"No One Dies of Longing" by Anjali Sachdeza
What I love about this short story is its unsettling tone. Shruti raises flowers in a desert "where they have no business growing."
Shruti, a witch, is able to grow flowers in the desert, but some part of the land resists her.
She came of her free will and thought that the project was worthy of her magic. Soon, however, it becomes clear that she is a prisoner along with "a battalion of women in clean, blue uniforms."
The power reversal is fascinating. At first the power resides entirely in Mr. Qadir's hands. The garden is shaped by his commands, and he roams the garden like a "caliph."
Though she is a witch, it becomes evidence that Shruti has not had a gratifying life. She states, "No one dies of longing. I'd have died long ago."
Shruti has no power at this point. She even says she is beneath Mr. Qadir "as the soil is beneath a tuft of grass." She is not paid as much as she was made to believe she would, and she cannot leave. Mr. Qadir has her passport in an iron box.
Iron has long been known to repel a witch's power, and it does here in this story, until Shruti circumvents its power.
To see how she does this, read "No One Dies of Longing," in Strange Horizons.
https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fiction/no-one-dies-of-longing/
Sachdeva has also published "Arbitrium"(2022) and the short story collection, "All the Names They Used for God."