If I knew how to reach Alaric, I'd already be gone.
Kingdom be damned.
"I hate that he's right. I hate that I'm stuck here fighting a war I'm not sure I can win, while my son is hidden away in a cursed realm. I hate that every choice I make seems to be the wrong one."
"You're doing the best you can," Erica says.
"And that has to be enough."
"What if it's not?"
She doesn't answer.
Because we both know the truth: if my best isn't enough, the kingdom falls.
And with it, any chance of bringing Alaric home safely.
"My Sight has been showing me something," Erica says after a long silence.
"Fragments of a possible future. I don't understand all of it yet, but..."
"But what?"
"I see you standing at the edge of the Black Realm. Making a choice. Two paths diverge—one leads to Alaric, b
