**Ethan’s POV “Soren? Where am I…?” “Hey, brother. You’re awake!” Soren grinned down at me, and I blinked a few times, trying to figure out where the hell I was. I thought I should be dead, but since I wasn’t, I should at least be at the palace in one of the bedrooms. But no, I was in some kind of a cave, it looked like. Something strange must’ve happened while I was unconscious. If I was awake, did it mean thatRosalie wasn’t saved after all? *Rosalie!” 1 grabbed Soren’s arm and shouted, “Where’s Rosalie? What happened to her!” “She’s fine! She’s alive, out and about!” Soren raised his voice and gave me a bottle of water. “Chill down, man.” I took a couple sips of water, and breathed in deep a few times. Once I felt my heartbeat was back to its normal rhythm, I asked for confirmation, “You said… she is still alive?” “Yes, still alive, powerful and beautiful as before. I wouldn’t lie to you on this, I promise.” I finally felt I could breathe freely. Then I asked, “Then where am I? What happened?” I tried to sit up but failed and fell back on the mat I was lying on. “You’re in a cave,” Soren gave the obvious answer and explained, “Long story short, we found out there were some spies in the palace, so we had to move you. But it’s all being handled.” He tried to smile reassuringly, but I could see through it. “Where are Rosalie and Rowan?” I asked him. “Rowan is with Seraphine and Vicky when Rosalie is working… being queen and all that,” he said, still trying to be nonchalant. “And Rosalie went to help Georgia and Talon.” He had my attention now. My brain was trying to catch up. That last part sounded dangerous. “Help them how? What’s wrong with them?” Soren sighed. “It’s kind of complicated, but essentially, we went on a journey to retrieve some sort of flower called the Nightmare Lotus, or.. oh, Midnight Lily! It was supposed to save your life, which I guess it did. Anyway, we were attacked while we were there, and Georgia and Talon stayed behind with a few others to fight while Rosalie and I escaped back here to get you the flower.” “Midnight Lily?” I repeated, and he nodded. I vaguely remember some legendary flower called Moonlight Lily, but I’d never heard of Midnight Lily before. But that wasn’t important right now…! “Why the f*ck did you let Georgia go?! She can’t even shift yet!” I scolded him. “Yeah, like any of us could stop her. Be realistic, okay, brother?” He rolled his eyes. “I’m as worried as you, but does it help? Now, the good thing is that it’s quite hazardous to get there and it makes it impossible to bring in large troops. So hopefully, Talon and Georgia were able to fight Madalynn’s group off. Rosalie should be there within a day.” I frowned. “I need to go too!” Once again, I tried to push up off of the bed, but my head was swimming, and I fell backward. Soren chuckled, sol glared at him, “Always gotta be the hero, huh, brother?” he asked. “I do what I think needs to be done.” I glanced at him. Soren complained, “C’mon, do you have to be this serious all the time? You’re so boring.”

“Or else what? Smile like a clown all day long?” I sneered. T heard him growling under his breath, but then he rolled his eyes again. “Fine, fine. Do you, brother.” However, I realized that I just didn’t have the strength to stand up, so I had to make peace with the fact that I really wasn’t ready to leave the cave yet. “Really, Ethan, you’ve gotta trust people around you. Georgia and Rosalie, they are capable of protecting themselves. If you have the time and energy to worry about them, why don’t you focus on regaining your strength and make yourself useful again.” He had a point.copy right hot novel pub