**Ethan’s POV
“Soren? Where am I...?”
“Hey, brother. You’re awake!” Soren grinned down at , and I blinked a few tis, 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 so kind of a cave, it looked like. Sothing strange must’ve happened while I was unconscious.
If I was awake, did it an that...Rosalie wasn’t saved after all?
“Rosalie!” I 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 a bottle of water. “Chill down, man.”
I took a couple sips of water, and breathed in deep a few tis.
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 so 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 so 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 rember so 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, so I 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 ti? You’re so boring.”
“Or else what? Smile like a clown all day long?” I sneered.
I 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 ti and energy to worry about them, why don’t you focus on regaining your strength and make yourself useful again.”
He had a point.
Obviously, Rosalie had gone to a great deal of trouble to make sure I didn’t die, and I couldn’t let her down by not recovering fast.
Thinking about what she’d done for made my heart yearn to see her even more.
But then... I had lied and said awful words to her again. Whatever my intention was at that ti, I was beginning to regret it. Those words would complicate matters between us. She might not want to see anymore.
“How long ago did she leave?” I asked him.
Soren shrugged. “You just missed her.”
Did she know I was waking up but left anyway? Did that an she didn’t want to see ? But could I bla her if she didn’t?
I sighed. “Did she... did she have sothing to say to ?”
Soren sat on the ground, waggling left and right. He nodded with a smile. “Yes, she did.”
I stared at him for a mont, waiting for him to tell what she said, but Soren just had this mysterious smile on his face that made want to punch him.
He seed to find great amusent watching knit my brow. “Brother, don’t stare at like that. You asked a question, and I answered. If you want more information, you gotta ask again.”
How could he still be so childish?
I growled and gritted my teeth. “...What did she say?”
“Haha.” He seed to be greatly entertained. “She said she was glad that you were awake.”
That was it?
I didn’t know what to think, but I guessed it could be worse.
“Don’t look at like that. It’s what she said. Why don’t you just talk to her when she’s back?” Soren shrugged.
If she ran away to avoid just now, would she try to avoid going forward?
Also, what should I say to her?
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. There was no use in overthinking it. Soren was right; I needed to figure out a way to regain my strength.
I tried again to get up, and this ti, with Soren’s help, I was successful. The world was still a little topsy turvy, but I could feel myself recovering quickly enough.
“Where are you going?” Soren asked .
“I just want to walk around a bit, try to get my bearings,” I explained.
He stayed beside as I wandered around the cave.
“You know,” Soren began, breaking out of my thoughts, “I thought your whole plan with Behar and Madalynn was really idiotic.”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I retorted, “Have I asked for opinions?”
“No, but wait. Hey, don’t just walk away like that; you’re gonna fall!” Soren caught up to and continued, “It was stupid on the surface. But then... when I realized why you did all that, well, it turns out you were right. It worked.”
I lifted my gaze, but I really didn’t get where he was going.
He scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat, “Well, um, anyway, I just wanna say... I’m beginning to realize I’ve been wrong about you all along, man. And I’m sorryIneversawthesituationfromyourperspectivebefore (sorry I never saw the situation from your perspective before).”
Soren finished the second half of the sentence so fast that it took a few seconds to realize that he had just apologized to .
“Excuse ?” I asked.
Soren’s voice could barely be heard. “I said sorry I never saw...” Then he got it and protested loudly, “Hey, not nice at all! You heard the first ti! You jack*ss!”
“And you’re a right b*stard,” I pointed out.
He was speechless and rolled his eyes. I straightened my face and said to him, “Hey. Thanks.”
Soren froze. It was obvious that he didn’t expect that.
I chuckled and finished what I wanted to say. “For keeping alive from Behar and helping Rosalie.”
His tongue seed to get stuck and the cave was quiet.
After a while, he looked away awkwardly and squeezed out his reply, “Don’t ntion it. I didn’t do it for you.”
I smiled. It had been too long since he and I had a conversation like this.
But soon, my mind returned to Rosalie. For her to run out of here so quickly, she must’ve been upset at .
My heart felt heavy in my chest, like a rock.
I hoped she was all right.
We continued to walk around a bit while I tried to reengage all of my extremities. Whatever had happened to , it was clear I’d been near death, and it was going to take so ti for to get up to speed.
“Rosalie sure has changed,” Soren started another topic as we strolled through the cave. Whenever we ca to uneven ground, he reached out to steady . “You should’ve seen how well she handled everything lately, like she’s been doing this sort of thing forever.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, she’s sothing else,” I agreed.
“And then there’s the strategy she’s developing to go against our enemies, King Jas and King Kal. She’s acting like a real queen.”
“She is a queen.” I nodded, thinking of how amazing it was that she’d transford so completely in just a few months. “What is the situation with our enemies now?”
“Well, after you killed off about half of their forces with your oil pit, they retreated, and I managed to hurt Behar pretty badly.”
“Good.”
“We are in a better spot now in terms of numbers, but the threat is still there,” Soren continued his analysis, “It’ll take so ti to completely annihilate them. Kal’s still going to want revenge against you–since you ate his arm.”
“I didn’t eat it.”
“Okay, you didn’t eat it. You just... bit it off and spit it out. Mr. Boring! You see, we don’t really have much to do right now, so have so fun, okay?”
Why was I wasting my ti with him?
I walked toward the exit of the cave, and Soren stopped . “Where are you going?”
“Back to the palace, of course.”
“Look Ethan,” Soren shook his head, as if what he was about to say would be a big fight for him. “Since you’re weak and I’m also recovering, why don’t we call it a night and go back to the palace tomorrow? From what I heard, Vicky, Paul, and Richard are working well with Seraphine and Cerina. Let them do their thing. If everything goes well, Rosalie should be back tomorrow too.”
I thought for a mont, and agreed, “Okay.”
He looked at in awe, and he stuttered, “Did... did you just take my advice?! You, Ethan, listened to ?”
When did Soren beco so easily flabbergasted? Wasn’t he supposed to be manipulative and scheming?
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Weren’t you the one who told to trust people around ?”
“Yes, I did, but are you sure you’re Ethan? Not so other soul who took over his body?!”
I felt the vein in my forehead was throbbing and I ordered him, “Shut up!”
He let out a sigh of relief. “Phew, okay. Yep, that’s you all right.”
I was speechless and rolled my eyes.
Then, it was as if he found sothing super funny, and he started laughing.
And I couldn’t help but shake my head and smile, too.
It really had been too long since I had my brother by my side.
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