The Rose Chateau

by Rebecca Monaco

  “Who are you?” he snapped, anger struggling with bewilderment. “What are you doing to my roses?”

  “What am I doing?” Corinna snapped right back. “What are you doing? You’re snapping them right off the stubs! You threw a whole bush! What gives you the right to do that?!”

  “R-right?!” Alexander gasped back. His ears flattened on his head. “It’s my garden! I can do whatever I want! It’s not like Morgana can’t regrow a new one by the morning.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Corinna huffed. “You’re destroying helpless, innocent roses! I won’t let you continue!”

  She stepped out of the bushes, being careful not to hurt them; then she ran over to the discarded bush and knelt beside it. The roots were still whole. It could be reset into the soil and saved. The damage wasn’t too serious. These flowers could be brought back to vibrancy in no time. And there was the silent whispering of the roses. It made Corinna slightly warm on the inside, like they were thanking her.

  “Morgana,” Corinna called out. She carefully lifted the bush, trying not to get cut by the suddenly very pointy thorns and also trying not to drop it. “It’s still alive and healthy. Is there a way you could put it back in the soil right now?”

  Morgana nodded and beckoned her closer. Corinna waddled past Alexander and over to her, and together they set the plant against the crumbling dirt. Morgana murmured some words and the dirt parted to accept the plant and then came together again to cover the roots. Corinna checked the branches in comparison to the bushes next to it and deemed it okay to leave to its own devices.

  “You think you know so much about roses?” Alexander asked from behind the women. Corinna nodded and turned to confront him. Now that the bush was safe, she found herself shocked and stunned with what she’d done. She’d spoken out against this fiend. She must be crazy.

  “Yes, Sir,” she said. “I grow the best flowers in the province… and the kingdom, so someone once said in the palace.”

  “You’re from Paesaggia?” Alexander asked, taking a faltering step forward. The movement made a low rumbling sound through the ground.

  “No,” Corinna said, standing tall and trying to look more dangerous. “Lagra… in Tiamaiur. I live in Matthiew’s kingdom. I’ve never even been to Paesaggia.”

  A grumbling noise emitted from Alexander’s throat, but Corinna let herself believe it was simply a pondering noise. Alexander was glaring at her, and Corinna understood why. It was a truce, not a treaty of peace. They were still from neighboring, rival kingdoms. Had Alexander not even thought about who he was bringing into his castle? Maybe he would release her now that he’d heard, now that he knew?

  “You are from a rival nation, living as a guest in my house, and yet you still dare to tell me what to do?” Alexander growled and Corinna’s heart forgot how to beat. She took a deep breath to solidify her standing.

  “Yes. Because…. Because no matter where you’re from or what you own, you shouldn’t treat living things the way you just treated your flowers,” Corinna said. She saw Alexander’s glare get worse and set one of her own back at the prince.

  “I can treat them however I want. You get in my way and I’ll-,” Alexander began but Corinna stepped up to him and interrupted him.

  “And you’ll what?” she asked. She did a glance back at Morgana, who seemed both startled and yet unworried. The witch was watching with surprised eyes and a slightly open mouth. Corinna took her lack of outright fear as a good sign and continued. She looked back at Alexander and put her hands on her hips. “Huff and puff and blow my house down? You already have! So glare at me and threaten me, but I’m not afraid of you!”

  Oh, what a lie. Corinna’s chest hurt from the rapid pounding, and she worried her heart may burst with the stress. Alexander could snap her in half so easily. Corinna wasn’t tough or built like Alastar or Gavin. She was just some skinny garden girl who specialized in roses and tripping over harvest tools. She’d be no match if Alexander decided to hurt her, but Morgana had promised her safety. She wanted to trust Morgana and her protection. She wanted to believe this mal-formed prince couldn’t harm her. So she did.

  “You should be afraid!” Alexander yelled, a large storm coming from his mouth, and pulled his arms back threateningly. However, he didn’t bring them back down against Corinna. They fell back to the prince’s sides, scary looking but harmless. The prince fisted his great paws and growled deep in his chest. Corinna did her best to hide her shivering, the way her arms shook, and how she wanted to back away.

  Alexander turned around and batted another bush from its spot, partially wounding the one next to it. He howled at the evening sky like a wolf and, with a grunt, turned his human eyes on Corinna. So close, Corinna could see they were a clouded blue; not electrifying like Morgana’s, not bright like her own, but still blue all the same… and definitely human.

  “You’re in my house, and you’ll do as I say. Since you love roses so much, you can clean this place up. It’s a sty. Morgana, you are forbidden to help her,” Alexander snarled, never taking his eyes off Corinna.

  “A sty?” Corinna asked. “It’s one bush and two snapped branches.” She motioned toward the newly uprooted bush and put her arms out to the side as though asking for Alexander’s sanity as well as for something more challenging.

  Alexander smirked in a way only animals could, and walked away, back toward the house. With every thundering step, he cut this bush and knocked over that one. He kicked up dirt into the aisle and more or less threw a royal, beastly tantrum. When the door slammed behind him, Corinna shook and had to grab the ground before she could eat it. Her legs were too weak and she was still shaking. All the energy she’d saved from her nap was gone, no doubt in her mind.

