𝔏𝔬𝔳𝔢, 𝔏𝔞𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔫 ✒︎ Camren

Epilogue: Rose Garden

Rose Garden (noun)
-A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses or rose species. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped by individual variety, colour or class in rose beds.

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The world's oldest living rose bush is thought to be about one thousand years old. Today, it continues to bloom on the wall of the Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany.

The prickles on a rose can cut. Blood can spread across pale skin, marring it forever; or bruises can form, shaped like flowers, spreading their prickles out to cut, cut, cut. Love is much the same: sensuous and beautiful, but deadly. Roses are seemingly delicate, but this natural protection cuts and bruises those who would harm them, who would pluck them from the earth before it is their time. It is Aphrodite's love, and her son's fertile earths, that give the roses this double edge: beauty with a price.

Beauty that bleeds.

Aphrodite and, thus, love, were first associated when she heard of her beloved Adonis' mortal wounds. He was on the brink of death. She ran, blinded by love, and thorns sliced at her feet as she moved. Her blood mixed with the thorns, bound them into a new shape, dangerously lovely: the red rose. She flew to Adonis' side, but not fast enough; and she wept as he died in her arms.

Roses are one of Aphrodite's sacred plants; perhaps she, filled with fury and sorrow, rushed back to where the thorns had cut at her and snatched roses from the earth. Perhaps she thought that they would bring her beloved back, that her blood, mixed with Gaea's pulsing energy would be enough to return him to life. Perhaps it worked; perhaps it did not. But roses have since had a history with Aphrodite and with love.

There are other stories that tell of how Aphrodite presented a rose to her son; Eros, who in turn gave the rose to Harpocrates to induce silence regarding Aphrodite's sexual indiscretions. Harpocrates agreed; and in turn the rose became the symbol not just of love and desire, but of silence and secrecy. In the feasts at Athens, young men and women would dance naked together, wearing crowns of roses: and so roses came to symbolise the duality of sex and innocence.

One beautiful flower, so many hidden meanings behind it.

"Are you okay?" Lauren nudged my leg with her own. Lauren and I, along with Raven, Lexa and Maggie were on a flight to Greece. Octavia had flown ahead. It was time for the journals to be placed back into Aphrodite's possession back at Mount Olympus until she found someone else's love life to assist in.

Who knew when that would be?

Next week, years from now or possibly even centuries.

Only time would tell.

"Mm?" I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of Lauren's voice. "Oh yeah, sorry. I'm fine."

"Well you haven't said a word since we got onto the plane," Lauren told me. "Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" I hadn't noticed that I was being a Debbie Downer.

Once Aphrodite had told me that she wanted us to head to Greece, that she wanted to be the one to bestow my position upon me, I couldn't do it without Lauren.

"It's just...this is all a bit too much for me," I admitted. "I always wanted to find my place in the world, in my world but not like this. What if it's nothing that I want?"