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There was a flower at her counter spot when she returned home that day.
Frowning, Collei glanced around. She had only just returned from high school, walking home with her friend Scara while listening to music that would probably get them both sharp looks from their teachers if it weren’t for the earbuds. They had been mocking Valentine’s Day the entirety of school hours. Walking home was no different, blasting breakup songs and Britney Spears’ “Toxic” while Scara walked along the fence on the edge of the road. Maybe one day Collei could join him, but in the meantime, she still had her crutches to contend with.
That didn’t explain the flower, though. Tighnari wasn’t meant to be home for several hours—Valentine’s Day was one of the busiest days of the year for the flower shop. Had someone else come by? That sounded like something Kaveh might do, or Alhaitham, but the flower was a rose.
A red rose, too.
Sure, she was still trying to get her reading to catch up to the same level as those around her (remedial classes sucked but were a necessary evil. Nothing like being raised in a cult to stop one’s studies), but even she knew a little bit about the Victorian flower language. That, and of course, being a botanist’s foster child meant she didn’t go a day without at least some kind of flower lesson. Although I do have to wheedle those out of Tighnari.
Setting her backpack down on the couch, Collei approached the rose like it was an active bomb. Red roses were a symbol of love. Typically, romantic love.
Who left this for me? Glancing around, she checked the windows. Her heart started pounding in her chest. I need to make sure no one else is here. Can I handle a poker—
No, no. The best option is to go to the bathroom and hide there. Swiftly, she limped over to the couch and snatched her bag up off the cushions. Then, she beat a hasty retreat to Tighnari’s bedroom and slipped into his bathroom, making sure to lock both doors behind her as she went. They’d talked about this before. Cults didn’t like to give up easily. So, if she was ever worried, she was fully allowed to hide in Tighnari’s bathroom and call him.
So, she called.
“Collei?” He asked, picking up on the second ring. His voice pitched up in worry. “Is everything okay? Did something happen to you and Scara?”
“I think there’s someone in the house.” She whispered, keeping her voice low as she pressed her back to the shower wall. If someone was in the house, she didn’t want to tip them off any more than she might already have. To make things worse, she was stuck in the bathroom. It was the safest place in the house, with no extra means of access unless someone stormed in. She could keep her eyes on the door no matter what. Unfortunately, it also meant she was entirely trapped. “Please come home. I don’t feel safe.”
She was getting choked up. Covering her mouth with a hand, she kept her eyes on the door. If the cult was back—
“Okay, Collei. I’ll be right home, okay?” She could hear the scrambling of keys, Tighnari shouting to Nilou that he was needed elsewhere and would be back soon. Distantly, she heard Nilou respond, Tighnari calling out something about the lotus flowers he had left at home.
It was a code, in case the cult had somehow managed to find where Tighnari worked. Nilou responded something about Tighnari making sure he watered the myrtle flowers.
“I’m on my way back. Just stay calm, okay?” Collei sniffed, squeezing her eyes shut as she pressed herself tighter to the wall. Even though he couldn’t see her, she nodded anyways. Outside the room, a car honked.
They were there to get her. They were going to take her back. She was dead, she was going to get dragged back into that stupid camp with the concrete walls and the dull, matching cabins that all looked the same. She was never going to see Scara again, or Kaveh, or Alhaitham, or Nilou or Nahida or Cyno or Tighnari or—
“Collei, listen to me—” She couldn’t breathe. There was dust and blood in her mouth. Choking, Collei clutched her phone like a lifeline. In her ear, she could still hear Tighnari’s voice. “What does hyacinth mean, Collei? Just straight hyacinth, no specific colors?”
“Sport.” She forced out. “Play. Games.”
“Good. A single dahlia?”
“Good taste.”
“Poppy flowers?”
“Consolation.”
“Salvia flowers?”
“Red or blue?”
“Blue.”
“’I think of you’.”
“Good. What soil do blue hydrangeas grow in?”
“Acidic?”
“Right. What happens if they’re in alkaline soil?”
“They turn pink. Or red.” Taking a shaky breath, Collei blinked. Her eyes were burning.
“What’s Scara’s favorite flower? Has he ever told you?” He had. She could—she remembered that conversation. Once upon a time, he had come to their house. When he had seen the flowers, he and Tighnari had engaged in a conversation about flowers, about favorites, about what they thought of plants and how Tighnari clearly didn’t know what he was talking about because dill could not possibly be a flower. It was a kind of pickle.
“Geraniums.” Collei swallowed past the lump in her throat. She squeezed her phone tighter. If she kept doing that, it might break. If she were still there, she’d be yelled at by her minders. But, then, she wouldn’t be allowed to have a phone there. Tighnari would probably tell her everything was fine, bandage up any wounds she might have caused her fragile skin, and then replaced the phone without even a mention of the cost. “Because they represent stupidity.”
That was actually how she met Scara, talking about flowers. He had walked up to her the second day she had been at the school, dropped down in the seat beside her, and asked if she was the foster kid of the florist and if she knew how to say “fuck you” in Victorian flower language.
On the other side of the phone, she heard the car door close. “And why does he like geraniums?”
“Because they represent—” She took a gasping breath. “They mean stupidity. It’s what he would say to his mother if he could.” Because she abandoned him. Because she didn’t want him. Because, while Collei’s parents had sold her into the cult, his mother had sold him into abandonment.
“What else are his favorites?”
“Foxglove. Insincerity.” She took another, slower breath. She was in the shower. She was home. Tighnari was coming back. He wasn’t going to let her face whoever it was alone. “Meadowsweet. Uselessness. Yellow carnations. Disappointment. Orange lilies. Hatred.”
