Chapter 5 The Garden

Kia's POV

The sun felt artificial through the skylights. After hours locked in that velvet tomb of a room right after breakfast, being summoned again felt like a sick routine forming. The guards were wordless as always, shadows with guns, their silence more oppressive than any insult could've been. They didn't tell me where we were going, only that I was to come and I didn't ask questions. We moved through long hallways and this time, I paid more attention to the oil paintings that lined the walls, women draped in sorrow, men cloaked in violence. Everything here bled history and death. I was still in the red dress from this morning. The humiliation hadn't washed off, no matter how many times I scrubbed my skin raw. They led me outside where the sudden burst of color nearly blinded me. Gardens, grand ones, twisting rows of roses, orchids and strange, thorned things I'd never seen before. A marble fountain gurgled at the center, water bubbling like a secret trying to escape, it didn't make sense. This place of blood and torture and killers had a damn garden.

"Pretty, isn't it?", a cool, female voice said behind me.

I turned. The woman standing there had a severe face, lined with age, but not weakness. Steel gray hair pulled into a perfect bun, a black dress that somehow managed to make her look both regal and deadly.

"My name's Delia", she said flatly.

"I manage the estate which means you answer to me now"

"I didn't agree to that", I muttered.

"You agreed to nothing and yet here you are", her mouth curved into something between a smile and a warning.

Before I could speak again, another figure appeared, a man this time, younger, late twenties maybe, with soft brown curls, olive skin and the kind of eyes that made you wonder if they'd always looked that tired. He didn't wear black like the others instead he had on a navy shirt, sleeves rolled, a book in one hand.

"Delia", he greeted then his gaze flicked to me.

"You must be Kia", he said and offered me a small smile.

My throat tightened, something about him made my heartbeat shift. He wasn't like the others. He looked... real, more human.

"I'm Matteo, Hades' brother", he introduced himself.

I blinked. Brother? How? They looked and even felt so different.

He must've seen the confusion in my face because he chuckled softly.

"Different mothers, different temperaments but we're still family all the same", he explained.

I nodded stiffly.

"He asked me to show you the grounds", Matteo said.

"I think he hopes you'll dismiss the idea of trying to scale the walls if you were already thinking about it, if you realize they're lined with motion sensors and thirty feet of reinforced steel"

The idea had crossed my mind once but just the once so I shrugged.

"Charming", I muttered instead.

He offered his arm, I didn't take it.

"Ok, this way", he said and I followed.

We walked side by side through the twisting pathways, the scent of roses was overwhelming like they were trying to suffocate me with beauty.

"You're not like them", I said quietly.

Matteo raised an eyebrow.

"Them?", he asked.

"The guards, Hades, everyone here", I shrugged.

He hesitated.

"There are layers to this world, Kia some sharper than others, I learned to smooth mine over"

"And Gio?", I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"Were you there that night?", I asked him.

His eyes flickered with something. Pain?

"No,.I wasn't", he said softly.

"You knew him, though"

A long pause.

"Yes", he answered finally.

That was all he said. We stopped near a wrought iron bench surrounded by tall hedges and climbing vines. Matteo gestured for me to sit, I did, only because my legs were starting to tremble.

"I don't understand why I'm here", I whispered.

"I think you do", he said.

I shook my head.

"Gio made choices", Matteo said carefully. "And choices come with consequences. You're here because you mattered to him which means you matter to Hades-"

"I don't belong to Hades", I snapped.

"No, but in his mind, that's the same thing as owing him a debt. And Hades always collects", Matteo said.

We sat in silence for a few seconds then Delia returned, carrying a tray with a teacup, she handed it to me without a word.

"Is it poisoned?", I muttered.

Delia arched her brow.

"If it were, I wouldn't waste the poison on jasmine", she said sarcastically.

I didn't drink it though.

Before leaving, she turned and looked directly at me.

"Don't be fooled by the flowers, girl", she said, her voice lower now, almost like a warning.

"The thorns are what bleed you", she finished then she vanished down the path, the hem of her black dress brushing past blood red roses.

~~

That night, back in my room, the luxurious prison I hated more each passing second, I couldn't sleep. My thoughts kept spiraling, I had too many questions and not enough people who'd give answers. What had Gio done exactly? Why had Hades spared me?

And what the hell did "you start work tomorrow"even mean?

I lay on the bed, eyes on the ceiling, tracing the curve of the chandelier above. A part of me wondered if the cameras were still watching. I should've torn them all out, but a sick part of me wanted to let them watch, let them see how much I hated this place.

Then something slid under the door. The sound was soft, whispered. I sat up slowly, there it was, a folded piece of paper, aged and creased, resting like a phantom just past the doorway. My stomach knotted as I padded barefoot across the cold floor. I knelt down, heart pounding and picked it up. The handwriting was messy, rushed but the words were clear.

"I know the truth about Gio.

Meet me at midnight.

The east wing, the wine cellar. Come alone"

My fingers trembled, midnight was less than an hour away and suddenly, the flowers I remembered from the garden didn't feel so beautiful anymore.

They felt like a trap, a snare hidden in full bloom.