"I think we can finish this quest in less than an hour," Elena said as they made their way toward the cobbler's hut. "It's only a simple errand."
Ren remained unusually quiet. His instincts had been screaming at him ever since Queen Floraia gave them the quest.
Nothing in the Fey Realm had been simple so far.
"Let's just get this done and over with."
The moment he reached the cottage, he knew his suspicions had been right.
The front door had been forced open. Its lock hadn't been smashed or picked.
It had been melted.
Corroded metal clung to the splintered wood, the unmistakable marks of powerful acid magic. Scattered across the floor beyond the doorway were shoes, boots, slippers, and leather scraps, as though someone had searched the workshop in a hurry.
Ren slowly stepped inside.
Despite the chaos, it wasn't difficult to imagine how beautiful the place had once been.
