Chapter 2
The Stranger
The garden was impossible.
Where the rest of the property lay tangled and neglected, this hidden space thrived with impossible beauty. Flowers Maya couldn’t name bloomed in colors that seemed to shift when she wasn’t looking directly at them. The air was warm despite the autumn chill outside, heavy with perfume.
She stepped inside, and the gate closed behind her.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Maya spun around. A man stood in the shadows of a willow tree—tall, dark-haired, with eyes that caught the strange light in ways that made her breath catch.
“This is my property,” she said, though her voice wavered.
“The cottage, yes.” He stepped forward, and she noticed he was barefoot, his feet leaving no marks in the soft earth. “But this garden belongs to no one. Or perhaps to everyone who finds it.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
He smiled, and something in Maya’s chest tightened. “Nothing here will make sense. Not at first.” He extended a hand. “I’m Ash. I’ve been waiting for someone to open that gate for a very long time.”
Against every instinct telling her to run, Maya took his hand.
His skin was warm. Too warm.
And in that moment, she felt something awaken inside her that had been sleeping her entire life.