Ours.
I swallow the sour taste in my mouth.
“Begone, wolf,” I call, hoping he doesn’t notice the crack in my voice. “Unless you want me to report you!”
The wolf huffs, lips parting around pointed fangs.
He knows I’m a liar. If I had wished to report him, I’d have done it by now.
I turn my back and force myself to follow Truffles. The wolf’s eyes burn into my back with every step I take.
What is he even doing here? What does he want with me?
He made it quite clear that he wanted nothing to do with me. So why won’t he just let me be? And bloody hell, why don’t I want him to?
I’m still feeling rattled when we arrive at the glass doors to Nan’s greenhouse. Ivy grows over the gate, so thick it would be impossible to open even if it could be opened from the outside. She’s warded it up tight to protect her precious plant babies. Not even I can enter without Nan’s approval, and the magic only responds to her.
Before I can call out to her, her voice comes from beyond the door. “Come in, dear!” The ivy recedes, and the doors open. Nan flashes a bright smile, sunlight glittering in her silver curls.
“Is everything all right?” I ask.
“Of course. Come, look at these new poppy seedlings!” From her excitement, you’d think she was about to show me a basket of kittens. She leads me inside the warm, sweetly scented greenhouse. Off to the side are several boxes, one of which is already open. “Aren’t they just darling?” She coos, squatting to caress the leaves of one of the flowers, still in its planter box.
“Going to make opium?”
She swats my ankle. “Oh, hush. These aren’t even opium poppies. Have I taught you nothing?”
Chuckling, I kneel down beside her to appreciate the red petals up close. “They are adorable. What else did you order?”
The apples of her cheeks flush with excitement. “Let’s see…” She hefts a box down from the stack and opens it. “I’ve got some more aloe vera. That box there has bonsais all the way from Hokkaido! Oh! But you must see my favorite of them all!”She scurries over to another box, much smaller than the others, propped on a bench.
Nan opens the box and squeals with delight. “It’s beautiful!” She reaches in and lifts out a glass container.
My jaw goes slack. “Is that—”
“It is, indeed!”
Within the glass is a moon-white flower with an indigo center.
“A lunar flower!” I practically squash my nose against the glass to get a better look. “Where in Freya’s name did you find this?”
She beams. “A witch in Bosnia sold me his very last one from the harvest this year! He is a very secretive chap. If Frank were still alive to see how much money I spent on this flower, the shock would have killed him. Or maybe not. Perhaps he would have understood.” She caresses the wedding band on her finger, as if in apology.
I carefully lift the glass lid. The sweet scent reminds me of orchids. “Incredible.” I run the tip of my finger along one of the white petals.
“Careful now,” Nan says fretfully, closing the container so fast I almost get my finger caught.
Goddess, I can’t believe it. A lunar flower, the very last ingredient I need for my potion. I don’t suppose there’s any point in asking if I can keep it—but I have to anyway.
“Nan, could I possibly, maybe—and this is just a question!—buy that off of you?” I give her my most charming smile.
Truffles stomps her hoof.“You look constipated.”
Nan looks as scandalized as if I’d just asked to eat it. “Arlo Tenanbaum, if you so much as try to use this flower in one of your potions, I’ll write you out of my will!” She scoops up the lunar flower and hugs the case to her chest.
I raise both hands. “Sorry, sorry!”
She huffs. “Goddess! Why would you ask such a daft question? You know how long I’ve searched for this flower. It was Frank’s dream to see one for himself.” Her eyes grow watery.
