The Poison Garden

Iris woke up to the smell of damp earth and rot. The air was thick and humid, clinging to her skin.

She was sitting on a wrought-iron bench. She tried to move, but her hands were bound with zip ties. She looked down. She was wearing a white lace wedding dress. It was vintage, smelling of mothballs.

She was in the Conservatory.

The massive glass dome overhead was cracked, letting in the moonlight. Vines choked the pillars. But in the center, a perfectly manicured garden thrived. Nightshade. Hemlock. Foxglove.

"You look beautiful," Julian said.

He was standing by a freshly dug pit in the center of the garden. He held a shovel.

"Julian," Iris said, forcing her voice to be steady. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm planting you," Julian explained earnestly. "Not dead! No, no. I'm setting you free. Once the weed is gone, the flower can bloom."

"The weed is Silas?"

"He blocks your light, Iris. I see the way you look at him. So sad. So longing. And he gives you nothing. He’s cold stone. I’m going to bury him here, in the compost. His death will nourish your new life."

Iris felt a wave of nausea. He had misinterpreted everything.

"Julian, he loves me. And I love him."

Julian’s face twisted. "Don't lie to me! I see the files! I see the separate bedrooms! That’s not love! That’s captivity!"

A crash echoed from the entrance of the Conservatory.

"Iris!"

Silas.

He burst through the rusted iron doors. He looked like a demon. His coat was gone, his shirt torn. He held his gun, scanning the darkness.

"Over here!" Julian called out cheerfully. "I'm waiting!"

Silas saw them. He saw Iris in the wedding dress. He saw the shovel.

He charged.

Julian didn't run. He raised a tranquilizer rifle—the kind used for large game—and fired.

*Thwip.*

The dart hit Silas in the neck.

He stumbled, ripping it out, but the dose was massive. He took two more steps, his knees buckling. He crashed to the ground ten feet from the bench.

"Silas!" Iris screamed.

Julian walked over to Silas and kicked his gun away. "Look at him. So big. So dumb. Just a brute."

He dragged Silas—groaning, paralyzed but conscious—toward the open pit.

"Now, Iris," Julian said, panting from the effort. "We’re going to have a ceremony. A funeral for your marriage."

He walked over to a table set up near the bench. There was a bottle of wine and two cups.

"A toast," Julian said, pouring the wine. "To freedom."

He brought a cup to Iris’s lips.

Iris looked at the cup. Then she looked at the plants around her.

Directly beside the bench, growing wild, was *Datura stramonium*. Jimson Weed. The seeds were in a pod, just within reach of her bound hands if she leaned back.

"Julian," Iris said softly. "My hands. I can't drink like this."

Julian hesitated. "If I untie you, you have to promise to be good."

"I promise. I want to toast. You're right. I want to be free."

Julian smiled, tears in his eyes. "I knew it."

He cut the zip tie.

Iris rubbed her wrists. "Thank you, Julian."

She reached for the wine. "But first, a custom. In my family, we share the first cup."

She leaned back, her hand brushing the Datura pod. She crushed it in her palm, the black seeds sticking to her sweat-damp skin.

"Here," she said, taking the cup Julian offered. She pretended to take a sip, then offered it to him. As she passed it, she let her hand hover over the rim, brushing the seeds into the dark liquid.

"To us," she whispered.

Julian beamed. He took the cup. He drained it.

"Now," he said, picking up the shovel. "Time to bury the past."

He turned to Silas. He raised the shovel to strike Silas’s head, to finish him before rolling him into the pit.

Silas looked up. His eyes were glassy, drugged, but they were fixed on Iris.

Julian swung the shovel back.

Then he stumbled.

He dropped the shovel. He clutched his throat. "The colors," he gasped. "Why are the flowers screaming?"

Datura. A potent deliriant. Fast-acting in high doses.

Julian fell to his knees, clawing at the air. "Get them off me! The vines! They're eating me!"

Iris scrambled off the bench. She ran to Silas.

"Silas! Silas, wake up!"

Silas shook his head, fighting the tranquilizer with sheer, brute force of will. He saw Iris. He saw Julian writhing on the ground.

He roared.

It was a primal sound. He pushed himself up, his muscles trembling. He crawled toward Julian.

Julian looked up, eyes dilated, seeing a monster. "No! Stay back! Demon!"

Silas grabbed Julian by the throat. He lifted him off the ground with one hand.

"You touched her," Silas rasped.

He slammed Julian into the ground. Once. Twice.

"Silas, stop!" Iris screamed. "He’s done! Don't kill him!"

Silas raised a fist, ready to crush Julian’s skull. He froze. He looked at Iris. She was crying, holding his arm.

"I'm safe," she wept. "I'm safe. You saved me."

Silas dropped Julian. He collapsed back onto the dirt, breathing heavily.

"No," he whispered, reaching for her hand. "You saved me."