CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTEEN


    CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTEEN


    Talia’s POV


    +25 Bonus


    The afternoon sun sat high over the courtyard when De and I carried our tools to the rose garden. The beds had gone unchecked while I was in the hospital, so we started with the row that had the most dead blooms and weeds. De constantly grumbled about how hot it was and how she should’ve never agreed to this.


    “So,” De said as she yanked out a weed, “is Leslie an olddy? Be honest. I keep picturing a tiny woman in ten shawls with a stick.”


    “She is about our age,” I said. “A year older, maybe two. No shawls. No stick.”


    De lowered her shears. “You’re serious?”


    “Very,” I said. I nudged mulch into ce with my boot. “She does act like she’s older. She has an authority about her. She speaks her mind freely. Probably because she knows she’s the best at her job.”


    De nodded. “That is not the healer I imagined.” Her face lit up with a smirk. “Introduce us. I want to meet her.”


    “I will,” I said. “She ns to stay through the Sacrifice Ceremony, so you will have time.”


    “Good. That makes this easier to ask,” De said as she yanked out another weed with a grunt beforeunching it into the mulch pile.


    “To ask what?” I asked.


    “Marco and I want to hold our mating ceremony after the ritual,” De answered as she blushed.


    “Okay and why would you need to ask for permission about that?” I asked.


    “I worry Nn might object,” De admitted.


    Nn was many things, but I didn’t know him to be a liar at least not to me anyway. I can’t see him going back on his word especially if it would negatively affect his rtionship with Marco.


    “He already approved your bond. If he gives his blessing, he will not block your ceremony. Set your date and send the notices,” I reassured her.


    “You think so?” she asked. “He can be strict.”


    “He can,” I said. “He is also fair. If he has agreed, he will stand by it.”


    De picked up her shears again. “I needed to hear that.” She cut three spent blooms and dropped them into the bucket between us. “People say that he is cold and uncaring.”


    “People say many things,” I said,


    “He is not like the rumors,” she said. “He visited you while you were unconscious. More than once. And the transfusion, he made the decision to be the one to save you.”


    I stopped moving. “Wait, what do you mean? Leslie said that his wolf was the strongest.”


    De paled and mumbled, “Shit.”


    “No, don’t shut down on me now. Exin,” I said,


    “He told me not to tell you. He said it was not my ce. But I think you should know,” De continued.


    My chest tightened. “Then, tell me.”


    “I overheard the conversation. It was either Nn or Jason that could help you. Jason…Jason didn’t volunteer. It was Nn,”


    CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTEEN


    +25 Bonus


    De exined.


    I thought I would feel pain from knowing that Jason once again did not fight for me, but I felt nothing. I felt my heart ache more so for Nn. The fact that I was the daughter of his enemy and he still chose to save me meant something.


    “Then, the night that Leslie started treatment, Nn sat by your side the entire time. If you ask me, he likes you. Why else would he do that?” De added.


    Heat rose in my face. “De.”


    “I am not teasing,” she said. “I mean it.”


    I looked down at the bed of roses and picked a dead leaf off a healthy stem. “He does not act like someone who likes me,” I muttered.


    “What do you mean?” De pressed.


    “Last night I asked him a question, and he did not answer. He left,” I replied.


    “Okay…what did you ask him?”


    How could I tell her I practically begged him to mark me? The memory of it made my cheeks burn hotter. “It doesn’t matter now,” I said quickly, taking my frustration out on another weed. “He still has his reservations. I do not know how to face him after what happened.”


    De moved to the next bush and worked quietly for a minute. “Everything is fresh for you both,” she finally said. “You barely left the hospital. Give yourself time.”


    I nodded, though I still didn’t feel any better about the situation.


    De cleared her throat and changed the subject. “About Leslie, do you think she would show me some of her herbs?” she asked. “I want to learn what helps with fever. I felt useless when yours would spike.”


    “She will show you if you ask,” I said. “She likes people who are direct. Tell her exactly what you want to learn.”


    De smiled. “I can do that.” She nced at me again. “And thank you for agreeing to introduce us.”


    “You are wee,” I said. “She helped me. You helped me too. It is right that you meet.”


    We worked without speaking for a while. The breeze shifted and brought the kitchen’s midday smells across the yard. My appetite had returned and my stomach growled loudly.


    De broke the quiet. “Do you think the Sacrifice Ceremony will be crowded this year?”


    “I think so,” I said. “Father told me several neighboring packs n to attend. Many will bring young wolves to seek their mates.”


    De huffed a smallugh. “Then our ceremony might feel small,”


    “Small can be good,” I said. “Less opportunity for issues.’


    She bumped my shoulder with hers. “You always say things like that and make me feel better.”


    “It’s the truth,” I said.


    She opened her mouth to answer, then stopped. She lifted her nose a little, the way a wolf does when trying to ce a scent. I had already found it. It reached me before the sound of steps on the gravel path. It was Nn.


    I kept my head down and focused on the nt in front of me. If I did not look up, maybe he would keep walking.


    De watched me for a second, then followed my line of sight to the path. She saw him too. I bent closer to the bush and pretended to check the underside of the leaves. My cheeks felt hot. I was not ready to talk to him afterst night.