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Flutters coursed through her veins like wild butterflies as she looked up, meeting his concerned gaze.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Y-yes,” Aurora said, her voice barely audible.

Once he lowered her to the ground, she wriggled from his arms and brushed off invisible dirt from her clothes because she had no idea what else to do with her hands.

“We should…” She motioned toward the opened cottage door. With her mind refocused, a surge of frustration propelled her forward and she stormed into Millie’s home.

The fairy was standing over a table, arranging the settings for supper, seemingly unperturbed by their visit.

Impatience tinged Aurora’s voice. “Where is it?” she demanded.

Millie’s gaze remained fixed on her task. With a touch of indifference, she replied, “Does this table meet your expectations? Forgive me, for I have long been without the pleasure of company.”

Aurora’s tone softened, her frustration dwindling at the double meaning in Millie’s words. She sounded just as lonely then as she did the last time they’d spoken. “Just give us the parchment, Millie, and we’ll be on our way.”

“We.” Millie’s words were laced with a familiar bitterness. “Always dragging people down with you, I see. You haven’t changed a bit.”

A pang of hurt resonated within Aurora. “That’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair,” Millie’s voice grew stern, “is dragging your friend to a mountain’s peak, then denying him food. Now, have a seat.” Her tone brooked no argument.

With a heavy heart, Aurora sank into a chair. Tristan settled beside her. Aurora could feel the tension crackling in the air as she and Millie engaged in a bitter exchange. Candlelight flickered between them as they sat across from each other, their faces mirroring the loneliness within their hearts.

“Millie—”

“It’s because of you that I’m stuck here,” she spat, her voice dripping with resentment. “Because of your meddling, I will never fulfill my dreams of having a family, of being a mother to eleven beautiful children.”

The accusations flew like arrows on a battlefield, and Aurora winced at the sting of each word.

Tristan leaned forward, his voice soft. “If you didn’t want to help her, why didn’t you simply show her how to make the drink on her own?”

Millie’s eyes flashed with anger. “Because I wasn’t given that option. She didn’t afford me the opportunity to be anything but her accomplice.”

Aurora winced again, memories of that time flooding back into her mind like a tsunami.

“I was blackmailed,” Millie continued. “My family’s heirloom was taken and threatened to be destroyed if I didn’t assist her.”

Aurora felt the weight of guilt settle on her shoulders as she listened to Millie’s words. It had been a desperate move, and one she’d wished had never happened.

“I’ve already apologized for everything I’ve done, Millie. I know it doesn’t change what happened, but I truly am sorry.”

“No apology in the world will change the fact that we are stuck here forever,” she hissed, her words cutting through the air like a sharpened blade.

As silence settled upon the room, the weight of their unspoken truths threatened to suffocate them both.

“There must be a way to escape, even after time runs out,” Tristan said, his eyes darting between the two women. “Millie?”

The fairy’s eyes narrowed, her lips curling into a bitter smile. “Even if there were, I would never divulge it to her,” she replied. “She is untrustworthy, and I have no intention of aiding her ever again.”

“It’s me who needs your help,” he said, his eyes meeting Millie’s.

Curiosity sparked in the fairy’s eyes as she tilted her head, intrigued by the change in focus. “You? What could you possibly need from me?” she inquired.

“King Midas has come against my kingdom.” Tristan went on to paint vivid images of Midas’ insatiable thirst for power, his relentless conquests that left the land scarred and its people oppressed. He spoke of the innocent lives that were torn apart, of the cries of despair that echoed through the ravaged towns.

“I have a duty to protect my kingdom, and my only hope lies inside that golden tower. But we can’t enter without the parchment,” he said.