Chapter 8

That day was the Lantern Festival, and the flower lanterns on the street were so bright they hurt your eyes.

Kieran bought me a chubby little rabbit lantern. I carried it and skipped all the way home.

The candle flame inside the lantern flickered, making the shadows on the ground dance along with it.

As soon as I got home, I held up the flower lantern and went over to the rabbit cage: "Look, this is your little lantern brother!"

Snow and Frost got so scared they burrowed straight into the hay pile, their noses twitching.

I quickly put the flower lantern on the ground and picked up one of them to comfort it.

"It's all my fault..." I stroked the rabbit's soft fur, suddenly remembering that Kieran had said rabbits are timid. "I won't scare you again!"

Suddenly there was a loud "bang" as the courtyard gate was slammed so hard it shook.

Connor stumbled in, reeking of alcohol.

His eyes were frighteningly red, and the stubble on his chin was messy. He looked nothing like the always clean and neat Connor from before.

He dropped to his knees in front of me with a loud "thud," his knees hitting the ground hard.

"Thea..." His voice was terribly hoarse. "I was wrong... I really know I was wrong..."

"I regret it... I really regret it... How could I have been so foolish back then..."

He crawled forward on his knees, trying to grab my sleeve. "Come home with me, okay? I'll never again—"

I backed away in fright, and the rabbit in my arms also burrowed deeper into my embrace in fear.

"I can't," I shook my head. "Kieran and I are having our mating ceremony. The date is already set."

"Set?" His face turned deathly pale. "...When?"

"The eighth day of the second month." I answered quietly. "Will you come to the mating ceremony?"

Connor suddenly laughed, but that laugh sounded worse than crying: "Mating ceremony... Thea, do you have to be so cruel?"

I touched the trembling little rabbit in my arms, thinking: He was the one who didn't want me first. How can he say I'm being cruel now?

"Connor!" Marcus rushed in holding a broom. "How dare you show your face here!"

The broom came down hard on Connor's back. He groaned but wouldn't dodge: "Marcus, go ahead and beat me. Even if you beat me to death, I accept it..."

"Who's your Marcus!" Dad was shaking with anger and brought the broom down again. "You faked your death to hurt my daughter, and now you have the nerve to ask for forgiveness?"

Connor swayed from the beating but still knelt straight.

I hid behind Dad and saw his eyes were red.

"Thea..."

I tugged at Dad's clothes: "Dad, let him go..."

Dad pushed and shoved Connor out the door and slammed it shut with a "bang."

I thought that would be the end of it. But the next morning when I opened my window, I saw Connor kneeling outside the courtyard gate.

Snow had piled up all over him, making him look like a snowman.

Dad went out cursing to chase him away, but Connor seemed nailed to the ground. No matter how hard Dad pulled, he wouldn't budge.

Finally Dad had no choice but to leave him alone.

By evening, Connor finally couldn't hold on anymore and collapsed to the ground with a "thud."

Dad grumbled and complained, but in the end he couldn't bear it. He still had people carry Connor back to the Moonstone Pack house.

I heard that after he got back, he had a high fever that wouldn't break and kept talking nonsense.

A few days later, Vivian and Eleanor came to find me. Both their eyes were swollen like walnuts.

Vivian's tears kept falling: "Thea... I... I'm sorry..."

Eleanor held my hand and trembled: "Good child... Mother... Mother lied to you too..."

I stood there in a daze, not knowing what to say.

Vivian suddenly knelt down: "I knew all along he wasn't Caleb..."

She cried and shook. "But I was afraid... afraid of being widowed so young... so I just went along with it..."

"He won't take his medicine properly now. He keeps calling for you... I know I have no right to ask you, but..."

"Thea..." Eleanor also knelt down. "Mother knows the pack wronged you... but Connor really knows he was wrong... Please, come back with me to see him just once..."

I looked down at the mud spots on my shoes, my heart feeling like it was stuffed with tangled thread.

But in the end, I still shook my head and said quietly: "Please go back. I'm about to have a new family."

The story about Connor and me quickly spread through the village.

Some said he was devoted, some said he deserved it, and others said I was heartless.

When Kieran came to see me, he brought a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts.

He didn't ask anything, just sat beside me and peeled them for me one by one.

"Are they sweet?" he asked.

I nodded and broke the chestnut meat in half, putting one half in his mouth.

"Thea," Kieran suddenly said, "if you want to go see him..."

I leaned against him and asked seriously:

"Kieran, if I don't go see him, am I really being cruel?"

He gently touched my hair:

"Kindness isn't weakness, and refusing isn't cruelty. Do what you want to do. No one can force you to do what you don't want to do."

I nodded as if I understood: "Then I won't go."