IARA

I knew what Malachi meant when he said I shouldn’t wander around. I couldn’t be sure that everyone I met had my best interest in mind. This world was so much different than the one I was from. I had to keep up with my image as a princess, playing nice with those I knew would stab my back if they had the chance. If I were back home I would just tell whoever wouldn’t leave me alone I put a curse on them. Never bothered me again. Vampires weren’t as scared of witches as humans are, unfortunately.

I attended my classes like usual. Elisif took great care to cover all the scratches I had gotten from the incident. She put me in a long sleeved, high neck dress that made me hot all night. It was my own fault. Punishment for doing such a dangerous and risky spell.

My thoughts brought me to the portal, the decaying souls trapped in such an awful place. They suffered for years. Who knows how long they’ve been trapped there. My stomach turned remembering my own mother among the damned. Momma, with her kind blue eyes, looked like a corpse at the bottom of a river. Color had returned to her checks when I touched her, making me believe she could be saved. Malachi was right though. I couldn’t open that portal again. It was far too dangerous. I had to find another way. My mother could be saved, I believed it with all my heart.

“Are you listening to me, Princess?” Lady Isadora scolded.

“Yes ma’am,” I replied quickly. I stood up straight once more and took a step forward, walking through the steps she showed me.

“Again,” the woman yelled. I had to try with all my might to stifle my sigh. As if I cared about proper dancing at this moment in my life.

When my classes finally ended, I headed immediately to our room. The night had dragged on far too long and I wanted some peace. If Malachi wanted someone to always be with me, I would insist on going into the woods with him. How tired he was be damned. I needed to find a few things. Some of the jars in my bag were almost empty, as well as a few around our rooms. I had taken to carrying my bag everywhere with me. Not because of all the unrest, but because I genuinely liked my bag. I knew it looked out of place next to my dresses, it’s frayed leather almost ugly. But I didn’t care. It was a piece of me.

I swung the door open. The movement must have startled Malachi. He was sitting at his desk, a pen in an ink pot. “You are rather late,” he greeted.

“Lady Isadora insisted I stay until I got the hang of- You know what, it isn’t even worth explaining,” I cut myself off. “I want to fill some of my ingredients.”

He turned back to his papers. “Why, so you can do another portal spell?” he shot at me.

I frowned and crossed my arms. “I’m serious,” I pouted. I was worried to hear his same ‘too tired’ excuse, but this time was different.

“I suppose I can spare the time,” he mumbled.

I fell in step with him as we headed to the east courtyard. I buzzed with excitement as we walked. It felt like I hadn’t been outside in ages. “I’m sorry. I need ingredients for a few projects I wanted to work on. Not for another portal,” I replied. “I can make us wards in jars and some-”

He let a smile form on his lips. It felt out of place in the open corridors. He never dared show so much outside. Something was up. “You don’t need to justify why you want to go outside.”

“You’re acting weird,” I muttered. I reached for his hand but he pulled it away.

“A surprise,” he said in a low voice. He was trying to hide his excitement but even he couldn’t hold it back.

A surprise. Was it going to be his gift to me for blood bonding? I couldn’t help but smile. “What is it?” I asked excitedly.

Malachi shrugged, his face only keeping the hint of a smile. I giggled and quickened my pace. The door to the courtyard was just ahead, around this corner and down a half flight of stairs. The pieces started to click together. He must have been working on something exceptionally big. I rushed down the stairs and was turning the old doorknob when a hand braced the door shut. Malachi had both arms on either side of me.

“Close your eyes,” he instructed.

I leaned against him and let my eyes close. He opened the door and guided me by my shoulders. I could feel the stone pathing under my feet. I had to fight myself not to peek.

“Okay,” he said, squeezing my shoulders with affection.

I let my eyes open. I almost fell over too. The once dead courtyard was now a beautiful garden. There was every plant I ever wanted in every corner of this once barren plot of land. A lot of the plants still needed some time to grow, but many of them were ready to have their leaves plucked. Some flowers already bloomed, their petals just opening up for the rising sun. I ran over to the closest patch of greenery and ran my hands along the leaves. “A perfect potion garden,” I breathed.

“Do you like it?” he asked, following close behind me.

I nodded and turned to see the white gazebo. It was small, able to seat four. The chairs in it looked comfortable. Gold detailing ran up each pillar. It was placed right in front of our gate. I headed toward it to see how comfortable the seats were, but my attention was drawn to a small sapling. “Wait,” I mumbled. I hurried over to it and sucked in a breath of air. “Is this. . .”

“A summoning tree,” he finished.

I looked at him, then back at the sapling in amazement. “How did you get one?”

“My father got it. I don’t know the slightest about any of this,” he admitted. His hands gestured around at all the plants. “I couldn’t tell you what any of these things are.”

I laughed and crouched next to the summoning tree. “Well, thank you. It’s amazing.” I dug into my bag and found my small jar of bone meal. It would help the tree grow faster. It would take years for it to produce any fruit at this rate. Once I was done, I stood and turned back to Malachi. “This is why you didn’t take me out here for days!”

He gave a small grin and looked to the side. “I suppose I won’t be able to surprise you like this twice then.”

“Absolutely not. I learn fast.”

My attention was pulled away again by a tall sundial. I gasped again and rushed over to it. Instead of suns placed on the ground, it was moon phases. Noon was the full moon, morning was waxing and evening was waning. The plates looked like they were made of smooth glass, filled with sparkles that caught the sunlight brilliantly. The stone was marbled granite in a vibrant pink. It felt like a perfect mesh of the things I loved. The sun was still everything to me, but the moon had become the thing my day was dedicated to.

After a while of me wandering around my new garden, Malachi came over and rested a hand on my shoulder. “I know you want to spend more time here, but we have a long night ahead of us.”

I turned back to him. I didn’t even feel like we had been out here for all that long, but when I saw the sun was in the middle of the sky I felt my mouth hang open. “It’s already noon?” I squeaked.

My tired husband nodded. “And the sun makes my head feel like it’s splitting open.”

“Ah, I can grab something quick for you,” I said, turning back to the closest cluster of herbs. “There’s rosemary and-”

“I just want to sleep.” He reached up to grab both my hands before I could turn away. His tiredness flooded up my arms and I felt my own eyes get heavy then.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

We headed back to our room. As soon as Malachi’s head hit the pillow, he was out. I only lay next to him, my eyes unable to keep closed. I was too excited to sleep. I watched his peaceful face, longing for sleep to find me too. There were too many things on my mind.

We had to start the Blood Festival. Lady Isadora had been teaching me what I was to do during the festival. Lucky for me Malachi would be doing most of it. All I had to do was be there. I still felt anxious over being in front of so many people again. If it was anything like our wedding the streets would be lined with countless faces.

I turned to lay on my back and pulled the covers more tightly over me. Eventually sleep found me, but just barely. When Elisif came to wake us it felt like I had only just shut my eyes. I already knew today would be exhausting.