Fucking rain, thought Anne.

She wouldn’t have guessed it was possible for her to hate horse-riding even more, but the rain made her hate it even more. It wasn’t much more than a slow drizzle, but they were riding pretty quickly, which meant the rain drops were constantly pelting Anne in the face, making it difficult for her to think about much more than cold, wet, and sore she was.

But Anne tried to force herself to think about other stuff anyway. There were too many important things that she urgently needed to think through.

It was a relief when they finally made it past the borders of the Sacred Forest. The trees provided some shelter from the rain, and the rough terrain meant they had to slow down.

It would still be some time before they made it to the Atrium, that magical clearing that acted as a sort of crossroads to the Sacred Forest, so she had at least a bit of time to get some real, serious contemplation done without the rain distracting her as much.

By the time they arrived at the Atrium, Anne had come to some conclusions.

“Well, here we are,” said Corvina, sliding off her horse. She put her hands on her hips, staring around at the clearing suspiciously. “And no elven forces have come to attack us yet, so that’s probably a good sign. Which way did Prince Elyon tell you to go to reach the elven city?”

“He said to follow the birch trees.” Anne also dismounted, although she was much less graceful about it than Corvina had been. Iramis the horse let out a disdainful little huff, and when Anne glared at him, he turned his head away haughtily.

Rude, thought Anne.

“Alright,” said Corvina. “It’s still pretty dark, but the birch trees are easy enough to spot. We should probably go the rest of the way on foot anyway, just so we don’t risk the horses getting hurt on the uneven roads.”

“Yeah, we should definitely go on foot, but—“ Anne took a deep breath. “I don’t think we should go to the elven city.”

“What?” said Corvina, her brows knitting in confusion. “I told you before, it’s our best option for now.”

“No, it’s—“

“We can come up with a new plan once we’re safe, but to do anything else we have to be safe first,” insisted Corvina.

“That’s not true!” said Anne, so forcefully that Corvina actually looked taken aback. “Sorry…” said Anne, lowering her voice again. “I just… ever since I arrived here, I’ve been thinking in terms of safety. I knew I didn’t really belong here so I mostly just went along with things hoping that I wouldn’t stand out too much—and look where that got me. But on the other hand… the best thing I’ve done since I got here was extremely dangerous and reckless and not even a little bit safe.”

Corvina thought for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. “…you mean talking to me at the ball,” she said.

Anne nodded. “Trying to stay safe led to me nearly getting killed by Eva, but being bold and reckless led to me being rescued by you. It led to us falling in love. If that’s not the universe telling me something, I don’t know what is.”

“Well, I mean…” Corvina let out a little huff. “Just because your gamble worked out that one time doesn’t mean you should keep gambling.”

“But shouldn’t I go double-or-nothing while my luck’s still good?” said Anne.

“That’s not… how gambling works. At a casino you would—” Corvina let out a big sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. “No, forget about it. Metaphors are exhausting. Anne, I just… I care about you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I don’t want me to get hurt either,” said Anne, with a tentative smile. Corvina’s answering glare was almost enough to make Anne laugh. “Sorry, sorry. I don’t really want anyone to get hurt, but… I really think I need to take a gamble again here.”

Corvina scoffed and turned away, staring in the direction of the birch trees.

“I have thought this through,” said Anne. “It’s not completely random. It’s, like, a calculated risk.”

Corvina was still looking at the trees, not meeting Anne’s eyes. “Tell me what exactly it is that you have in mind, then,” she said, flatly.

“Well…” said Anne. “I think part of why things keep going wrong is because I don’t actually know the ending of the original novel. I didn’t think that was a big deal, cause… I thought I could just guess how the rest of the plot plays out. Because it’s a fantasy romance novel and I know how fantasy romance novels go. But after all this stuff with Eva… I’m not sure I really know what was going on in that book after all…”

“Okay,” said Corvina. “And?”

“And I keep seeing these visions of a beat-up Saintess stumbling down what I’m pretty sure is the Path of Ruin, over there.” Anne vaguely gestured towards the collapsed stone pillar on one end of the Atrium. Corvina followed Anne’s gesture to look at the ruins.

“Don’t you have a lot of visions?” asked Corvina, skeptically. “You said they’re all pretty jumbled and confusing.”

“Yeah, but the visions of the ruins are different from the ones where I just see her spirit and speak to her,” said Anne. “It always feels like I might be seeing something specific out of the past. Or maybe the future. And when we were here before, Elyon told me that the Path of Ruin leads to ‘the end of the world,’ that it’s where elves go when they die.”

Corvina quickly turned back to look at Anne again, her expression fierce with anger and concern. “So if you go that way, you’ll die?”

“Not exactly, I don’t think…” said Anne. “From that wording, the ‘end of the world,’ I think there’s an outside possibility that it could lead back to my original world. Or even to one of those pocket dimensions the original Saintess has been trapped in. Or, maybe, it could lead to the elven afterlife… that’s the outcome I’m hoping for.”

