She let him take her hand if it would get her answers, and it was better than him hovering over her and causing her heart to race from hypervigilance.
Hellebore kept up with Taiyo as he led her out to the courtyard again. She took a deep breath and the faint scent of rot returned.
Everything was painted in a stunning, ethereal golden glow of the sunset, but her new husband did not seem to enjoy the view, especially since the setting sun ebbed his energy and strength.
But Hellebore’s energy came rushing back all anew with the promise of answers and a dying specimen. If there was something dying, she wanted to have her hands on it. Alchemists always learned the most when they studied the dying.
It didn’t matter what her father ordered in his letter. She could no sooner forget about alchemy than she could forget about breathing.
Taiyo, however, didn’t lead her into the courtyard but along the wall of the palace until they reached another small door, hidden in the shadow of a large shrub. Taiyo pulled out a key and unlocked it before reaching back and pulling her into the passage, swiftly shutting and locking it.
The only explanation he offered was, “I’m the only one with the key.”
“I hope you mean to wherever this passageway leads, because otherwise, I’d hardly consider this something worthy of a king’s attention.”
Taiyo snorted as he held one hand out, creating tendrils of sunlight to illuminate the corridor before he took her hand in his other and pulled her along.
Shortly they stepped back outside again and into a courtyard, but this one was much smaller than the garden they’d been married in. She looked up to see it was expertly hidden, the terrain and the hedges all perfectly arranged so that none of the windows above could peer down into it. A private courtyard.
Hellebore could smell the rot before she saw the source. Taiyo sent his sunlight into the space as they stepped out into it.
It wasn’t a garden. It was a graveyard.
All save for one sole surviving patch that was still clinging to life in the middle of the garden. Amidst the dead plants and decay was a patch of Sunrise Irises.
She took a few more steps, feeling the silent weight of Taiyo’s gaze on her. She looked at them, analyzing, and even they weren’t untouched by whatever disease had taken hold of the space. A few of their leaves were yellowing. She looked at all the death and decay coating the ground in brown and black. Shegestured at the remains as she looked back at Taiyo. “Were these all Sunrise Irises?”
He nodded, jaw tightly clenched.
When he said nothing, she whispered, “What happened?”
He stared at her for a moment before slowly unclenching his jaw. He gestured to the side of the garden closest to the castle and farthest from the still living patch. “Some time ago, the irises started rotting here first, slowly. We’ve done everything we can to save this garden. When that failed, we tried to protect the irises it hadn’t spread to. Six months ago, the last healthy patch there caught it. Years ago, one of our enemies introduced the disease and it’s been slowly spreading throughout Iubar ever since.”
“It’s affecting your whole kingdom,” Hellebore’s voice softened. “When I crossed the border, I saw a few flowers that were sick and rotting before I found the iris.”
He nodded.
“And this…” Hellebore gestured, feeling a little out of place amidst the decay in her vibrant wedding dress. “This is why you married me?”
“You were right. It wasn’t just because of the Moon Elves starting to move aggressively. In ordinary circumstances, we would be equipped to handle them. These circumstances are far from it. Neither I nor the most skilled of my kingdom have been able to use any means magical or mundane to stop this rot. The eclipse is coming. The Star Elves successfully strengthened their magic with the passing of their comet last year, which only leaves us the weakest link.”
“So while this whole marriage was your idea…” Hellebore took in a sharp breath. “This is what you meant by not having a choice?”
“This eclipse, we’ll be weaker and more vulnerable than we’ve ever been. In the past, we strengthened ourselves andsurvived eclipses by having the Sunrise Irises to bolster us. Without them, and a weak, poisoned land…” Taiyo’s shoulders shifted back as he gestured at the mess. “You see the predicament.”
Hellebore looked around once again. And then she laughed.
It overtook her whole body as she devolved into hysteria. This. This was what she’d been ripped from her home, from her future, from everything she’d worked so hard to achieve, for. This was why she’d been thrown over his shoulder and dragged kicking and screaming and why he would not have ever let her go.
She stumbled back and hands grabbed her, trying to keep her upright, but she brought them both to the ground, crushing her skirts and getting the dirt and decay all over the vivid orange and soft pinks as tears spilled out from her eyes as she kept laughing.
“Hellebore? Hellebore!”
Then she caught herself on Taiyo’s shoulders as he knelt in front of her. She did her best to control her laughter, muffling it with her hand as she said, “You did all of this to me not because you needed a wife, but because you need an alchemist. You stole me, have secured my vow and have taken my hand and the rest of my life from me, because you, King Taiyo of the Sun Elves, need analchemistto save you.”
His hands tightened on her shoulders and he jostled her slightly, glaring at her. “Hellebore! If I had any other option left, I would have taken it.”
She couldn’t help her snort as she leaned forward and took his face in her hands, beaming at him as she said, “Oh, Iknow, and that’s what makes this so wonderful. You came crawling to my kingdom, desperate, begging for the help of your greatest enemy. Only you were so prideful, you couldn’t admit it and instead hid it behind the guise of a marriage alliance. You werewilling to lower yourself to marrying a creature you despise just as much as you need. And you hate yourself for it.”
