SWNOVELXO Chapter 11: Chapter 11 – The Garden with No Roses
The garden hadn't been touched in years.
It lay tucked between the southern wall of the palace and the remnants of an old chapel that had collapsed during the last fire. Most people in the castle referred to it simply as "the burned courtyard." No one planted anything there anymore. No servants were assigned to its care. Even the gardeners avoided it, as if the soil itself held a grudge.
Kaelith stepped through the rusted iron gate alone, boots crunching against gravel and blackened roots. Smoke hadn't touched the stones in years, but the scent lingered-faint and bitter, like memory.
He hadn't come here since he was a boy. But the moment his foot crossed the threshold, something familiar tightened in his chest. He didn't remember why the garden mattered. Not clearly. Only that it was connected to her. The woman in the chapel. The woman who said nothing but said everything with her eyes.
She had looked at him like he was both salvation and punishment.
He made his way toward the stone bench at the far end of the courtyard, the one with the cracked inscription. Half the words had faded with time, but one line still remained:
"What is planted in silence never forgets."
Kaelith didn't know what he was looking for. Only that something had brought him here-urgency without reason, a need without memory.
He sat down slowly, placing his hands on his knees, grounding himself. The air was still. Heavy. And beneath it all, something throbbed-an old emotion buried too deep to name.
Elsewhere in the palace, Elara stood outside a chamber of mirrors, her pulse echoing in her ears.
She had followed the memory, not the hallway.
Every step she took had felt guided by something older than instinct. And now, as she faced the final door before the northern gallery, the whisper returned.
He is in the garden.
The voice wasn't hers, but it lived inside her like it belonged.
Elara didn't hesitate.
She turned sharply and moved through the west passage, careful not to run, but fast enough to matter. Every corridor she passed seemed more familiar than the last. The palace was revealing itself again-rooms she hadn't walked in this life, doors she'd passed through in another.
When she reached the southern edge of the royal residence, she stopped.
The gate stood open.
Kaelith was already there.
He didn't hear her footsteps at first.
Not until she stepped off the gravel path and onto the softer ground, where scorched grass met twisted vines. He turned slightly at the sound, eyes narrowing against the afternoon sun.
He didn't recognize her-not in the way a man might remember a face from his past-but something inside him reacted as if it had known her forever.
Elara said nothing. She crossed the garden slowly, her eyes scanning the perimeter.
"It's still here," she said softly.
Kaelith watched her with quiet confusion. "You've been here before?"
"In another life," she said, voice even. "But it's the same."
He stood. "Why do I feel like I know you?"
"Because you do," she answered. "Some part of you. The part they couldn't erase."
Kaelith stepped closer, his jaw tightening as his gaze searched hers.
"I've dreamed of you," he said. "I never remember your name. But I remember your eyes. The way you look at me-like I did something unforgivable."
Elara's voice cracked slightly when she spoke. "You did."
His breath caught.
They stood there, facing each other in the center of a forgotten garden, surrounded by the ghosts of every version of themselves. Neither of them moved for several seconds.
"What did I do to you?" he asked.
Elara met his gaze. "You promised me forever. Then forgot me before morning."
Kaelith's expression changed-not guilt, not sorrow. Something heavier. Something closer to fear.
"I don't remember that," he whispered.
"I know," she said. "It's not your fault. Not entirely."
He looked down, then back at her. "Then whose fault is it?"
She hesitated.
And for the first time in a very long time, she told the truth.
"Mine."
The words hung in the air like a spell. Kaelith didn't respond. Not right away.
He simply stared at her as though she had just given him a puzzle with missing pieces. And still-despite everything-he didn't turn away.
"Tell me everything," he said.
And Elara, slowly, finally, began.