I hear the Raven Lord collapse beside me, as though his legs are no longer strong enough to hold him up.

A flurry of gasps and conversations fly around the room and Lord Raven drags himself back to his feet taking his daughter's hand with his shaking one.

"Pearl?" he whispers. His face is pale, eyes wide. "Pearl is that...are you really awake?"

Pearl turns her gaze to him and remains silent for a few seconds. Then, in a croaky voice, she says, "Father, you look awful."

The Raven Lord burst out a startled laugh and the sounds in the room explode as everyone tries to speak at once.

"My Lady..."

"It's a miracle!"

"Oh my Lady, I'm so happy!"

"Silence," the blonde Knight barks and then stands by the Raven Lord who is still enraptured by the sight of his awakened daughter. He seems unable to believe what he's seeing as he runs his hand down her cheek. Pearl leans into his touch and he swallows thickly.

"Horde."

"Yes, my Lord?"

"If this is a dream don't wake me up."

The Knight smiles for the first time and it transforms his face into an expression that's actually quite pleasant.

"I won't, my Lord," he says.

Lord Raven continues to caress his daughter silently for a few more seconds and I wonder if I should retreat.

“Tell me, “ he says, without looking at me or Seir. “How did you make it?”

“It’s a secret,” I say.

“You will tell us,” Horde orders but Pearl's knight reaches over and smacks him in the back of his head.

“Don’t be short with her,” she says. “She just saved our Lady, you dolt.”

“Thank you.” When the Raven Lord finally turns to me, his eyes are full of such gratitude that it’s palpable. It's painful to stare into his gaze for too long. “Thank you. How can I repay you? Gold? I can give you enough gold to fill your cottage. Or would you like a new home? I can set you up wherever you would like. Given everything that happened it might be a good idea for you to get away from the North. Do you want to come to Pangea? I promise that the anti-Northern sentiments aren't that bad.”

"I can’t leave yet," I tell him. "But thank you for the offer." It's good to have that as an escape plan just in case I get implicated in the King's murder.

"Let me know if you ever need to get away." Lord Farrow nods to the Knight who seems to understand what he needs telepathically, leaving us temporarily. He then returns with a tiny wooden chest, engraved with jewels, which he then pops open.

I gasp.

Inside it are two portal stones, two pink stones and two metallic rectangular slabs with runes on them. The Raven Lord points at the slabs first.

"If either of you need to reach me or my daughter you can use that to communicate with us. And the portal stone will transport you to our home in Pangea. When you get there, show them the Pink Stones and tell them I sent for you. You will be treated well."

"Thank you, my Lord," I say and Seir stares at the instruments stunned. What he's given us is worth more than the gold he initially offered. Direct access to one of the richest and most important men in Pangea...it's not something to overlook. "We won't forget this."

"And I will not forget what you've done."

I glance back at Wolf who is standing by the entrance and has been watching everything silently.

"I will need a favor from you," I say.

The Raven Lord nods eagerly. "Name it."

"I believe that when you and the King agreed to your visit, you put aside two hostages as a contingency. The King's hostage happens to be Wolf's mother. Can you help us get her back?"

The Raven Lord winces and shakes his head. "I'm afraid that won't be possible. The situation with the contingencies as you called them, got complicated."

"How?" Wolf growls alerting the soldiers standing closest to him.

The Raven Lord turns to him. "You have my sincerest apologies, Wolf. I did not know she was your mother otherwise I would have acted differently. In any case, a few weeks ago, after the attempted poisoning of my daughter, I had my Knights move your mother to a different location than what I initially agreed on. I no longer trusted the King not to go back on his word and especially since he had a Farrow Witch on his side, I had to move our hostage to a place powerful enough that even the Farrow Witches could not break in. So I contacted a friend from the magic tower for help. Unfortunately, while we were sneaking her in, we got caught by the Chief Warden of the Magic Tower and he did not agree with what I did or my deal with the King. As such, he's holding on to both hostages until further notice."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What does that mean, until further notice?" I ask as I watch Wolf's face turn purple with anger.

"Well, I'm not sure what will happen on the King's end but on my end, there will likely be an atrial to see whether I acted in a way that endangered the Empire. And then after the trial is over, the hostages will be released."

"And who will be the judge of this trial?"

"I'm not sure. Likely someone acting on behalf of the Emperor."

My gasp of horror has him holding up both hands. "There's no need to be alarmed, I assure you. I call it a trial but in truth, it's more so a hearing. I'll need to pay a hefty fine most likely and I already knew that would be the case before I did this. But the hostage, your mother Wolf, will be in no danger, I assure you."

"Please, "I say. "Try to keep her away from the Emperor and the Empress."

He places a hand on his chest, dipping his head. "You have my word, Adria. No harm will come to her.

'"You have my word too." A light whisper from the bed turns my attention back to Pearl who is staring at me now.

"Hello, my friend." I smile. "Welcome to the land of the living."