“So you’re hoping to die?” Corvina looked even angrier.

“No, no!” said Anne, waving her hands placatingly. “I don’t want to die. But I think if I go that way, I might be able to meet the Goddess. Who I’m starting to think might be my mom.”

Agis sat on a roof in Longren, contemplating his options. It was almost sunrise now, and the city looked oddly peaceful laid out beneath him.

It felt odd because… despite Agis having his whole world turning upside down, everyone else was just getting on with their lives as if nothing had changed at all.

Anne and Corvina had left to go… somewhere. Maybe Gronderwen, in the Sacred Forest. He had let Anne take Iramus, so there was no way he would be able to catch up with them now, even if he knew for sure where they were going. Plus… he didn’t really want to go back to Gronderwen anyway. That city had never really felt like home to him. But he had just burned his bridges with the rebellion in a big way so he couldn’t go back to the camp, either.

He had no idea what he was going to do long term, but in the short term, there was someone he really wanted to see… Just to make sure she was okay. Absolutely no other reason.

He briefly considered trying to find a new horse he could buy or rent or something, but he quickly gave up on that idea and ended up just running the whole distance to the Tulin Estate.

It was easy enough to sneak past the guards at the entrance, but it was a massive house, and it proved to be very difficult to find the one room where they’d decided to keep an injured maid while she healed. In his search he managed to startle the kitchen staff, nearly break an expensive-looking vase in an art gallery, and get briefly chased down a hallway by a pair of hunting dogs.

When he finally found the right room he felt a huge wave of relief wash over him.

It was a small room, with the curtains drawn so it was fairly dark even though the sun had long-since risen. Helen lay on a plain bed in the center of the room, with several blankets covering her small frame and a number of bandages wrapped around her head.

Corvina had told Agis about what happened to Helen on their way to rescue Anne. If he was fully honest with himself, Agis had wanted to run to her side immediately, but at that point Anne’s situation was more dire, so he’d forced that thought from his mind.

It was a relief to hear how even Helen’s breathing was as she slept. That meant she probably wasn’t dealing with a major infection or anything. It might take some time, but she would heal.

Agis pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and sat down in it, watching Helen breath. He didn’t want to wake her.

Elves all had ‘perfect’ complexions. Zaos always said that their smooth, blemish-free skin was a blessing from their divine elven blood, but as Agis watched Helen sleep he couldn’t help thinking that it was a real shame that no elf would ever have such cute freckles…

There was a polite cough from the doorway. “Excuse me.”

Agis awoke with a start. He hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep. When he looked up, he saw that Helen was awake now, watching him. His heart skipped a beat.

There was that polite cough again.

“What?” said Agis, extremely annoyed, turning towards the doorway.

A pink-haired human was standing in the door, looking apologetic. “I do apologize for interrupting,” said Marquess Ormen. “But this is my house, so…”

Agis blushed. “Right, I’m sorry, I just…”

“Please, don’t concern yourself,” said the Marquess, waving a hand dismissively. “I understand these are rather extraordinary circumstances, your highness.”

Helen grabbed Agis’ arm, forcing him to look back at her. “Is my lady okay?” she asked, her tone desperate. “Is your sister okay?”

“Yes, I was rather curious about that myself,” said Marquess Ormen. “Seeing as you’re the only one who’s returned.”

Agis wasn’t sure how many details he had the energy to share right now, so he just said, “Yes. They’re okay. They got away.”

The Marquess gave a satisfied nod and Helen sank back further into bed, visibly relieved.

“That is good news,” said the Marquess. “And do you think they’ll be returning here, or…”

Agis shook his head. “My best guess is they’ll head for Gronderwen. That’s, um… that’s the big city in the middle of the Sacred Forest, where the palace is. It would be hard for Eva to chase them there.” For some reason, at that moment a piece of trivia Elyon once told him popped into the forefront of his mind. “It means something like ‘crown of oaks’ in Old Elven.”

Marquess Ormen nodded, thoughtfully. “Good to know. That does sound like a smart location for them to retreat to, although it may cause some new, unforeseen issues. I hate to ask you to leave right away when you could clearly use some rest yourself, but if possible, it might be a good idea to deliver a message to them as soon as possible. Or at least to deliver a message to your elder brothers, the other princes.”

Suddenly Agis noticed that the Marquess was holding a letter in his hand. The seal had already been broken so it was hard to tell for sure but from here it looked to Agis like it was the imperial seal.

The Marquess sighed. “I’m afraid Grand Duke Marshall has been ordered to bring his forces to Longren, in order to get this kidnapping situation ‘in hand,’ so to speak. It appears Lady Corvina’s little gambit may not have gone entirely according to her plan.”