He gave me some of my clothes that were kept in the playroom: a pair of leggings and a long top with a hoodie over it. I felt strange dressed casually around him, but he didn’t seem to mind. He even zipped my hoodie closed and pulled the hood on for me, and when he did, the ghost of a smile was still present on his handsome face.

“Where are we going?” I asked, but he wouldn’t give me an answer, only took my hand and led me out of the playroom.

We went back upstairs, through rooms and hallways that I knew well by then, but then he took me down a staircase I hadn’t descended before. He held my hand more gently than ever and slowly led me through a long hallway into a room made of glass. There was a door at the back of the sunroom, and it was open.

The scent of fresh air hit my nostrils, and I panicked, hiding behind him and suddenly feeling afraid of the outside. I hadn’t formally stepped out in months, apart from the time I spent on the balcony or terrace, but now here I was, only a few excruciating steps away from my freedom.

“Are you making me l-leave?” I asked in a shaky voice, and Thorn chuckled, holding my waist.

“Of course not, silly girl,” he grunted in response. “I want to show you something. Come on. Hold my hand.”

Slowly, my fingers found their way into his hand, and we intertwined them. He led me through the beautiful sunroom towards the exit.

It was dark outside, the sky a deep indigo with dozes on glittering silver stars. Thorn didn’t say a word as he stepped outside, my arm stretching to him as I hesitated on the doorstep of the sunroom.

“Don’t be afraid,” he told me gently, looking back at me. “Come with me.”

Fearfully, I took the biggest leap of my life and stepped into the starry night with him. I gasped when I was finally outside, my feet in sneakers but still feeling the wet dewdrops that had already formed on the grass blades outside. I stared up at the glorious sky, at the stars, and I felt lost in a universe of Thorn’s creation. Then I quickened my pace and followed him down a pathway, leading away from the Mansion.

“Where are we going?” I asked again.

An irrational fear awoke inside me, convinced he was going to hurt me, discard of me, because I wasn’t good or important enough. I couldn’t let him do it, so I dug my heels into the ground, forcing him to come to a stop.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, staring into my eyes. “Come on. We’re not there yet.”

“Don’t hurt me,” I begged him without shame. “Let me stay with you.”

He pondered my words for a second then took a step closer, wrapping an arm possessively around my shoulders.

“How many times do I have to tell you?” he muttered darkly. “You’re fucking never getting away from me, and I’m not going to hurt you unless you want it. Now, come on, Rose, and stop stalling.”

I followed him willingly this time. He led me down the winding path towards the edge of the cliff the Mansion was built on. I’d admired the view before, but this time, he wasn’t leading me towards the beach that lay below us, but instead, to a large lit up garden behind the house.

“What is this place?” I whispered as we reached it.

“It’s the rose garden,” he finally answered, and after a moment’s thought, he let go of my hand.

For a moment, I felt lost. Then one thought unleashed itself in my mind, angry and loud and shouting one single word at me with more despair than ever.

RUN.

But I didn’t.

I looked at Thorn and swallowed my fear then pretended everything was all right as I drank the garden in with my eyes.

“It’s beautiful,” I managed to get out. “Stunning.”

“It is,” he agreed with a small nod. “Take a look around. I’ll be right behind you.”

The words could have sounded menacing but instead had a comforting quality to them. I walked around the gardens with my eyes as wide as saucers. Beautiful old-fashioned nightlamps lit the way, illuminating the gorgeous garden. It was lush and green with roses blooming everywhere.

“You don’t know much about me, yet,” Thorn said, his steps following mine. “But this is my business. The roses. It’s how I make money.”

“The flowers?” I asked incredulously, stopping next to one of the bushes.

It was pink and white, the colors dancing together on the beautiful, headily-scented blooms of the bush. Beautiful, unlike anything I’d seen before. I couldn’t even imagine the play of nature like the one on the petals of those roses.

“Yes,” Thorn nodded. “They’re called Forever Roses. My business… my official job. We cultivate roses that last years after they are bought. They’re a luxury product… not something you’d give anyone. They are a promise, and people like to use them as a symbol of one.”

“How can they last years?” I asked, leaning down to smell one of the glorious blooms. “Even after they’re cut?”

“I could tell you,” Thorn said with a wry smile. “But I might have to shut you up after.”

I giggled nervously as he came up to me, his arms wrapping around my waist. I froze on the spot, the small move of endearment catching me off guard.

“We use a special solution to keep them looking as fresh as the day they are cut,” Thorn muttered against my ear as my body molded to his. “We even keep the scent. They look as beautiful in five years’ time as they do today.”

“Captured beauty,” I whispered softly, turning around in his arms then staring up into his eyes. “You’ve held it hostage inside the rose.”

