Thorn in the Rose {Book 1 Of The Once Upon A Time Chronicles}

Chapter 35: The Frozen River

"Are you trying to say I'm not a normal woman?" I ask with my hand dramatically positioned over my heart. 

He looks me up and down and points down to the pair of pants that I'm wearing. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." 

"Thank you," I say with a smile. "Now, where are these 'beautiful' spots?" 

He holds his hand up in a gesture for me to follow him, and together we walk through the dark passageway and out a back door into the dying gardens. He walks me past rows and rows of dead bushes which I'm sure looked beautiful when they held flowers during the spring. Trees that were once full and alive are now wrinkled and look as if they would fall apart with a simple touch. 

"When are we going to get to the beautiful part?" I whine. 

"Soon, we just need to go past a few more rows," he responds without even sparing me a glance. 

"How big is this garden?" 

He shrugs. "I don't know, my mom just kept having plants planted until..." He stops for a second and collects himself, "until she died." 

It's the first time he's talked about either of his parents around me. I thought that he didn't know them, after all, that was the situation with the richest family in the town I grew up in. The parents were gone so much that the sons didn't know they had parents until the nanny told them.

"What was she like?" I ask, curious for any information I can get.

It's the first time since we left the passageway that he has stopped walking. "She was... I don't remember her that much. She died when I was very young. Miss Potts has told me that she was a wonderful woman who was loved by all her people." 

I decide not to press him on what seems to be a hard topic and switch the topic to what I hope will be more light-hearted. "This place must have been incredible before the curse."

I see him nod. "Imagine all these trees alive and full of birds singing sweet tunes. All these bushes are lined with flowers of all colours. And, of course, the people. Hundreds of servants and a  couple of dozen visitors from all parts of France, all from noble families." As he spoke I could hear how faraway in thought he was. It was as if he was back there standing in that lush garden surrounded by servants and nobles instead of standing in its carcass.

"Of course," I say as I roll my eyes. "Don't take offence to this, but the image of rich, snobby people running around here in their fancy dresses not to mention those white wigs ruins the idea of a beautiful garden."

"We didn't all wear those white wigs," he protests.

"So, you're saying you didn't wear one, not even once."

He half turns his head toward me. "Maybe once or twice."

I smirk. "I knew it."

"My point is this garden used to be incredible. Maybe one day soon it will be again, and then you can see it."

I stop in my tracks my brain seemingly unable to process what I just heard. "You... you want me to come back after the curse is broken?" 

He stops and turns to face me. "Well, yes. Unless of course, you don't want to come back."

"Why wouldn't I want to come back?"

His lips curl upward revealing his pointy teeth for a moment before dropping and his face turning all serious again. "Come on the river is this way," he says and starts to walk off again.  

My eyes widen. "Did you just say river?" I ask but he's too far away to answer me. 

It turns out that there is a river. This garden is so massive that there is an entire river! Only this one is frozen. He leads me onto the stone bridge that goes over the frozen water.