The Prince’s Forbidden Gardener

Prince Kael would be in the gardens within hours. Elara only had one job: make sure he never saw her. “Elara, it’s time to wake up.” Thomas’s voice was soft. It was always before dawn. Elara didn’t open her eyes right away. The sky was still dark. Elara got out of bed without looking for her slippers. The floor bit at her bare feet. It did every morning. By now, she had almost forgotten the life before. Yet, that morning, even the quiet felt sharpened. The garden was enough for her. It had difficult names, thin thorns, roots that mustn’t be broken, and pots heavier than they looked. Everyone in Asteria knew the royal gardens. Fountains, beds of rare flowers, plants brought in from every corner of the kingdom. Some said even noble houses envied them, though never loudly. Servants said there was no better post than the palace. Elara had learned not to argue. But she wasn’t born for that life. Before her false name, Elara had had another. Thomas never spoke it. Then the guards arrived. After that, no one ever spoke of the Aurelian household aloud again. Thomas had once been head gardener at her father’s palace. After the m******e, he had taken an eight-year-old girl and hidden her in the safest place he could think of: the royal gardens. So close to the crown no one would think to look. She had grown up there as Thomas’s daughter, the quiet gardener’s girl, useful enough to be ignored. No one suspected the girl who called him Father was not his by blood. He had taught her servants’ paths, bowed heads, stubborn roots, fragile flowers, and how to survive unseen. Far from her name. Far from her bloodline. Far from anyone who might remember either. For years, that had been enough. That morning, Thomas no longer seemed convinced. It had never happened before that the royal family visited the gardens, but the crown prince’s engagement celebration was approaching, and for that rare occasion, the queen herself wanted to choose the flowers for the festive banquet. At the palace, love was a dangerous thing only for those who didn’t have enough power to afford it. The queen wouldn’t be a problem. She didn’t belong to a lineage of mages. She had no gift or inclination for detecting the presence of magic. But the prince, the king’s son, was trained in the arcane arts and, according to rumors, was highly skilled in wielding his family’s unique powers. He was the king’s heir not only to the throne but also to power. When Thomas spoke Kael’s name, Elara stopped lacing her boot. Elara wanted to ask what he looked like. Instead, she lowered her head over the bucket of water. Thomas had spent years building an ordinary life around her, lie by careful lie. One visit from Kael could c***k it open. So when Elara joined him for the day’s work, he had something waiting for her. “Wear this today. It will protect you from mages.” “…mages?” She knew enough about her real family. Enough to know why the name still had to stay buried. She knew the story, even if she didn’t remember the m******e. But Thomas lacked magical power and therefore hadn’t been able to train her fully in the powers of the various bloodlines. “The nobles. The mages. Everyone who still thinks your family is gone.” Thomas tightened the knot. “Whenever you’re in the presence of a mage, they might discover who you are. But if you wear this bracelet, they won’t be able to see the magic you carry within you.” It was a simple braided leather strap, with stripes in various shades of brown: it was neither ornate nor flashy, perfect for a gardener. The leather was worn at the edges. Thomas fastened it slowly, then checked the knot with his thumb. Everyone else had to see a gardener. Nothing more. Elara had worn the role so long it no longer felt like one. Wearing the bracelet didn’t trouble her: hiding something she had never been able to use, see, or understand… wasn’t a burden. She smiled instead. “Why didn’t you ever give it to me before? I would have been… more like a real daughter of yours.” Thomas’s expression softened before he could hide it. Duty had made him take the little girl in; years had made her his daughter. He had been widowed too soon, with no heirs, supported by the generosity of the Aurelian household, which he had repaid for years with his work as a skilled gardener. He had never known whether, when Adrian had entrusted his only daughter to him, he had done so out of desperation—with no one else to turn to—or out of trust. At first, he had dreaded that responsibility, fearing every shadow and losing countless nights of sleep. But time had passed, no one had knocked on his door, and everything had returned to calm, especially since he’d secured a position with the royal family thanks to his extensive connections and expertise with rare plants. And now, after all these years, Elara was truly like a daughter to him. And he had to protect her from whatever might happen with the prince’s visit—and that of a mage. Thomas double-checked the knot on the bracelet. Then a third time. That day, being seen would only be the first problem. Becoming invisible again afterward would be harder.