It was a pretty grouping of flowers. Very striking. Very loathing, too.
If she ever had the bravery, she would send it to the cult who had ‘raised’ her.
They deserved that little. “Good. Good, do you remember what magnolia means?”
How could she forget? It was one of the flowers in the shop picture. “Nobility. Love of nature.”
They kept discussing flowers, whispering answers like she and Scara passed secrets between one another. When she found out he didn’t know sign language, she taught him what she remembered from Alhaitham. He had picked up on it quickly. Honestly, Alhaitham would be proud of the kid. They hadn’t met yet. (She almost didn’t want him to. They would be a terrifying force of…well, she wasn’t sure either of them was natural, so maybe describing them as a force of nature wasn’t quite proper.)
Then, suddenly, Tighnari was at the house, hopping out of the car and going radio silent. He’d told her that if she heard anything, not to come out. She would call the authorities then, because the cult would leave at the very least under that threat. Honestly, she didn’t trust the authorities as far as she could throw anything. Coach Dehya had never seen someone with a worse throw. Collei was just lucky that she had an IEP that made her schoolwork easier.
There was no one in the house.
Describing what she was feeling as embarrassment was like saying Kaveh wasn’t dramatic. She was now sitting on the couch, face buried in her hands as she tried not to cry from humiliation. Tighnari was making her hot chocolate in the kitchen. He’d come home early for nothing, and he wasn’t even taking her apologies for it, either! He was acting like it was normal to have a breakdown in the bathroom for dumb reasons.
The couch cushions sank down beside her as Tighnari settled down next to her. He set the hot chocolate down on a coaster with a quiet clink. Then, he touched her arm. She glanced at him. “I’m sorry, Tighnari. I brought you home for no good reason.”
“You having an attack is a good enough reason.” He replied, holding her gaze. Dropping her head, Collei groaned. “Collei—”
“I’m freaking out over nothing. I just—I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I’m so dumb.” Shaking her head, she felt her face heating up. Her eyes were burning again. It was so stupid, she was freaking out over a flower. “The only reason I’m even panicking was because of the—the flower at my spot.”
“The flower?” Pushing himself up, Tighnari walked over to her counter spot. He picked up the crystal vase, studying it for a second. Then, he groaned. “Oh, Collei. This is from Cyno.”
“What?” Looking up, she squinted at him. “But I’m not—we’re not—”
“Romantically inclined? I know.” Tighnari sent her an affectionate smile. “Come here?” Swallowing, Collei pushed herself up, grabbing her crutches and coming over. Her eyes landed on the crystal vase. Now that she was thinking clearly, she could recognize it as one of the little ones that looked more like a cup than a vase. Looking at her, Tighnari explained, “We should have told you. Cyno got flowers for my parents and sister, too. This came from the bouquet he got for me.”
“What?” Collei glanced at the bouquet on the table. Sure enough, there was a collection of red roses in the centerpiece. Face flushing, she leaned against the counter. “I feel so dumb.”
“Don’t, it’s okay. When it happened the first time it confused my sister, too. She thought that he was flirting with her. Of course, it’s not nearly as bad as the time he got me yellow roses.”
Collei whipped her head towards him so quickly the room spun. “He what?”
“To be fair, yellow roses also can mean friendship, but yeah. Yellow roses. On Valentine’s Day.” With a well-natured roll of his eyes, Tighnari shook his head and smiled. “Cyno gets yellow roses for my sister every year, and I think he gets white for my parents since that was their wedding flower. He got you this as a way to say that he loves you in a subtle way. He didn’t mean anything negative by it.”
“That was…nice of him.” Both of them went quiet for a little while. Then, she turned. Her gaze met Tighnari’s again. “So, he can remember to cut one of the flowers from yours, find the tiny crystal vase, and put it at my spot, but he can’t remember to leave a note?”
Tighnari grinned wickedly. “Do you want to hear the story about the time he brought flowers for his ex and not me when we went on a date?"
"He did what?" Laughing, Tighnari pulled her over to the couch and sat her down.
“It gets worse—”
“It gets worse?”
“So, it was a two-hour drive, we were seeing her ballet recital, and we were engaged…”
Coda Scene
When Cyno returned, he knew he was in trouble.
Biting his lip, he quickly hid what he had brought inside behind his back. Collei was sleeping against Tighnari’s shoulder on the couch, with empty hot chocolate mugs sitting on the coffee table. As for Tighnari, he was fully awake and watching The Boar Princess III: Curse of the Wolf. They had been working through the series with Collei so far, as a family. The fact that Collei and Tighnari had started watching the third season without him?
Not a good sign.
Arms crossing as best as he could without waking Collei, Tighnari asked, “Care to explain why you didn’t leave a note for her?” He nodded at their foster child.
“Uhm…I forgot?” Cyno stepped closer, producing the things he had hidden behind his back. One was a small box of chocolates for Tighnari, with a scribbled-on scrap of paper and a card taped to the front. The other was a second box of chocolates, this one for Collei. He placed that on the coffee table, then produced a third item that he carefully settled in Collei’s lap. “I was just so excited, so I forgot to—I wanted to get her something else. I noticed that—well, you know, there wasn’t—she didn’t have a lot. When she was with the cult. So, I wanted her to have something else she could call her own. I mean, high schoolers like stuffed animals, right?”
In Collei’s lap, the stuffed serval stared ahead blankly. One of the eyes was cracked. There was a bit of dirt on the white patches. Nonetheless, Tighnari glanced at Cyno with a soft smile. “I think she’ll love it, Cyno.”
Smiling, Cyno settled down on Tighnari’s other side, touching his cheek and tilting his head up to kiss him.