“It looks beautiful,” Thorn told me roughly. “I preserved its beauty, making it even more beautiful in time.”

“But nevertheless,” I whispered. “It’s dying, isn’t it?”

He was about to answer when he appeared to change his mind, furrowing his brows and staring down at me. I couldn’t look away from him. His eyes presented a challenge, but I wasn’t about to back down.

“Seems to me,” I said boldly. “Like you enjoy anything in captivity. Stealing things… taking them from their homes and presenting them in what you deem is a most beautiful way for them to exist.”

“Watch your tongue,” he warned me softly. “Don’t want to lose it…”

I remembered the maids, blushed fiercely, but refused to look away nonetheless.

“Show me your favorite,” I finally managed to say. “I want to see your favorite rosebush in this entire garden.”

He smiled, a little rigidly but a smile nonetheless. His arms fell to his sides. I took one of his hands gently, and he pulled me towards the flower that had earned his love. It was a gorgeous bush, large and in full bloom when we approached it. The roses were red and pink, two bushes growing together, intertwining with one another to make one glorious combination of buds so perfect they looked straight out of a magazine.

“It’s beautiful,” I said softly, though if I was being honest, I didn’t completely understand what separated this particular flower from all the others.

“Here,” Thorn said, motioning for me to come closer. “Look closer.”

I followed him through the branches and brambles, a thorn snagging my hoodie as he showed me a secret spot amidst the roots of the pink and red bush. Another, smaller one was growing between them. It was tiny but determined, and between its lush green petals, a single rose bloomed, pure, white and unspoiled. The most beautiful bud of them all.

I couldn’t find the words to describe it, so I looked at Thorn instead, my eyes glowing with the beauty of what he’d shown me.

“It’s gorgeous,” I confessed, and he gave me a bright smile, one that was unlike any of the firm, held-back grins he had for me that day.

“It’s a new hybrid we’re trying out,” he said. “But it has the most beautiful petals, the blooms are like an artwork. I’m excited to see it grow.”

“Me, too,” I whispered, and only a moment later realized what I had said.

Surely, bushes like this one took some time to grow… meaning it would take more than a little while for the roses to bloom on it. Would I still be here when they did? Had I just doomed myself to spending the rest of my life at the Mansion as a pretty captive? Blooming, beautiful but with nobody to witness except my selfish captor, the man who wanted to keep me his dirty little secret. I averted my eyes from Thorn’s, and as if sensing the thoughts going through my mind, he approached me, his hand gently touching my forearm.

“You feel a likeness to them,” he said softly, and I looked down at my feet, my lashes resting against my cheeks. “The roses. You feel that they are being mistreated, just like you.”

“No,” I muttered. “Not mistreated. You’ve given me what I need.”

“What you want?” he asked, his voice gentler than before.

“Sometimes.” I looked up at him, my eyes lingering on his as I sighed. “You’ve given me a lot. Sometimes I wonder whether it’s good or bad. Sometimes I wonder if I’d ever be able to go back to my old life. Maybe I’m a different person now. Maybe it’s not even what I really want anymore.”

“Would it be easier,” he said gently. “If I took the option away from you?”

He touched my cheek gently, rubbing and stroking my skin as if it was the softest velvet in the world, softer even than the petals of the flowers surrounding us.

“I don’t know,” I admitted brokenly, staring stubbornly at the ground.

He didn’t say a word, only pulled me closer and held me in his arms, as if his embrace alone could cure whatever plagued me. The illness of my body… the knowledge that I didn’t belong to him fully and that I would spend my whole life fighting it despite not wanting anything else in the world. My life was a series of contradicting facts and decisions, and I didn’t know how to salvage myself from the point I’d gotten to. I needed to push through. I needed Thorn to be the man I craved - not just my body, but my mind and soul, too.

“You know I want you at my side,” he said, and I risked a look up. In the evening light illuminated by the stars and moon, his eyes looked darker than ever, burning with a passion I’d ignited inside him - of that I was sure. “I don’t want to let you go, Rose. I want you at my side, always. My woman. My submissive. My property.”

I couldn’t offer anything back; I only looked deep into those stormy eyes and tried to understand.

“And if I want to leave?” I asked, my voice breaking over the last word.

“Do you?” He raised his eyebrows at me, a simple gesture telling me more than his words ever could.

Why would I want to leave? I had everything in the Mansion - clothes, shoes, food, friends, training. Anything my heart desired.

Except for my freedom.

“No,” I shook my head, not even convincing myself with my answer, but it seemed to be enough for Thorn, who smiled easily, putting an arm around my shoulders and steering me away from the rose garden and the cliffs, back towards the mansion.

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” were his final words to me.

The whole walk back to the house, I wondered whether he was right. After all, I was a bad liar and always had been…