Page 9 of The Botanist and the Beast

The two of them walked through the city in silence and Theo preoccupied himself by looking around. There were more statues with dead plants bursting from their cracks and dilapidated buildings boarded up and abandoned.

Whatever happened to this kingdom, it wasn't good. Maybe a war?

Finally, they came upon a dark castle backed by a treacherous mountain range. The castle was imposing as it loomed over them with black stone walls covered in dead rose vines. Its turrets dusted with snow reached high toward the grey clouds. Bare trees dotted the lawn and obscured some of the arched windows.

While gazing up at the immaculate building he bumped into his captor's back and stumbled.

"Be careful," the man snapped, glancing back at him. He pushed open the large double doors and tugged Theo inside. "Don't touch anything."

"Understood," Theo said distantly as he realized the castle was striking inside. The ceilings were high, with large unlit chandeliers and dry ivy wrapped around them. Erupting out of the entryway floor was a large tree that bent and swirled, making the railing of the grand curved stairway. Branches of climbing roses came in from most of the windows. Once up the stairs, they walked down a hall lined with doors and withered zinnias sprouting from the base boards. Along the wall were evenly spaced giant shriveled and browned peonies.

"I should kill you," the man said as they traveled through the hall lit by the dim torches. His voice made Theo flinch with surprise. "But I have grown so weary of death so you will simply remain here until I see fit. Understand?" When Theo nodded, he went on. "You will be with me at all times. I don't want you wandering alone. And never go to the east wing."

"Can I ask why?"

"You are a ward and there are rules that must be followed. Follow the rules and I promise no harm will come to you while you stay here."

Theo glanced the opposite direction to see if he could spot anything in the dark.Maybe the east wing is an exit.

He stopped at two large doors and unlocked them, pushing them open. Theo was led into a suite as beautiful as the rest of the castle. The air was so cold that Theo's breath fogged out in front of him. Branches sprouted out of the ceiling and crisscrossed each other, suggesting a canopy of blossoms once grew overhead.

They passed a few doors and crossed through a small living room with tiered fountains in the middle. Though the surface of the water was frozen, he could see large royal blue koi with silver spots swimming lazily at the bottom. "Are you the king?" Theo asked. The suite was so decadent he had to believe it was for the royal family.

"I'm prince Sebastian Adair," he corrected as he unlocked one of the doors in the hall and revealed a massive bedroom that obviously belonged to him. The canopy bed had sheer white and sky-blue curtains held up by four thin birch trees with bare branches that functioned as bedposts. A dark blue velvet lounge chair stood by the window next to a small table made of tangled branches with an open book lying on it. Next to it was a tray of three thick burning candles that handed a small glow to the room. Spouts of brittle flowers were occasionally bursting fromthe wooden floorboards. "I am the current ruler of Amaryllis, but I'm not its king."

The prince undid his cloak and lowered his hood, and Theo's breath was snatched away. The only word that got close to describing his beauty was ethereal.

The prince's left eye was a shimmering opal stone like the statues outside. It was primarily a glittery white, but bright blue, blush pink, and chartreuse at different angles. It reminded Theo of light dancing on top of clear waters.

His right eye wasn't a stone but a pretty blue that reminded Theo of forget-me-nots. His skin was pale white with small splotches of opal stone that shifted color like his eye. His hair was short and perfectly disheveled with waves of stark white that mimicked the snow outside the castle. In the candlelight, a faint rainbow, like the colorful rings that formed in spilled oil, danced over his strands. A small grey, thorny vine poked out through his hair on the left side and tangled around one of his thin opal antlers. The antlers were lopsided as if someone snapped off a small piece of the right side.

Theo was so taken by the beauty of this man, all he could do was stare. He wanted to touch him. Not in a sexual way, but in the way he often wanted to let his fingers drift over the delicate top of a rose to absorb the beauty through all senses.

"I must look unsettling to a human. Apologies." He chuckled tossing his cloak on the chair. "You'll get used to it eventually."

He tugged Theo across the hall into a pretty but significantly smaller room. The furnishings were sparse, with only a small wooden desk in one corner and a small bed in the middle. Dried grass sprouted out of random floorboards, making it look like his little room was a field that had suffered a drought.

"You will stay in this guest room within my suite since I can't put you in the dungeon. We'll discuss your role tomorrow."

"Cozy," Theo said dryly as he looked around. There was a click, and he was shocked to see the prince padlocked his chain to a metal loop on the bed's bottom right leg. "Is that really necessary?"

"It is," he said plainly as he tucked a small key ring into his pants pocket. "There's soap and running water in your washroom through that door."

"Can you at least undo my wrists till morning so I can wash up and get some rest?" The prince didn't move. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have tried by now, and I don't really feel compelled to jump out the window. I just want to sleep comfortably."

"And we just wanted to live in peace. They stay on. You should be able to get around the room fine. Have a good night."

"How can I sleep if—"

The door slammed, and Theo flinched. The lock on the door turned with a thunk, and he was sealed in for the night.

Chapter Eight

Theo tossed and turned for hours thinking of a possible escape route or, at the very least, a way out of his chains.

His eyes grew heavy with sleep when a low, rumbly growl of an animal sent a shot of adrenaline through his veins.

He bolted up right in bed and stared into the darkness, listening close to the silence. The soft green glow of his scar was the only light. It came again.

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