Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 27 - Bizarre Normality

Two people snapped heads in his direction. Taro and Mrs Beecham stood together with panicked faces.

"Prince Sage!" Mrs Beecham said with a big grin. Her ginger curls bounced around her as she strode through the shed to grab his hands and politely bow her head. "You must have been so anxious about returning! I've seen them putting new security locks on every door and every window. The security has doubled since you've gone." She had mud smeared over a freckled cheek.

"That's good to know." Sage squeezed her hands back and stood tall. Taro had slunk into the wall, picking carelessly at his green thumb nail. His green eyes remained embedded into Sage's face, just like they had on their journey back to the Palace.

Sage ignored his fluttering heart when he caught Taro watching so inquisitively. "I'm here to ask you a question," Sage said. Mrs Beecham shrank under his stern authoritative gaze, the one Sage used to get what he wanted.

"If you're here to help with today's work, it's all finished. I'm actually just about to go home-"

Sage stepped in her way. Mrs Beecham tilted her head to glare in Taro's direction. "I'm here to ask about why you didn't tell me the truth about the plant," Sage said and crossed his arms.

Her shoulders rolled and she pulled out a stool. She sat as though her words weighed a ton. "I doubt you would have believed me if I told you that your Devil's Ivy plant was acting strange because it was, in fact, your Valet who I had pushed you into interviewing at such short notice. I don't think you would have wanted to believe the truth."

Sage's eyes darted to his Valet, then to the muddy floor. "You're right, I wouldn't have believed you." He pulled out a stool and sat too. "How long have you known?" Sage asked.

"It's common among my family to know about the ways of the green," Mrs Beecham told him. "I'm from a long line of gardeners who have worked for the Greenthenors. We have known about the myths and the tales and the legends and the truths. This is why I was reluctant to give you Taro when I found him in such a state. I knew that if you didn't do as I said and watered him every four hours with plant food every eight, he would die."

Sage's eyes flicked to Taro once again. This time, Taro's eyes were distant, though they still stared his way, but through him. "Convenient that I was looking for a Valet, so him being in my room all the time wouldn't have been a surprise."

"Yes, that was convenient." Mrs Beecham faced Taro. "You were careless. Your mother won't be happy."

"You don't have to tell her," Taro argued.

"Prince Sage has discovered the truth about who you really are. She has to know."

"I won't tell anyone," Sage interjected. "Like you said, it's a very unbelievable thing. I only believe it because I saw it with my own eyes."

"Oh Sage, I know you won't tell anyone, but I wouldn't blame you if you had gone straight to your parents about it," Mrs Beecham said in a tone calmer than the one jabbed at Taro.

Why would I have done that? I'm not a child. "I'm capable of dealing with this," Sage said sternly. "Nobody else needs to know if Taro can agree that he'll be more careful in the future."

Mrs Beecham sat up straight, the way she did when she remembered that she spoke to a Prince. "Taro, you promised me that you would be careful. You've broken that promise once, you cannot afford to break it again. What if Oxley had noticed and not Sage? Forgive me Sage, but your brother loves the sound of his own voice."

Can't argue with that. "Yes, that would have been damaging." He ran a hand down his face and exhaled slowly to collect his thoughts. "This is still shocking for me. I think the only reason I'm not running to the hills is because I have gotten to know you, Taro." Sage ran a finger along his bottom lip. "We will see if you can find a routine that causes no suspicion. If it does, then maybe I can alter your job title."

They both looked confused. "How?" Taro asked. "Would you cut my hours?"

"No, I would do the opposite. But first, let us see how good you are at being more careful." Sage had surprised himself by how he had remained so calm. Taro was a plant man, the thought alone made him shudder, yet enthralled, charmed, and almost excited to know a secret the rest of the world didn't.

"Right then, that's settled, Prince Sage is a saint, and you are lucky to be working for him," Mrs Beecham said, then lightly whacked Taro on the back of his blond head. "Stupid boy. If there is a next time, you won't hear the end of it."

Taro loomed over her in height, yet he dodged her fierce eyes like they were the dart, and he was the bullseye. "I'll be careful," he grumbled and stood next to Sage. "Excuse me, I have a job to do." He grabbed Sage's arm and pulled him from the shed.

"You're in the wrong job if you don't like being told what to do," Sage said and allowed himself to be dragged until there were people around to see. Sage quickly put distance between them when a maid scurried past, and made Taro follow him up the stairs.

Once in the bedroom, Taro had changed his grumpy demeanour and was back to his usual smirky and flirty self. "Giving me more hours is very tempting."

Sage shot him a wary look. "Why?"

"So I can spend more time admiring you in your waistcoats."

Sage flushed a deep red, so deep, Taro could see it shining above his chestnut skin. Sage cleared his throat and busied himself with ordering his Valet to unpack his suitcase.

Taro put Sage's clean clothes in the drawers and yesterday's clothes in a basket ready to be washed. "Want a bath?" he asked as Sage tried to look like he was doing things by sitting at his desk and organising already organised documents.

"Please."

They tiptoed around each other. Well, Sage tiptoed around Taro Vinea, the plant man. Every time Taro looked Sage's way his spine tingled. Now that Sage knew who Taro was, he had to step up and show Taro that he accepted him, no matter how ludicrous it felt to accept a man who was also his houseplant. "You can sleep in your um, plant form while I have a bath."

Taro smiled. "In that case, take your time." He started unbuttoning his uniform and transformed right in front of the Prince.

Sage didn't expect him to change in the bathroom, he would have yelled for privacy if he wasn't so hypnotised by Taro's moving tattoos, the bright green light, and the way he changed into a Devil's Ivy plant.

Sage cautiously stripped his clothes and climbed into the tub. Taro had gotten the temperature perfect. Sage sank enough so he could peer over the side and at the plant sitting a few metres away. The vines were wrapped around the bottom of the purple pot, the way cats wrapped tails around themselves as they slept.

Madness. This is pure madness.