As I sat next to Kallisto's hospital bed, I watched her small body work tirelessly to fight off the venoms with the help of the antivenom. The paper that Amelia had handed to me was clutched tightly in my grasp. My thoughts were racing with different ways to approach the topic with Harmony, without letting on that I had overheard her and Alex's conversation.

What if she doesn't want help? 

"Are you okay, dear?" Amelia asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"Everything will work out."

I sighed and nodded. The Queen was always so sure of everything.

Doctor Pine came into the room a short time later with a clipboard followed by a nurse. She read through the papers while the nurse hung up another bag of fluid.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, we're trying to balance out the princess's sugar levels. Fairies have a higher level of sugar than we do since their diet consists heavily of flower nectar."

"Will that wake her up?" Amelia asked.

"It might. I'd prefer if she stayed sleeping. She really needs to just heal."

"But she'll be okay?" I questioned.

Doctor Pine nodded her head. "She's going to be just fine. You and the prince found her just in time."

"Good. Um, I'm gonna go. I need to speak with my sister." I glanced at Amelia who nodded her head subtly.

I wandered the halls looking for Harmony. My heart pounded in my chest. If she agreed to such a crazy idea, what if it failed and she died? 

"Ellie?" a velvety, soul-piercing voice called from behind me.

I spun around to see Edmond standing at the end of the hall. He smiled wryly while approaching.

"Edmond! Thank Goddess."

"Are you okay?" 

"Yeah. I think. I don't know."

"Talk to me, babe."

I took a deep breath before handing over the paper, which was damp from me clutching it in my clammy hands.

"What is this?"

"Mother has a book that includes a potion of sorts to successfully break the mate bond."

"What?" He furrowed his brow and his chin quivered a bit. "You want to break our bond?"

He looked like a sad pup who was just smacked with a newspaper for being naughty.

"What?" I looked at him in disbelief. "Not for us, weirdo. For Harmony and Alex."

A look of relief crossed his face. "Oh, thank Goddess!"

"I'm more than happy being your mate. I love you."

His chin stopped quivering and he smiled broadly. "Good. I love you too."

"I overheard a conversation between Alex and Harmony. He is very cruel to her. He doesn't behave as a mate should. He said he wished they'd never mated."

"He what?" Edmond's eyes grew as large as saucers.

I nodded my head. "I'm honestly kind of nervous he'll break the bond and kill them both. I know Harmony is difficult, but she's my sister. I do love her and I think if that mongrel wasn't her mate she would probably be a lot better off."

"I agree."

"And if Anwar does disinherit him and Tristan becomes the future Alpha, I could see Alex going absolutely insane and doing something very naughty."

"We can't let that happen." He wrapped his arms around my neck and held me close. "Do you know what you'll say?"

"No," I said, burying my face in his chest. "How do you even bring that up?"

"I have no idea. Has this ever been done?" 

"Once that was mentioned in a log book mother found."

"Once? Did they both survive?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "No idea."

"Where is the book?"

"Mother's library."

"Okay, let's go find the book and read more."

"You sure we should just go into her library?" I asked.

"What is going to say? It's a library."

"Edmond..."

"It's fine. Let's go."

The Queen's library was on the second floor and it was large. Much larger than her original library from just a few years ago. The bookshelves reached the ceiling and had ladders that moved along tracks from shelf to shelf. Chairs and tables littered the floor with various books and documents spread out on them. 

Edmond picked up one of the ancient documents and started reading it. "What is she getting in to?"

"Huh?"

"Mom, she's doing a lot of research into all of these old potions and stuff."

"What kinds?" I looked at the same document and it was for a drink that could help enhance power.

A book close to it described various battles with mythological beasts. Portraits of great battles with descriptions of how the victors won. Another parchment paper had detailed descriptions of the Gods and Goddesses.

"She's trying to help," I said absently, picking up paper after paper. "These are all battle plans over the years. She's trying to find a way we can win an unwinnable war against the Gods."

"What?"

I handed him one of the plans I'd read through. "This one details a battle against Hera from hundreds of years ago. I'm assuming when she first started attacking us. Mom is researching battles and comprising a battle plan for us."

Edmond smiled and walked to another table. "She's always full of surprises."

"She's doing more than what the generals in the royal guard are doing."

"Yeah." He picked up another book. "I think this is what you're looking for."

I took it from him and flipped through it until I found the potion. "Yes! This is one. Now find the log book."

I read the few pages after the potion. It described the proper way to combine the ingredients and what happened to the two wolves.

"Listen to this," I said. "A villager from the Silver Peak pack brought to my attention the miserable condition in which the Gamma treated his poor wife. The wife, a daughter of the Alpha of the Misty Pines pack, is living in a most dejected and miserable state. She has contemplated taking the ultimate way out by breaking the mate bond thus leaving her six pups motherless. The villager, a friend of the wife, is desperate to save the life of the wife. I have collected various herbs and poisons to combine into a drink that could break the bond. Something that has been said is impossible. I handed over the concoction to the wife the day before yesterday. The wife administered the drink to her husband last evening and recited the words to break the mate bond. The wife visited this morning very much alive confirming that bond was broken."

"It worked..." Edmond said.

"It doesn't end there though." I turned the page and continued. "Though the wife and Gamma are alive, the emptiness that the wife reports feeling now that there is no mate is overwhelming. She is trying to adjust to the fact she is now matless. The Gamma seems to be faring better since he was not faithful to the wife and has already started to find a new mate. Since it is not the original mate bond, they will have to do a forced mate."

"That doesn't sound good."

"No. I should probably find out how close Harmony or Alex is to breaking the bond before I tell her about this."

"Ellie? Edmond?" Amelia asked, opening the door to her library. "What are you doing?"

"Mom, hi. We were just reading more on the potion. The story about the woman who gave it to her husband is in here."

"Yes. It is. I didn't get a chance to read it though."

"Mom," Edmond asked, walking to the table with the battle plans. "What are you planning?"

She glanced at the table and smiled. "I don't trust those your father put in charge of figuring out what to do so I'm just doing some research myself and creating my own battle plan to give to him. Do you think it sounds okay?"

Edmond smiled and hugged Amelia. "It's great, mom."