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A warrior arrived. She wore the Jasfin colors—black leathers with silver thread decorating the sleeves and pantlegs, creating the Jasfin crest on her chest.
Her blonde hair was styled in a short, sensible cut, and she was muscular with bright eyes that missed nothing.
“This is Zita,” Ellie introduced her. “She is a respected member of our Elite Guard, and now she will be Vanya and Hazel’s personal guard.”
Zita bowed. “Sir.”
“None of that,” I said and waved my hand. “I’m more of a warrior than anything else.” I saw us as equals. It would take some getting used to when I finally ruled the land—ifI ever did—and my station would be above everyone else around me.
Before anyone could respond, Vanya and Hazel appeared. They both wore traveling clothes. Vanya wore her dark blonde hair back in a bun, her blue eyes bright. She carried herself with a regal air. When she saw me, she pursed her lips together and offered a polite nod.
Behind her, Hazel followed, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She moved with elegance and grace, taking pride in who she was. Her skin was blemish free, her dark hair tied back in a high ponytail, and her eyes were a darker blue that Vanya’s, the color of the ocean. Her gaze locked on mine, and a shiver traveled through me as power passed between us.
I cleared my throat and stepped aside. “Welcome aboard, ladies.”
Zita let Vanya and Hazel walk first, before she stepped onto the craft herself.
“We’ll be on our way, then,” I said to the King and Queen and bowed from my hips. Rainier held out his hand, and I shook it, and Ellie beamed at me with one arm looped through his.
“It’s going to be good, Erol,” she assured me.
“I hope you’re right, Your Highness,” I said.
“She usually is,” Rainier said, and they grinned at each other.
I turned and entered the hovercraft, too, the door closing firmly behind us.
Hazel, Vanya, and Zita were all seated and strapped in. Vanya and Hazel sat next to each other, with Zita facing Vanya. The last seat next to Zita was open, and I took it, strapping myself in to face Hazel.
The craft hummed to life and lifted into the air.
“This is much easier than on foot,” Vanya said dryly.
Hazel laughed, and the sound was warm and light. “Yeah. Warmer, too.”
We looked out of the windows as we crossed over the Uprain mountains that lay between Jasfin and Palgia.
When Hazel, Vanya, and Ellie had escaped from the dungeon, they’d had to cross Palgia on foot to get to the border that would mean their safety. It had taken them several days. Now, with the hovercraft, the journey from Jasfin to Palgia would take mere hours. If the pilot decided to floor it, it would be even less than that.
The mountains below us were breathtaking, with snowcapped peaks and green valleys between the rise and fall of purple rock. We spotted the villages where humans lived, farming, creating goods, selling between Jasfin and Palgia.
When we crossed the Palgian border beyond the mountains, the land changed, and the beauty of Jasfin on the one side was in stark contrast to the lack of color in Palgia.
Since Falx had died, the land had started to restore itself. The biggest source of dark power was gone, but the kingdom was far from being free from the dark magic. Bright green leaves had started showing themselves here and there, and grass had started to grow, yet the kingdom was still largely barren, with sparse vegetation and more darkness and death than color and life.
I glanced at Hazel. Her face was an expressionless mask, but in her eyes, I could see the warring emotions. They came with me so that they could help my people, but I knew she relived the horrors of being in Palgia as prisoners.
I wished I could offer some comfort. I wanted to reach for her and touch her hand, her arm, her shoulder. I wanted to tell her that the past was over, she was free, and I would make sure she was never in harm’s way again.
How could I say those words, though? She wouldn’t believe me—all I could do was show her that her safety, her freedom, was more important to me than most other things.
“Palgia is a very big kingdom,” Zita breathed.
“It’s roughly the same size as Jasfin. The barrenness is deceiving.”
She pursed her lips together. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. I didn’t know her at all. A part of me was offended that Rainier thought it was necessary to send a personal guard along, but I couldn’t exactly fault him for that. The last time Vanya and Hazel had been here, they’d been held in dungeons where the bricks had been hexed so that they’d been stripped of their magic. The whole kingdom was filled with Conjurite and dark magic.
It wasn’t a dumb move on his part. It was a frustrating move on mine. I automatically wanted to face off against another warrior—we were on opposite sides, Zita and me.