  Morgana was there then, helping Corinna stand and dusting off some of the soil from her clothes. She stood up straight and took the younger woman’s hand, checking how bad the quaking was. Corinna frowned deeply.

  “Is he always like that?” she asked, looking around at the ruined bushes.

  “Not always,” Morgana assured, taking a golden band from inside her robes. “Only when things don’t go according to his way.”

  “Lovely. I suppose that means I should stay out of his vicinity then,” Corinna guessed, still taking deep breaths to calm her wild heart. Morgana’s eyes flashed golden and the bangle flashed back. She smiled and slipped it on Corinna’s wrist.

  “Well if you do, that is your choice. Here. This bracelet will help you sleep. We can start on the garden tomorrow,” she said.

  Corinna looked down at her wrist and examined her new jewelry. It was just a thin strand of gold wrapped around her wrist, like a stalk of a newborn crop or a sunflower plant. There was only one marking on it, a symbol in an old language Corinna had never learned. She turned her wrist this way and that but she saw nothing remarkable about it, though it had previously been glowing.

  “Is it a magical charm?” she asked, looking up at her new witch friend… or, she supposed they would become friends.

  “Yes. A very dear friend of mine once bestowed such a gift upon me,” she said and revealed the bracelet resting against her skin. “I hope it helps you as much as mine helps me. See you tomorrow – anytime you’re ready.”

  “But Alexander said you couldn’t help me.” Corinna tried to protest, but Morgana was already walking her to the door. They stepped over the ruin around them, careful to drag as little as they could with them.

  “He meant magically. And either way, I would be here to keep you company. Now go to bed,” Morgana ordered, a playful smile on her lips. “I look forward to working with you.”

  “Oh. And I you,” Corinna replied. “Thank you so much. Good night.”

  “Good night, Corinna.” And then Morgana was closing the door, and Corinna found herself alone in the main hall again.

  Chapter 8 – Work to Do

  Time was odd in the manor, especially now that Corinna had Morgana’s magical charm. If she was tired, she could
sleep for hours until fully rejuvenated. Even naps were more refreshing. It made time seem broken. She went to sleep alone, to the sound of the spitting fire. She woke up alone, to the jovial noise of sunlight dancing on her face. She no longer found it odd that her fires and candles were lit at night. She was also not surprised to find the curtains drawn when she opened her eyes in the morning.

  Breakfast was at her door waiting for her, but Belle was nowhere in sight. Corinna woke alone and she ate alone. Then she wandered the corridors a bit to bide some time and look for the others before she started her work on the garden. She didn’t find anyone, but she did find a door to the back yard. It was an expansive field behind the house, so wide that Corinna could scarcely make out the fence in the back. There were the stables Gavin was talking about. They stood about halfway between the house and the back fence, and halfway between the stables and the house was a large yew tree. It’s branches were well kept, unlike some Corinna had seen in Tiamaiur where the branches reached out like horrendous claws in every direction and scared small children who glimpsed them in the twilight. This one was quite beautiful for a yew tree. Its trunk was slightly split, providing a good place to sit up amongst the leaves, and giving perfect shade from the sun.

  Corinna stood by it and looked back at the house. While standing, the third floor was blocked from view, but that mattered little. Corinna was smiling at the second floor, where she could see Veronica washing the bottom of the large center window. She must have just begun, because Corinna hadn’t seen her before coming outside. Corinna sank to her knees and then to her butt. She leaned back against the yew and watched Veronica work until the heat of the day made her eyes heavy. She should really be getting in to help Morgana. The roses were a mess…

  The dark haired girl sat up straight and sighed. Alexander had totally ruined that garden. It would take at least two days simply to replant whichever bushes weren’t dead and to sweep up the aisle. She didn’t even want to think about the bushes they’d need to throw out and start from scratch with.

  “Well,” she murmured to no one, pushing herself up with her knee. “No bother putting it off any longer.”

  Corinna took a last look around the yard as she headed back to the door. She caught a glimpse of Gavin leading a horse to a small paddock, for training no doubt. That’s when she remembered Archie, sitting in one of those stalls and waiting for her. Oh, but the roses needed her attention more right now. She’d go see her horse soon, but not now. Gavin would take good care of him in the meantime. Right?

  As Corinna turned around to face the house, she nearly ran into Isabelle. Belle gasped and then laughed a little as Corinna’s clumsiness as the field worker proceeded to fall over. Belle was carrying a basket of clothes, damp and ready to be hung up to dry. She offered Corinna a hand up and then dusted her shoulder for her while Corinna did the rest.

  “Good morning, Corinna. Did you sleep well?” she asked.

  “Yes, actually. Morgana noticed I was up and wandering so she gave me this charm to help me sleep,” Corinna said, holding up her wrist for examination. Belle looked absolutely stunned. She held Corinna’s arm gently with one hand, the other firmly around her basket.

