Behind The Green Curtain Novels & Stories

“Cierra! Cierra!” And just like that- I woke up.

"You said every last terrible piece of you would stand between me and Valen. I am telling you that every last piece of me is standing between this estate and whatever comes through that door. That's not negotiable." He looked at me. "Together then," he said. We moved. The greenhouse was at the far edge of the east grounds glass and iron, long and low, warm inside with the specific trapped heat of growing things. We came through the main door as the first of Valen's men came through the back. Three of them. More on the road behind, visible through the glass.

he said. His steps turned towards the back of the mansion. The air there was filled with the scent of earth and wet leaves. When he arrived in front of a large glass building, he stopped. The greenhouse stood in the middle of the garden, its glass walls gleaming. Gilbert chuckled, his eyes reflecting the morning light that penetrated the dull glass. “It's crazy,” he muttered. “He made all this... for that woman?” He shook his head, between amusement and disgust. The greenhouse had been abandoned, but now it looked like an expensive tourist attraction.

Purple said, pointing to Green. “Sure.” Blue nudged his friend. “Green, wake up.” “I don’t want to. I’m still sleepy,” Green replied lazily. “Purple will kick you,” Blue warned. Green shot up at once. “I’m awake! Where is she?” Purple’s eyes widened further when she noticed another part of Green’s body had “woken up” as well. She slowly turned away, embarrassed by the very noticeable bulge in his boxers. “Purple?” Blue said.

The hidden sections of the conservatory revealed themselves to Iris like secrets whispered in a lover's ear—slowly, tantalizingly, with the promise of revelations that would forever change her understanding of what was possible in the space between science and magic. Following the ethereal guidance of the botanical voices that had become as familiar as her own heartbeat, Iris discovered that Eleanor's greenhouse extended far beyond what was visible from the main entrance. Behind panels of frosted glass that appeared purely decorative lay chambers devoted to specimens that defied not just botanical classification but the very laws of nature itself.

I was to pretend this affair didn't exist and do nothing to stop them. Something wrapped its arm around my throat. I tore the contract into shreds. Nathaniel had kept the affair a secret for five whole years. That was something I didn't see coming. … It happened one night when I came home—three months had passed since our wedding. The first thing that greeted my eyes was a house turned upside-down. I saw torn clothes, undergarments, and questionable stains all over the ground. I walked into my bedroom. That was where I found Nathaniel in bed, naked with another woman. The scene hit me like a sledgehammer.

“And I demand that all of Chuck’s curse… the siren’s curse… in this room, is revealed to me.” And then, as it listened to my every word, a burst of green appeared on the nearby couch. We were quick to whip around and face it, and I was shocked to find that the green had outlined two features on the sofa. Upon closer look, it seemed the green was taking on the form of two figures. One being Chuck, and the other being… “Is that…?” Nan started to ask, and I nodded before she could get the question out. “It’s Irene,” I whispered.

She pronounced it with invisible air quotes. Maya looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to make a cult joke, but the mood was too strange for it to land. Instead, she just shrugged, and said, “Lead the way, boss.” The greenhouse was set halfway down the bluff, a long hike over switchback paths that cut through groves of rosemary and succulents. From a distance, it looked like a crystal coffin, four walls of ribbed glass that caught the last bits of sun and threw them into rainbows. Tonight, though, the whole structure was pitch black. No lanterns in the walk, no ambient light inside. Even the small path lights that lined the stairs were off.

"Absolutely yes to that one!" "No, not the beige, beige is for emotional support, not seduction!" I emerged in a deep green set, simple but elegant. The soft fabric hugged my skin, it was not too revealing. Hasmik whistled from behind the curtain. "Now that-that's the one. You look like you could kill a man and then write a love letter on his grave." I smiled faintly at that. Her words were ridiculous, but oddly empowering. Still, as my gaze drifted lower, my heart faltered. There they were.

I wanted to know what it really was, what it meant when my eyes fell to the floor and what I saw shocked me. On the ground there are two circles, intertwined with the other in that way the patterns up could. They finished the story of the other, one green and one silver. My eyes went to the pendant on my neck, noting that it had previously been silver and was now green. Just like I thought, there was more to this room.