Soren and I arrived at the cave first. I stayed near the mouth of the cave, and a few minutes later, I saw two familiar wolf figures approaching the cave with a man on one of their backs.

I went about making sure Ethan was comfortable on his makeshift bed, but it wasn’t time yet for me to use the flower to save him. We had to be patient and wait for the nectar.

“Why didn’t we just go back to the palace?” Soren asked me. I hadn’t explained everything to him when we ...