After Rebirth, I Broke Our Bond and My Alpha Regretted It novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Released

Lenora was sitting up against the pillows when we came in, with a bowl of Ida's black broth in her lap.

The sickroom smelled of charcoal and honey.

Her gums, when she smiled at us, were pink.

"There you are," she said. Her voice was thin, but it was her own and it was clear. "Ida says I've been asleep for two days, and I feel as if I'd slept for a year."

Caleb stopped in the doorway, and so did I.

"Come in, both of you. I can't shout across the room." She coughed, once, and it was a small, dry cough. "I have to ask what happened, and Ida says it should come from you."

Ida went out and shut the door behind her.

I sat on the edge of the chair by the bed, and I told her in six sentences.

I told her the tea, and the tin, and the ledger, and the Moon Court, and the river.

I did not tell her how she had died the first time.

Lenora held the bowl in both hands and watched my face the whole time.

When I stopped she said, "My mother."

"Yes."

"Is she hurt?"

"Her hands are. She's across the river by now."

Lenora put the bowl down on the blanket, carefully, so it would not spill.

"It tasted of bitter grass," she said. "I told her so in the first week, and she said that's how sickness tastes."

"Lenora," Caleb said.

"I'd have believed her about anything." She wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist, almost crossly. "She raised me. I thought I was being ungrateful."

Nobody said anything.

Then she laughed, a wet small laugh, and said, "I'm sorry. You saved my life, and I'm making you sit through me."

"You're not making anyone sit," I said.

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