  “Morgana gave you a charm? What an honor,” she breathed out. Then she beamed at Corinna and laughed outright. “You must be something special to get a gift from Morgana. She hardly talks to any of us, let alone gives us charms.”

  “I won’t let it go to my head, I promise,” Corinna said, teasing and patting Belle on the shoulder.

  “No worries. We’d never let you.” Belle smiled softly, looking at Corinna as though she had become something special in her gaze. Then the dark girl looked down and her eyes took in the amount of wet laundry she had. A blush dusted her cheeks, and she shrugged as she looked back at Corinna. “I-I best be getting to the laundry. I don’t want it to wrinkle.”

  “Right,” Corinna agreed, nodding and moving out of the way. Belle nodded in return and then hurried off toward two thin strings hung between posts near the yew tree but not close enough to get caught in it should the wind blow too hard.

  When Isabelle was a good distance away, Corinna allowed herself to continue walking to her own destination. She reentered the house and listened to the loud echoing of her footsteps as she crossed the whole length of it to get to the garden door. Morgana was nowhere to be found, but everything Corinna would need to clean was set up by the fountain for her. There was a pair of gloves, but Corinna pulled her own from her back pocket. She preferred the familiarity of her father’s gloves to the strangeness of the brand new gloves sitting by one of the pools.

  Corinna rolled up her sleeves and stretched her arms, and then she began to move the dead plants or the hopeless plants into one corner and the ones that could be saved into another. Then she got on her hands and knees to fix the holes for the saved trees to go back into. She was just about to make a try for the first one when Morgana reappeared. Corinna saw her sitting by the tools and wandering back by the untouched plants, but the older woman did not speak to her nor made any move to help her out. The witch may as well not have been there at all.

  Corinna got the first of five salvageable bushes into the ground with some effort, and then pushed some soil from the aisle into the planter to pack it in. When she was sure it was secure, she stood back from it to admire her hard work and wiped some sweat from her brow. To her surprise, the bush already looked much healthier, not like a bush that had been thrown and scuffed about. It seemed to wave at her, and she couldn’t help but make a tiny wave back. Then she blushed and felt stupid for doing such a thing. Of course it hadn’t waved at her. It was just the wind, silly Corinna.

  The aisle was organized but far from clean, and the beds still looked horrible, though the added bush made it less so. Walking almost right beside Morgana, Corinna grabbed a broom and began to sweep the soil from the stone aisle and back into the planters on both sides. She tried to aim it where it was most needed, but it was hard to aim dirt like that. She maneuvered around the sections of trees and all the way down in both directions. Just one more thing before she stopped for a break: getting rid of the dead and hopeless branches and brambles Alexander had massacred.

  There was no door to the outside from the garden, which Corinna found annoying unhelpful, so she began to heave as much as she could through the house, moving as quickly and carefully as she could manage. She took the remains to the front yard only to realize she had no idea what to do with them. Thinking she’d come back and figure something out later, she made a pile of the stuff in the corner by the gate, somewhere covered in shadow so maybe no one from the household would notice for awhile. This continued, with the remains of bushes passing from the side garden to the front yard, until she’d cleared every broken piece and stray fallen petal from the vicinity of the garden and moved it to that far corner.

  When she returned to the garden, she clapped her hands and then set them on her hips. She surveyed her work and smiled. It was tough labor, but she enjoyed the payoff too much to quit. It reminded her of her home life and her garden by the short wooden fence. Maybe she’d ask to keep working with the roses after she fixed them. Or maybe she could go into the front and save that dying garden as well. None of the current servants seemed to specialize in gardening, so it was no wonder only the rose garden ever stood out as beautiful. Oh, but why have a library filled with books on gardening and have no one use them?

  Corinna smiled. She would use them. She would learn to be the best caregiver for the yard that she could be while she was here, and then she would take those skills home to her family’s farm and use it to make them prosper even without Morgana’s magic infusing the soil. Speaking of which, she still had that book in her room from last night. She was going on a break anyway, so she would go read about gardening while she relaxed. Maybe she could head over to the kitchen too and find something to eat. Judging by the sun, it was well past lunch. It may even be nearing supper time.

  Corinna se
t all her tools back against the fountain and smacked her hands together a few times to get the excess dirt from her gloves. Then she pushed the gloves into her back pocket once again and headed inside. Before she could get far into the main hall, she spotted Veronica kneeling on the reflective floor. At first she thought the teen might have fallen and injured herself, but on a second look, Corinna saw Veronica had a bucket and a washcloth with her. She was cleaning.

  “Hello, Veronica,” Corinna greeted, though she didn’t entirely expect the other to answer. Veronica glanced up at her and smiled.

  “H-Hello, Corinna,” she murmured, looking back at her work with more concentration than before.

  Hang on. Was she embarrassed? Corinna smiled like she wanted to laugh, but she didn’t. First Belle and now Veronica. At this rate, Corinna could have Morgana blushing as well. They were all beautiful women, and it was cute to see them flush whenever she complimented them, or in Veronica’s case - whenever she said anything. They needed more positive feedback, but Corinna understood why they had so little. They were stuck in this house as much as she was.