18 Wolf’s bane (1)

Aurora had a weird feeling in the back of her mind hearing Minnie say it was one anyone would die for. A sense of danger came over her but she had no idea what for. She felt like she heard these words before and what came after was a lot of pain.

Aurora's breathing quicken and her eyesight went blurry with black spots affecting her vision.

"One anyone would die for," echoed in her head as she tried to place where she heard it before. It wasn't a rare phrase to hear but for some reason, it was throwing her mind into a panic and she just wished she knew why.

"Aurora?" Minnie called out to her because Aurora had slowed down her steps and eventually stopped. Minnie noticed how her granddaughter looked to be experiencing a headache and went back to see what was wrong. "Is there something wrong dear? Are you hurt?" She asked placing a hand on the back of Aurora's head to somehow soothe the pain but Aurora jumped with fright when Minnie touched her.

In Minnie's eyes, Aurora stared at her like an animal witnessing its final moments after it crossed paths with a dangerous hunter. Minnie removed her hand from touching Aurora and cleared her throat. "What has gotten into your child? Scared of your very own grandmother? Aurora?"

Slowly, Aurora's vision came back to normal but she felt lightheaded. The first thing she noticed was how Minnie was staring at her. "What did you say, Minnie?" She asked as she hadn't exactly heard what Minnie said to her. Her feet felt wobbly and all she wanted to do was take a seat right now.

"I said what's wrong? I touched you and you flinched. Anyone would think I put my hands on you dear."

Aurora placed her hand on her burning forehead gathering her thoughts. This felt remotely similar to when she heard the chant of others calling her a witch. It felt like she had a memory of Minnie telling her this before but she couldn't place where. Her mind was a mess right now and all she wanted to do right now was sit down but Minnie was looking for an answer.

"I've been in the sun too long without eating anything since breakfast. I think it's starting to get to my body. My apologies if I frightened you, Minnie," Aurora said as an excuse.

Minnie continued to look at her uncertain if it was the truth or not but after a moment's pause, she accepted what Aurora said and moved on. She liked to believe she was close enough to Aurora for her to tell her grandmother anything that was wrong. She gave Aurora space to come and talk to her but if something was wrong, Minnie had the solution to the problem.

"I did say you spend too much time in the garden. I will inform the gardener to turn you back any time you try to go back in the garden until I give the all-clear."

Aurora nodded her head seemingly agreeing with Minnie on the outside but on the inside, she was trying to piece together what she just experienced. There were possible events in her life which she had forgotten but why?

She sighed following behind Minnie and looking at the busy workers in the garden as she walked by. They were busy placing down more of some purple flowers they already had in the garden. They had many patches of these flowers planted around the home and in Aurora's opinion, the garden did not need anymore.

She would prefer to see roses or lilies in the garden. Minnie had not confirmed doing the garden party as yet so why were so many of these flowers being added? "Did you ask for the gardeners to add more flowers, Minnie? Don't you think there's too much purple in the garden now?"

"Those flowers help to keep the pests away and if we are doing the garden party this year, these flowers will be perfect. I will remove them after the harvest festival. No need for you to worry about your precious little garden."

Aurora was happy she wouldn't have to see them around for much longer. She had seen these flowers around the house many times before but was never interested in them. She couldn't remember the name she once heard the gardener call them.

After tea with Minnie, if she saw the head gardener she would ask him for the name of the flowers since Minnie was not the best when it came to knowledge about flowers. However, there was a tiny sense of familiarity with the flowers like she had recently seen them elsewhere. She tried as hard as she could to remember where she had seen these flowers outside of her home and then it dawned on her.

They were in the book she bought from the three witches. Still, she couldn't remember what they were named. Just knowing that she skipped over those flowers when reading about the werewolf gave her a funny feeling. Why was Minnie all of a sudden placing more of these flowers in the garden?

"Minnie Hamilton, just the person I wanted to see," came the voice of a well-known merchant in the kingdom named Gilbert Hill. Notorious for getting many different kinds of special items throughout the kingdom. Many housewives used him to bring them the finest materials for making beautiful dresses and finding jewelry similar to what the royalty wore.

"I found you that herb you wanted and my men are loading the boxes inside as we speak. Is this beautiful young lady the rumored granddaughter with the white hair? She is most definitely rare in all the kingdom," Gilbert said, attempting to touch Aurora's hair but Minnie stopped him by grabbing his hand.

"Aurora, our tea session has been canceled. Go back to your room."

Aurora didn't dare defy Minnie's words as she wanted to get out of the presence of Gilbert. The gossip she heard from Regina and the maids allowed her to know Gilbert was not a man she wanted to be around. Aurora was happy to hurry away from the two and back to her room.

Minnie watched on as Aurora went out of sight then glared at the man who should not have been able to enter their home so easily. Were the guards losing their minds? Just because she did business with him a lot did not mean he could enter the home without her word.

She didn't miss the way his eyes lit up with interest after seeing Aurora. Not many people laid eyes on Aurora the few times she was out in public. "Please refrain from touching my granddaughter next time Gilbert or you'll lose that hand. I'm not so willing to give her up to anyone so watch your eyes and hands."