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Then he handed her the scroll and traveled away. She stared at the silver ribbon holding the parchment paper. It had Dawson’s initials on it.

Wordlessly, they made their way back to Harrington’s mansion.

Amelia was inconsolable as she told Harrington and Evren. Harrington turned pale as he pulled Amelia into a hug. Evren sat down, and his face fell into his hands.

Mira was the odd one out. The one who wasn’t crying. She decided to give his friends space to mourn him, and she traveled back to Ivercrest to find Obryn.

—

In the Highmage’s office, she opened the scroll and read the words that made no sense to her.

In case of her survival, Mira Winters is to be the sole heir to the entirety of the Dawson fortune and all its properties, including Dawson Estate.

Obryn’s black eyes went to the scroll and then back to his own reading material. “Congratulations,” he said with disinterest. “Looks like you’re a very wealthy woman now.”

“What does this mean? Why would he do this?”

“A question better directed at the man who signed the paper, I’m afraid.”

“The will was dropped off a week ago.”

Obryn’s eyebrow rose. “That’s when my scrolls stopped going through.”

“Does that mean he’s really dead?”

“Presumably.”

Why would a young Wielder suddenly die?

“His signature.” She pointed at the bottom of the scroll. “It looks like he could barely hold pen to paper.”

The information didn’t seem to warrant a reaction from the Highmage.

“I’m guessing tremors in his hand,” she added.

“I’m sensing a question.”

“Why would a young, healthy Wielder suddenly die?” She thought back to his friends and how quickly Harrington had handed her a potion from his pocket. “Perhaps it was an overdose?”

“Perhaps. Either way, it’s irrelevant when it comes to your recovery—that’s what you should be focusing on.”

If Dawson was dead, Mira feared he would have died all alone somewhere, guilt-ridden about what he had done to her. Obryn didn’t seem to care, and she wasn’t sure why she did. He had erased her memories. He was the reason the last few months of her life were gone.

With a sigh, she rubbed her eyes. It was exhausting trying to make sense of her mind.

—

Back in her room, she continued reading her old notebook, but every so often her eyes glanced to Dawson’s will on her desk. She didn’t want the estate or his money. There was no way she could accept it, although she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Donate it to a charity perhaps?

Part of her wanted to leave the past behind and focus on the present instead. She could continue her studies. Maybe go back to Yharvan? But there was this pull from her memories, begging her to remember.

If only she could.

To keep herself from clinging to the random images in her head that appeared suddenly only to fade just as quickly, she had asked Obryn to help her work on her scar removal potion again. Now that Synth was gone, she was hopeful she could remove her scar for good. Wounds left behind by Dark Magic had to be healed immediately. If not, the scars were permanent and contained small remnants of Dark Magic. But if she could get her potion to work, she could remove her scar.

Obryn suggested they work together with Rylan on her potion because her researcher friend might be able to help her fill in some blanks from her past.

They met in the lab at Dawson’s estate because Ivercrest didn’t have a room for Wielders and Casters to work together.