Chapter 38 The Emperor's Garden

• The garden was not what I expected.
• I had imagined something cold and formal, rows of flowers guarded by soldiers and trimmed into submission. But the Emperor's garden was wild and sprawling, a tangle of color and scent that seemed to fight against the winter air. Snow dusted the leaves, and icicles hung from stone walls, but the flowers still bloomed, their petals bright against the white.
• The steward led us through winding paths, past fountains frozen mid-flow and trees heavy with frost. He stopped at a small clearing near the center, where a single flower grew from a bed of dark soil. It was small and white, with five petals that glowed faintly in the morning light.