From behind him, Kiara ran outside towards the garden, shouting at Arthav, “You stupid ass, what have you done?”
When she saw the rose bush was burning under the roaring flames, her eyes widened, and fear climbed into her eyes.
She called out to the guards and shouted at them, “Get water! Turn on the sprinklers—now!”
Then suddenly—
A sharp gasp got out from Arthav’s throat.
He felt a sudden ache in his arm, and in a matter of seconds, it spread mercilessly up his shoulder and clawed straight into his chest.
The air had turned hostile as his breath hitched.
Heat bloomed under his skin unnaturally, consuming his muscles, like someone was pulling out his veins from his hand one by one.
The veins around his heart pulled tighter, squeezing that tiny piece of muscle in every passing second.
***
Reiha walked out of the bathroom, trying to tie a knot on the bandage over her wounded hand; her gaze caught the window overlooking the garden.
She stopped.
From the glass reflection, her eyes caught movement outside.
“Fire.”
Flames were rising from the west side of the garden, swallowing the rose garden with it.
Few feet away from the rising flames, Athav stood there, silently staring at the orange flames consuming the garden slowly.
The calm on his face suddenly disappeared, and the painful agony took its place.
His eyes narrowed sharply, and his lips twitched painfully from the corners.
His hands move to his chest, squeezing the muscles around it.
A sharp, tortured scream ripped from his throat.
“Ahh—!”
Reiha’s eyes widened in horror as she watched him struggle to breathe.
Without wasting another second, she rushed downstairs toward the garden.
“Arthav!”
She found him lying on the ground; his body shivered in pain.
“It’s burning—ahh…!” Arthav shouted, his voice was raw and broken.
Reiha immediately dropped beside him.
Her hand was trembling with fear.
She hurried to open his shirt, panic clouding her thoughts.
For a moment, she thought he had burned himself somehow, that maybe his hand had caught fire or he had accidentally touched something dangerous.
But the moment she pulled his shirt open, her hand froze; her mind couldn’t process what she was seeing.
The veins beneath his skin had risen violently to the surface, dark and frightening, as though something inside him was trying to break out.
They stretched from his palm, crawling upward across his arm and chest, leading directly toward his heart.
Kiara pushed Reiha away from Arthav.
And immediately she dropped to her knees beside him, her shaking hand cupping his face, “what’s happening to my boy?
“Arthav!” she cried.
“Adhiraj said he sealed the curse… then why is this happening to him?”
Reiha stared at her, stunned, and her brow scrunched.
“Curse…?” she whispered.
Kiara snapped her head toward the guards.
“Don’t just stand there!” she shouted.
“Lift him and take him to his room. Now!”
Two guards hurried forward.
Low groans escaped his lips as his head fell back weakly.
Kiara followed them inside, while Reiha stood there motionless, still processing in her mind what was happening and what curse Kiara was talking about.
Reiha turned her head in the direction of rose garden
Reiha watched on in disbelief as Kiara suddenly turned toward the burning garden.
The fire had started to subside now, leaving behind the burnt soil, smoke, and charred petals of roses all around.
Everything had burned.
Nothing was there except one bush.
It remained unharmed in the midst of devastation.
None of the leaves were damaged.
Her face turned as white as a sheet of white paper.
“Why…” she muttered.
“Why hasn’t it burned?”
Reiha took a step close to that evilish-looking bush.
The tangle of branches seemed to grow dark in the smoke-filled garden and sinister.
Then, she noticed a little bud was growing out of one of its branches.
Reiha took another hesitant step closer.
Then another.
The bud bloomed slowly.
A pure black rose.
Reiha’s breath caught.
She withdrew immediately, a sense of fear filling her heart.
“Before… it was blooming red roses,” she whispered.
“How did it turn black now?”