All Chapters of The Alpha's Greatest Regret: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Chapter 41. What Herbs Know.Rowena met her at the bottom of the main stairs with the tray already in her hands. "Callie! Oh, thank goodness." Callie stopped. Rowena had never once been grateful or thanked goodness for her. "Lord Soren's asked for me in the library, and Peter says I mustn't keep him waiting." Rowena pushed the tray at her. "Take this up to Mother. Please. I'll be right behind you." A small blue pot. A cup and saucer. A spoon. A little dish of dark honey."The nurse can...""The nurse is changing Mother's sheets. Please, Callie. It's going cold."Callie took it.Rowena walked off toward the library, smoothing her hair. At the door she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. Not at Callie's face. At the tray. At the stairs. Checking that Callie was going up. Then she went in.mCallie climbed slowly. Two years, and she'd never been allowed to carry this tray. Rowena made the tea. Rowena carried it up. Rowena sat until the cup was empty. And tonight, with no warning,

Chapter 43. Rowena Notices.Rowena heard her mother laughing before she reached the door. She stopped on the threshold with the tray. Elena wasn't propped on three pillows. She was sitting on the edge of the bed with her feet on the rug, colour in her cheeks, hair down. Callie stood behind her with the silver brush, drawing it through in long, slow strokes."Rowena, darling. Come and sit. I walked to the window twice today.""Mother, that's..." Rowena smiled. "That's wonderful.""Callie's been telling me about the summer fair. The year she lost a shoe in the duck pond.""You were eight," Elena went on, "and came home with one shoe and a duckling in your apron. Your father nearl

Chapter 45. Posy Is GoneThe baker on the corner sold sweet rolls for a copper apiece, glazed on top, with a thumbprint of jam in the middle. Callie bought one and wrapped it in a clean handkerchief."Late breakfast?" the baker asked."For someone else.""Lucky someone."She tucked it into her apron pocket, beside the twist of yarrow, and walked the last two streets fast. Della was at Master Behr's again, arguing about blue silk. Callie had an hour, if he'd had wine.Last time, at the back door, with the salve tin pressed into her hands, Posy had whispered, Will you come Thursday? Callie had said yes.

Chapter 47. The Bakery Alley.He didn't ask. He'd thought about it all the way down the river road, following the smell of her. Yarrow and wet wool and fear. He'd had his questions lined up. Why are you out here. Who are you looking for. Why didn't you come to me. He looked at her standing by the river wall, soaked to the thigh, her palms bleeding, and none of the questions mattered."Who are we looking for?"Callie stared at him. Then she reached into her apron pocket and held something out. A scrap of coarse grey cloth with a brown scorch mark near the edge. "A girl. Seven. Small for it. She's from the tea house off the square. A man took her." Her voice was flat, but her hand shook. "Guard's boots. Hobnails. Someone saw him carry a sack toward the sheds at dusk."

Chapter 49.Peter Finds Out.The steward said there was water coming through the ceiling of the old servants' wing. "Pigeons," he told Peter. "Or a slate gone. I'll send a boy up.""I'll look myself."He didn't know why he said it. He hadn't climbed into a roof since he was fourteen. But the house had been too loud all day. Mother laughing downstairs. Rowena hovering in doorways, pale and quiet. Liam not meeting his eyes at breakfast. And Peter wanted ten minutes somewhere nobody could find him.The old wing was cold and smelled of dust. At the end of the corridor, the loft ladder was already down. Peter frowned. Nobody used the loft. He went up.His head came through the hatch,