#Chapter 203 – Unrequited Love

Lila The bell above the apothecary door chimed as Kael pushed it open, shaking the snow from his coat like a wet wolf. “Cold enough to freeze your lungs out there,” he said, dropping a crate of dried herbs onto the counter with a grunt. “You could’ve waited until morning,” I said, taking the crate from him before he could strain something. “I told you the supply run could wait.” “And leave you here to lift it yourself?” He arched a brow. “You forget I’ve seen the way you overfill the shelves. You’d have dropped it halfway through the door and then the twins would start an herb fight.” I gave him a stern look, but it didn’t stop him from smiling. Kael had a way of teasing that softened the edges around him, a quiet warmth that belonged in this place. I sighed and let him have the small victory. My apothecary smelled of cedar and honeyed tea, herbs drying overhead in neat, suspended bundles, a lot like my cottage. Sunlight broke through the frost on the windows, gilding the s