“The greenhouse exhaled when she entered. Not a welcome—a warning. Glass panes fogged with the breath of a hundred orchids, each one a sentence her mother never finished. Elara touched a petal. It flinched.”
It is a chilling line—and one that Part 1 refuses to resolve. Did Lydia believe this? Was she cruel or simply broken? The narrative lets the question hang like unwatered ivy. in blume part 1
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5) One petal withheld until Part 2. “The greenhouse exhaled when she entered