Chapter 97. I'm So Sorry!
The warm morning air inside our timber cabin was thick with the scent of crushed herbs, melting frost, and the heavy, lingering musk of our wild night.
But the peaceful atmosphere was cut short by Axis's tense, rapid pacing across the floorboards.
"Yvaine's family controls three major drying sheds in the central sanctuary," Axis muttered, his deer ears twitching with sharp anxiety as he tightly wrapped his pale hands in thin leather bindings.
"If she uses the spring thaw to stir up the herbivore elders against us, she could declare our clinic's supplies compromised before I can even inspect the fresh roots. Lily... I should have cut off her family the moment we merged our tribes after the West Hill mountain collapse. I am so sorry... I brought this disgusting political threat right to our doorstep."
I sat up on the thick mound of bear furs, pulling the heavy blanket over my bare chest.
