AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know exactly what you mean.” She paused at a cracked earthen pot filled with vines of flowering jasmine, her fingers ghosting over the white petals before she clenched them into a fist. When I encroached on her space, her face twisted with some unknown grief. “These were always my favorite. I know jasmine flowers are quite plain, but it reminds me of home.”
I plucked a flowering bud and placed it into her dark, silky hair just above her ear.
“When I was a child,” she started after clearing her throat of the emotion glistening in her emerald eyes, “my mother dedicated hours inside our backyard garden. She would sit out there in the heat with glasses of sweet tea, blissed out among her creations. A massive wall of jasmine bloomed on the bricks right below my bedroom window. I would open it in the summer, catching glimpses of her and breathing the sweet fragrance of what my life could be.”
She paused, her fingers twisting on the small trowel a gardener left behind.
“After she died, the garden died too.” Her voice died off, and she blinked to clear away the shimmer of tears, though one caught on the fringe of her inky lashes. She swiped it away before I could catch it. “Last year, Ember’s therapist suggested we rebuild it to heal together, but I still can’t get myself to plant more jasmine.”
A hoarse laugh caught in her throat. “I’m far weaker than Ember, or even Audra and Isla. They have their studies and their friends, but without them, I hardly know what my purpose is.”
I wanted to clasp Jade to my chest and whisper all the ways she was a stronger creature than me—than most others. How I valued not only her mind and her durability but also her gentle heart, bruised from the cruel hands of fate. But she would despise that, so I offered the only comfort I could—a piece of myself equally vulnerable and painful as her own solemn confession.
“They’re my sister’s favorite flowers too,” I managed softly through my tumult of emotion. I admitted painfully, “I haven’t seen or spoken with her since my exile. As I was relishing my descent into disgrace, I abandoned her when she needed me most. It’s one of my most cruel and unforgivable crimes, and one I don’t know how to atone for.”
Jade’s fingers danced a path across my back until her arms wrapped around my middle.
Tenderness and grief warred within me, and suddenly, the warm confines of the greenhouse grew stifling. I stole the trowel from her grip, gently unwinding myself from her hold, and brought it over to the empty workbench, scattered with potting dirt. Like I had done thousands of times, I filled one of the empty pots and plated a handful of seedlings I prepared the previous night.
Instead of condemning me for my cowardice, she merely followed with curiosity. She croaked with shock, “You garden?”
“Who else did you think grew and maintained the gardens you love to visit inside my courtyard so much? Surely not a mortal within my palace of bloodsuckers.” I lifted a brow without shifting my attention away from my work.
“T-that was you?” Lust glinted in her silvery eyes.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at my naughty earth witch. “Back home in Slovenia, we have a winter garden that puts this place to shame. Whenever my father’s instruction grew too much to bear, and I had no patience to flee to the thermal springs, I would escape to the greenhouse and busy myself in the dirt.”
A sudden, reminiscent grin played on my lips as I lifted my mud-streaked hands to my face, inhaling the ripe, earthy scent.
“My mother discovered me for the first time when I was nine. At first, she was furious, staring at my destroyed clothes and filthy arms, but then she started to encourage me. She bought me gardening books and imported seeds from across the world. It kept me sane. Or at least, as sane as one can be under Alistair Vasyliev’s roof.”
“I’d like to see that,” Jade said matter-of-factly. “I’m sure if it’s anywhere near as lovely as the manor in NOLA, it would be a sight to behold.”
My hands shook. The mere idea of Jade inside my precious greenhouse made me at once teem with desire and stand frozen with fear.
“You never will,” I vowed, my voice piercing. “If you are ever in Slovenia, it can only mean your doom. My ancestors have kept our seat in the mountains for centuries. Many creatures once wandered through these forests. Not just witches, but Fae and shifters as well. Most do not face off against my family and live to tell the tale.”
She sucked in a breath, and I waited for the inevitable scowl of disgust or viper-tongued insult about my reputation, which I had earned in spades during my formidable years as a lapdog for my father.
But Jade did neither of those things.
For a few minutes, we stood in comfortable silence as I carefully finished my task. Once complete, I dusted my hands on a clean towel, still not facing her. “I can take you home if you’d rather not be in my company any longer.”
She still said nothing, and I took it as a sign of her acceptance.
“Come along. Your great aunt doesn’t live far from here—"
“I didn’t even know you had a sister,” she whispered, her eyes suddenly burning into mine as she grasped onto my forearm. The touch felt like a brand. “I feel like I don’t know you at all, despite spending hours a day with you for over a year. What does that say about me?”
My chest seized painfully.
Months ago, when I realized Jade was my mate, I dove headfirst into winning her, heedless of anything but my desires. I obsessively learned everything I could about her, hoping in time she would grow to feel a sliver of my need. At first, I had cajoled myself into believing that possessing her body would be enough, but now I wanted more. I wantedeverything.
How foolishly arrogant I had been. Months wasted hiding behind the mask of the Prince of Pleasure, teasing out her biting wit and bantering with her in my Court when deep down, Jade deserved to be cherished. And now, we were almost out of time.
I crept beside her once more, seeking her comfort, though I didn’t deserve it.
“I’ll tell you another story, but first I want one of yours,” I pleaded into her ear, drawing her into my open coat despite the heat. Needing to soak up her ounce of her I could. “Something you have told no one before, and I’ll do the same. I have enough tales of my unruly youth to keep you entertained for decades.”