"How long was I asleep for?"

"A few days," I say.

"Was it the Stiffening?"

"Yes," Seir answers smiling genuinely at her. "But we figured out the cure. The book you gave me helped actually. Thank you."

"I told you it would." Pearl smiles, pleased. "Adria?"

"Yes?"

"When I get up from here, I want you to teach me how to dance."

***

Wolf and I later find Savannah seated on a rock in a grassy enclave a few yards from the Hovel.

She beams when she sees us approaching.

"You're okay." She leaps off the rock and comes to hug me. I hug her back.

"Have you seen Tia?" she asks.

"Yes," I say. I stopped by her inn with Seir. Her wound was nearly completely healed and she wasn't much worse for the wear. "She'll be fine."

"Oh, I know. She's doing better most of the other hopefuls. Some people ran out of that forest with missing limbs or screaming their heads off. And many more died. We had it easy. Thanks to you, we all survived." She swallows. "Well, almost all..."

My throat is suddenly thick too. We should go and see Jace's mother to pay our respects, but it feels too soon. Like doing so now would be accepting that Jace is dead.

I'm still not convinced. I want to heal up for a few more days and then go back into the forest to search for him. Maybe the Forest didn't let him die. Maybe she did me a favor.

Or maybe this is all wishful thinking.

Either way, I need to know for sure.

I tell Savannah my plan, and half expect her to try and talk me out of it. But I should have known better.

"If you're thinking of going back to look for him," Savannah says. "I'm coming with you."

I nod. And that's that.

***

Later that evening, I'm tucked into Wolf's arms staring out at the sunset. His mood is dull, his body unsettled, and I know his mind is still on his mother.

"I'm sorry," I say. “We’ll find a way to get your mother back, I promise.”

He puts his face in my hair. "I believe you."

Pleasure flows through me. "And I would believe you too, you know if there's anything strange or mysterious you wanted to tell me.

"Mhmm.” He continues to rub his face into my scalp.

When he doesn’t follow up with anything else, I finally sigh.

"Wolf,” I cock my head to look at him. “You’re the beast that saved me and Jace in the forest, aren’t you?”

I expect him to lie or at least try to act offended. But he merely pulls back and smiles. “I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out.”

Way too long, I think begrudgingly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugs. “It' s not easy admitting to you that I’m an abomination.”

“No, you’re not. You’re a miracle.” Odd how I feel completely different about Wolf’s transformation than I did about the King’s. “Were you born this way?”

He nods.

“Your mother is the same?”

He shakes his head. “Just me.”

“How?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been able to shift into a beast form. The urge to do so is stronger with the full moon but I can shift pretty much whenever I want. And I can do it easily. I can also disappear in the shadows, although I think she gave me that skill.”

“She? The forest?”

"Yes. When I was a boy I wanted to hide a lot. Everywhere I went people stared at me and I hated it. I told her that I wanted to hide and she said she would teach me how if I visited her often."

"Ah. I see." I take advantage of his rare talkative mood and ask, "And what other powers do you have?"

"I’m very strong,” he says. "Very handsome too."

"And oh so humble."

He chuckles. "I’m also impervious to a lot of diseases."

"Like the Griffins? Was your father one?"

He shrugs. "Who knows."

He doesn't know who his father is. I hate to be the one to have to break it to him. "I’m sorry."

"About what?"

"The King. I killed him." Wolf is the only one I feel comfortable enough to admit that truth to feel comfortable admitting it to him now that we’re together.

He doesn't stop running his hand through my hair.

"I’m confused."

"About me killing the king?

"No, I thought as much. I'm glad although I wanted to kill him myself. But why are you apologizing for that?"

"Because the King…he’s….I don’t know how to say it any easier, but I think he’s your father."

Wolf makes a grunting sound followed by a chuffing sound that makes me realize he’s trying to suppress laughter.

I look at him. "Are you laughing at me?"

He shakes his head, still chortling. "How can someone be so close to the truth yet so far away?"

That’s similar to what Lo said.

"He’s not my father," Wolf says. "Though we share a common ancestor."

“The Griffins?”

He nods. “But we’re more like distant cousins than anything else. “

“But you know there are rumors about you being the King’s son.”

“Yes. The rumors are wrong.”

“Shame,” I say. “I planned on making you the next King.”

Now that does surprise him. He gives me a horrified look. “Why? I would make a terrible King."

“I disagree," I say, turning back to the sunset. Wolf showed a lot of King-like qualities in the future.

But does that future even exist anymore? So much has changed. In the grand scheme of things, I've won a lot of battles but lost a lot as well. I passed to test to join the Elite Warrior Academy but now the King is dead, which will undoubtedly make my work more complicated.

And with Lo warning me not to trust my memories too much…

It seems I have to wipe the slate clean and start planning from the beginning again.

I’ve achieved one goal. I've begun the story.

But everything from now is new territory.