AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That already sets me at ease,” Mom said.
I had to admit it helped to ease my mind a little, too. It didn’t change that the journey there and our work in Palgia would be challenging.
I’d hoped I would never have to go back there again.
4
EROL
Iwaited at the hovercraft for the women to arrive. My stomach was twisted in a knot of nerves, and I scratched the skin just below my thumbnail until it became red and angry.
What the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t usually care so much. Hell, I didn’t usually care at all. The sooner I got back to Palgia, where things made sense to me, the better.
I may have wanted the light back, but that didn’t mean that I was used to it, and I felt out of depth here. The light crawled on my skin, itched under my collar, made me feel antsy.
Why was I this nervous about taking them back to Palgia with me?
I knew the answer to that question. I was taking them back to Palgia to host them as guests in my castle. The females who’d spent so much time in my dungeon. It hadn’t been my orders that they’d been thrown in there in the first place, but that was where they’d been. I was used to being a jailer, a warden. Now, I had to play a host. It hadn’t been my job or my calling, and I hated the idea of having to please someone.
Hazel would be one of the guests, as I’d suspected. A part of me rejoiced that she would be around—keeping her close would allow me the chance to get to know her better.
I flashed on the way she’d nearly recoiled from the power that had oozed out of me when we’d met in the hallways before the banquet Rainier had hosted for me. She’d feared me.
And why not? For a long, long time, I’d been the villain. Although I wasn’t one anymore, that didn’t change what I’d done to Hazel and her mother. To the current Queen of Jasfin.
I shook my head. All was fair in love and war.
For just a moment, I wondered what it would be like if Hazel could see me as something else than the bad guy.
As if you could ever be the good guy.
The voice in my head was harsh and loud. I had done so many bad things in my life, there wasn’t hope for me being a hero.
So? It wasn’t my job to be a hero. I was bad, and I was good at it.The past couldn’t be changed, the slate couldn’t be wiped clean. Sins could be forgiven, sure, but they could never be undone.
It would be tough for Hazel to avoid me if she stayed under my roof, I thought. A part of me relished in her fear of me. A voice at the back of my mind challenged my malice, but I ignored it. Lately, that voice had sounded more and more, and it felt like a party in my head—good fighting bad all the damn time. Especially when Hazel was around.
I couldn’t just ignore her and what I felt around her, though. Even if I wanted to.
The magnetic pull between us intrigued me. Had she felt it, too? I was convinced she had. It couldn’t have been one-sided, could it?
Rainier and Ellie arrived at the hovercraft where we waited in the palace courtyard.
Ellie stepped forward and took both my hands in hers. The contact was uncomfortable—the queen was a being of light, and although she didn’t try to use it on me, push it into me, I was still painfully aware of it. The darkness inside me wanted to curl away from it, and I had to fight the urge to yank my hands out of her grasp.
“Thank you for coming, Erol,” Ellie said warmly. Despite the fact that I’d been her prison warden, she didn’t seem to have any hard feelings toward me. “And thank you for allowing us the opportunity to change things for your people.”
Mypeople. I glanced at Rainier, who smiled and nodded. When she said it, she meant as king. When I said it, I meant as a Conjurite. Palgia didn’t belong to me yet—I wasn’t convinced I could rid myself of the darkness so that I could rule the kingdom as my own. Ellie spoke of it as if it had already happened.
“Your faith in me is moving, Your Highness,” I said. And misplaced. What if I failed? “I’ll take good care of them.”
“I know you will,” Ellie said and smiled warmly before finally letting go and stepping back to join her husband’s side.
“If you need anything, say the word,” Rainier said. “We’re here for you, no matter what you may need.”
“Thank you.”
Rainier nodded, and I returned the sentiment with a curt nod of my own.
