“So these are your private gardens?” My voice comes out more defiant than I intend. “Are you going to punish me for being here too?”
“I should.” He says it so seriously that I brace myself for him to come closer and snap my neck so life drains from me. “And yes, these are my private gardens.”
“Why don’t you let anyone come here?”
“Even someone like me needs a break sometimes.” Now he sounds much younger, and I see he’s not looking at me but at some lost point within all the vegetation. “Besides, this isn’t a place where a human should be.”
“Because of the strange flowers?”
“In part.” He tilts his head a little, looking at me again. “This garden belonged to Lilith—or so they say.”
“What?”
“God created Eden, that garden considered paradise, from which Lilith fled because she wouldn’t
