Wolf carries me home in silence.

I'm not sure how he got me out of the forest. When I came to, we were already out on the grass and the Elite Guards and the hopefuls were gone, perhaps assuming we were dead. I had no idea how much time had passed. I was too exhausted to even ask what happened.

So I simply remained still, shivering against the cold and sucking in the warmth of Wolf's body.

We still haven't spoken about what happened, how he survived. He smells of blood and dust and much of it stains his clothes. But there are no wounds on him. How did he face that monster without sustaining a wound? Did he heal up in the waters before coming?

I should ask but I don't.

Most of all, we’re avoiding talking about Jace.

We’ve passed the trials. We’re about to be elite soldiers.

But I’m not happy. I'm more miserable than I can remember being.

So much has changed.

I thought this would be simple. Me and Wolf become Elite Guards. As elite guards, it grants us two unique advantages: we could travel pretty widely under the command of the King and get the necessary training that would render us powerful enough to face most threats.

There was a second phase of that plan which I'm supposed to be starting soon, but I can't.

Everything just became far more complicated than I thought. My mind is a confused tangle of information and now I don’t even know where to start.

Don't trust your memories.

I've been plotting based on my memories...have I just been fooling myself and everyone around me this whole time?

"I'm sorry." My voice is hollow, devoid of emotion.

Wolf doesn't say anything, but I know I have his attention.

"About your mother Wolf, I'm sorry, I..." A crack appears in my voice, shooting sharply through my chest. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the King doesn't have her."

Wolf remains silent. He doesn't even react to that bitter piece of news, although I'm not sure how he should react. Start yelling at me? Drop me on the ground? Beat me up for deceiving him?

I already know Wolf isn't that type of man. More reason why I don't deserve him.

“Put me down.”

"It's cold," is his only response. I can't tell what he's feeling from his tone but I can't even get myself to look at his face. It would be too painful.

I remain quiet as the cottage comes into view.

After all that time longing for the safety of this home, the return is bittersweet.

I'm home, but Jace is not.

I'll need to go to his mother and tell her what happened. I'll need to maintain my composure somehow, enough to tell her the whole story without bursting into tears.

Get a hold of yourself. You've lost people before.

But it doesn't make it easier. The loss is just as sharp now as it was the first time it happened. Not with Jace, but with the freckled, stubborn Nakia.

And just like that situation, Jace didn't deserve this end. It shouldn't have happened. We defeated the monster. The Prince had the gem. Tia was back to show us a way out.

We should have all lived.

But Jace had to be a hero. He tried to save someone who frankly didn't deserve saving. Paisley would never have done the same for him, yet Jace risked his life for him anyway.

And he died for it.

Is this part of fate's game as Lo put it? Am I meant to keep losing the ones that are closest to me?

Am I playing a game where I'm already fated to lose?

So far, none of my plans have worked out exactly how I want them to. Even with my knowledge of the past, there's always some caveat, something that changes just enough to make things more difficult for me.

If I am fighting against fate, then fate is certainly fighting back.

The door of the cottage opens and closes behind us.

The room is dark at first, until Wolf turns on the lantern one-handedly, with the other hand still wrapped around me.

Then he sits down at the dining table, with me still in his arms.

"Let me go, Wolf."

There’s so much we need to talk about, so much that needs to be unpacked. I need to figure out my next steps.

But Wolf refuses to release me.

He runs his hand up and down my back and a sob nearly rips out of my throat but I don't deserve to cry.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

So I sit there in stubborn stiff silence, while Wolf rubs my back. I take a peek at his face, as I try to fight the tears. His expression is wooden, but his eyes are devastated, a well of pain. He's starting to accept the possibility that his mother may not be alive, but he doesn't want to. He's grieving her loss even as he tries to comfort me.

And he's still here. He's still not throwing me out even though this is my fault.

Then, there's a knock on the door.

"Go away." Wolf snarls.

"It's me." It's Seir's voice.

That reminds me. We have unfinished business.

I sit up from Wolf's chest, swallow down the grief, and call out, "Come in."

The door opens widely, and I start in surprise. Seir isn't alone.

He's accompanied by three Raven Knights, and standing next to the Raven Lord.

"Lord Raven." I try to get up, but Wolf refuses to loosen his hold around me.

The Raven Lord holds up his hand. "No need to rise on my account. I know you've been through a lot." He looks tired and his face is wain, like he’s aged several years in just a few days. He looks like he's been through a lot too.

"How is she?” I ask.

“Her last awakening was two nights ago," he says. “But she hasn’t woken up since then.”

"I'm sorry," I say. "I didn't get the Gem. I thought I could but I–"

"It's fine. It wouldn't have worked anyway," he says. "According to Seir, the gem alone would have done nothing but create an incomplete potion."

I glance at Seir and he nods.

"It was the book Pearl gave me that made me realize that I was looking at everything all wrong" he says. "I was searching for four ingredients, but you see all magic and alchemy work by a rule of three. Merkel who was the closest to finding the cure noted four ingredients though and that's what made it confusing. It didn't make sense."

I nod.

"Except if two of those symbols are components of one item," he says.

"What do you mean?"

"There are two agreed-upon ingredients. A magic stone, like the True Heart Gem, and a magical beast. But those things cannot work separately from each other. In fact, it's their fusion that makes the magic work. "

"I don't understand," I say but Seir is already shuffling off his trusty sack and pulling out a page from it.

