struggling rose bush from a thorny circle of weeds. After that, I move slowly through the garden, tending to more plants in turn.
As I reach the center of the night garden, I pause at the moon dial, tracing its silvered face. This place of neglect could become a little sanctuary for me, one space I can shape as I please. Hadria will never know about it, after all. She's supremely uninterested in the grounds—and in me, it seems.
And I should be happy about that, I remind myself. You don'twantsome vicious mercenary taking an interest in you. My interest in her—more than that, I can admit it now: my childish crush on her—seems so silly now. Now that I understand what it really means to belong to her.
But out in the night garden, Ialmostfeel a sense of freedom. Surrounded by nature, I can forget about my prison and connect to something true. For a few blessed hours each night, maybe I can simplybe.
I rarely think of the outside world anymore. What use is it? I certainly don't think of my father, and I'm still relieved I was stolen away from Nero. My mother…yes. I do think of her sometimes.
But what I truly want is more abstract than people or places. I just want to befree. The more the days pass, the more I want what I have never had: the freedom to come and go as I please. To make my own choices—my own mistakes.
Instead, I spend my time tending the night garden and, when I tire of that, I haunt the front of the mansion, slipping among the hedges and stone walls, watching the people come and go.
Watching.
Wondering.
Waiting.
Until at last one night, when dawn is approaching and I know I have to get back into my cage before the sun rises, I make my weary way back to my bedroom and stop dead in the doorway.
Hadria is in my room.
Hadria is sitting on my bed, leaning up against the cushions, clad only in a black silk robe, and as I watch, she uncrosses her ankles and the silk slides off her perfect white thigh.
My mouth goes dry.
I quickly avert my eyes. "H-Hadria. I wasn't expecting you."
She regards me with those silvery eyes, almost like liquid moonlight. "No," she says. "Did you enjoy your time in the gardens?"
I nod mutely.
"Come here." Her voice brooks no argument. I approach cautiously and perch on the edge of the mattress beside her. Hadria studies me for a moment before speaking again.
"Your mother has been…persistent in requesting a visitation. Rather a nuisance, in fact."
My eyes widen in surprise. I haven't seen or spoken to my mother since Hadria stole me away on my wedding day. The thought of being reunited with her, even briefly, makes my heart ache.
Hadria continues, "I've decided to grant her request to see you, provided you wish to see her as well."
I'm shocked by Hadria's uncharacteristic leniency. She seems to read the question in my expression.
"Consider it a show of good faith between us," she says quietly. "I know your time here has been difficult. But when I said I wanted you to be happy, Aurora, I meant it."
I'm touched by this glimpse of consideration behind Hadria's usual cold facade. "Thank you," I manage to get out. "Iwouldlike to see my mother again."
Hadria nods. "I'll arrange it then. But Aurora…" Her eyes harden. "Do not mistake my generosity for weakness. You are still mine, and you will always remain here in Elysium."
The tender moment evaporates. I drop my gaze, the familiar weight of captivity pressing down on me again.
"Of course, Hadria."
I feel her eyes on me for a long moment, and then she stands and sweeps out of the room without another word, the silk robe whispering behind her. I fall onto the pillows she lay against just moments ago, my mind spinning, and breathe in her scent—alluring, mysterious, sharp…
Just like the woman herself.
