"So you know much about healing herbs?" Tenebrys asked thoughtfully.
"As much as I could. Why?"
Tenebrys stopped in the gardens in front of an old door. Its red paint was peeling off. "You know how I had the herbs for your bath?"
"I remember the bath fondly," Delphi said, starting to smile.
"Focus, you naughty creature," Tenebrys chided. "Those plants came from my mother's garden, which also disappeared when Narcisse cursed us and broke the house magic."
Delphi pointed at the red door. "You don't think..."
"I know it's the door. I came out here to check where the fresh herbs for your bath had come from, and it had returned, just like the library." Tenebrys rested a hand on the cracked paint. "It was waiting for you to come."
"Because I am your mate?" she asked."Or because I have magic?"
"Both."
Delphi stared at the door. "I don't know how to comprehend all of this. I'm no one. I always have been. I'm not some special chosen one. I'm the daughter of horrible parents who just did awful things to people."
"You are notno one." Tenebrys stroked her cheek with his knuckle. "Not to me. You are my mate and will be my queen one day, should you wish it. This was the queen's garden beforemy mother's or my grandmother's time. It always belongs to the queen alone. Her private sanctuary."
"But I'm not a queen," Delphi whispered.
Tenebrys smiled. "Oh? Then try the door. If it doesn't open for you, it will prove that I am wrong. And we both know how you like to be right."
Delphi scowled at him, but it only made him smile wider and gesture at the door. She huffed out a frustrated breath and grabbed the blackened handle. A small pulse rippled out from the lock, the chipped paint flaking away to reveal a new coating of scarlet red underneath. With a faint click, the handle gave and swung open.
Delphi stared at the wonderland of plants and flowers on the other side. "Not a word out of you. I don't want to hear it, Tenebrys."
The bastard only laughed and nudged her inside. "I wouldn't dream of it...my queen."
26
Delphi had never seen the plants growing around her before, not in real life or any book. Unlike the rest of the garden, the beds and rows of plants looked as if they had been tended to.
"All of these are from Faerie?" she asked, staring around in wonder. There were some in shades she didn't think could exist.
"Many of them," Tenebrys replied, looking around him, eyes soft. "Some are from places like Kisharu. My ancestors on my father's side came from there. All the cat shifters do, apart from the snow leopards in Runefjell. When they moved, they brought their plants with them. Whenever my father and mother traveled, she would seek out rare plants and flowers."
"How could she keep track of them all? This is incredible." Delphi went to touch the petal of a bright pink bloom and thought better of it. Usually, the most toxic plants looked the prettiest.
Tenebrys pulled a palm-sized book from his pocket. "This is how. I found it in my parents' room, on the bedside table. It will also help you figure out what they are all for. If you'redetermined to break the curse, then maybe there is something in it that can help."
Delphi took the book from him and reverently touched the cover. She opened it gently, but the pages didn't feel brittle despite the age. Inside were wonderful little sketches and watercolors of the plants, along with information on where Maela had gathered them, their uses, and the best time to harvest them.
"This is...thank you, Tenebrys," she said, and hugged him again.
"You are more than welcome, little flower. You will get better use out of it than I, that's for sure." Tenebrys stroked her braid. "My mother always said this was the only place she could get any peace and quiet. Shifters can be a lot, as you will soon discover."
"There are only seven of you. I'm sure I will survive," Delphi said, letting him go so she could explore.
"You say that now," he said with a teasing smile. "Want to see the goddess grove?"
"Of course I do." Delphi wanted to see everything. It was like walking through a dream.
She held onto Tenebrys's hand, and he didn't pull away. It was still a little strange to see the change in his personality toward her. The gruffness was there—that was just Tenebrys—but there was also a tenderness she never would have guessed.
Delphi could smell the roses a full minute before they turned down another pathway and moved through a doorway cut into a hedge. All around her were tall pomegranate trees and beds of roses so red they almost looked black.