I see he's drawn the formula for it.

"I was at the magic tower and got access to their library so I did some light reading. Long ago, it was once thought that Beasts were the antithesis of magic, which is found in plants and other nature. Beasts destroyed nature, and in return nature tried to destroy the Beasts. The God of the Beast and the God of Magic were at war. But then they made peace, and a symbol of that peace was a marriage of magic and life. That's what a magical beast is and this symbol," he points to the symbol on the page, "It represents that fusion. Most alchemists wrongly translated this mark on the symbol to mean that we must kill the beast and then merge it with a magic stone, but no. We simply need a creature that is both beast and gem and we need it alive. They must already be fused for it to work. Does it make sense?"

It's starting to. His words tug at the information at the back of my mind and it comes tumbling out in a flood that has me gasping.

How could I have been so stupid?

In my second life, the Empress kept asking me for a gem I didn't have. Another thing she was searching for was a creature one that Wolf and Savannah caught and the creature had glittering gem-like eyes.

The same eyes the monster Prince Caster caught.

The King has a boar in his possession right now.

And the Forest has lots of beasts with gem-like eyes that she controls.

Lo only cares about his beasts.

I jump out of Wolf's arms, startling both Seir and the Raven Lord into taking a step back. They stare at me, and I know I must look insane but the information is pumping through me all at once.

"Did you figure out what the other two symbols mean?" I ask Seir, my heart racing at the realization.

He nods. "This one is difficult." He points to it, "But the best translation is that it means an awakened creature made of both alchemy and magic in equal parts. And the final is something I don't know what it means yet, but I suppose it acts as a stabilizer according to the text I read at the magic tower."

"So we need a fusion of beast and magic, then a creature made out of alchemy and magic, and then a stabilizer?"

"Yes. Also known as a conduit."

I think. I think hard biting my teeth and then realize it has all been staring me in the face the entire time.

I've been so stupid.

In the past, the Empress captured Seir to make a Cure For All Ills for her. She also had Wolf's mother in captivity and she had me as well. We were the only three in her dungeon to the best of my knowledge.

Seir.

Wolf's mother.

Me.

I glance at Wolf. The Forest called him her boy. The forest is clearly a thing of magic seeing as how it's filled with magic stones. She dislikes the beasts but she controls them with magic.

But Wolf also talks to beasts. How? Alchemy? Magic? Or Both?

If Wolf's mother is the same, then she may have been the second ingredient.

More importantly, we can probably achieve the same thing using Wolf's blood.

And then me...

You merely acted as a conduit. That's what Lo told me.

I'm the conduit.

"Adria," Seir's concerned voice breaks through my intense musing. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," I nod. "I'm okay." I turn to the Raven Lord. "Sir, there's one more thing I want to try before we throw in the towel. I think...it can get you the Cure."

His eyes widen, confusion and hope mixing in their depths. "What do you mean?"

"I think I may be able to get all the ingredients together. Tonight. But I may need your help."

He nods. "Anything. What do you need?"

"Do you happen to have an invisibility orb on you?"

It's a long shot. By my estimation, the invisibility orb was only mass-produced several years in the future by the magic tower, but perhaps, the Ravens got an earlier version.

My theory is proven when the Raven Lord nods. "We have a prototype but it's faulty."

"Thank you. If I may borrow it, that would be great."

"Borrow it to do what?" Wolf asks and I glance at him. I can't tell him what I'm going to do. He won't let me. So instead I distract him.

I turn back to the Raven Lord. "Give me by tomorrow morning. I should have what you need."

The Raven Lord's eyes widen. He opens his mouth. I hold my hand up.

"I can't reveal any more than that. You'll have to trust me. Please."

He closes his mouth, sighs, and nods.

"I'll send a Knight to bring you the orb," he says. "In the meantime, I came because of my daughter..." He swallows. "One of the last things she said was that she wanted to see you, so I thought..."

"I'll see her soon," I say. And I'll save her life, I add internally.

After the Ravens leave, Seir turns to me.

"How long has passed?" I ask him.

"Since you acted the fool and ran into the Forest? Only a few hours."

Oh. "How did you know we were back?"

"I have my ways," he says cryptically. At my look, he sighs, "I'll tell you later. I need to go back to the tower today. I left in a hurry after the King summoned me."

"Fine. In the meantime, do you remember the woman I asked you for all those weeks ago...yellow hair medium height..."

He nods. "Yes. I saw her."

Wolf is instantly on his feet. I grab Seir's forearm. "You did?"

Seir glances between the two of us. "Yes. She’s held in an external dungeoun secured by the magic tower."

The magic tower? Of course.

Only they would have the power to craft a room that changes based on whoever enters. I should have asked the Raven Lord but I didn't want to show all my hands just in case.

But with the cure in hand, I can bargain for Wolf's mother.

Still, that may be risky if the King finds out or if the Raven Lord betrays us. The best course of action is for Wolf to get her out before the King realizes what we're up to.

"You should go and save her," I tell Wolf. "Go with Seir. The dungeon switches location every few days and this might be your last chance."

He frowns and his eyes blaze.

He nods slowly to my relief. Good. Wolf will be away tonight.

And I can work on my mission.