The Gardener's Afterscent

Credits to @Lasophie79 for the cover!

TW:// Strong language, graphic violence, sexual themes, suicide

He crafted the Kingdom's finest scents. He also pruned the wilted flowers.

To Evanthe Leracine, his life was simple.

To the people of New Ravin, he was a charming artisan. Silver-tongued, handsome, and meticulous---everything a perfumer needed to become the Capital's golden boy.

To the ones unlucky enough to be deemed 'withered', he was the Gardener---an angel of death that haunted the streets, threatening the heavenly scales with murders that are swift and clean. Too clean.

When a lack of evidence dulled the passion of the local and international police, Evanthe's pride was threatened. If the Gardener were to become a cold case, he would be reduced to his perfumer mask. He would suffer a mundane and forgettable death. He refused.

So when an eagle-eyed and trigger-happy foreign executioner named Altair Machweld-Schwalbe joined the fray, Evanthe found a new beacon of hope. The young man was obsessed---almost terrifyingly---with the existence of the elusive Gardener. He wanted nothing more than to see the murderer's face in front of him, bleeding out in a rain-soaked spectacle.

Evanthe wanted to grant both of their wishes. For Altair, the satisfaction and glory of unmasking New Ravin's greatest killer. For Evanthe, his blood forever engraved onto a golden badge for the world to see.

Hopefully, the executioner's intoxicating scent wouldn't cloud him.