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Except, you’re regent now, working for Rainier. Same side, then. Some days, that pill was a bitter one to swallow.
Surely, the presence of a personal guard would ease Vanya and Hazel’s worries about coming back to a place where they’d been prisoners before.
I couldn’t get upset about any of it—they’d been treated with the utmost hatred buried in the heart of darkness, and Rainier was taking every precaution.
“It’s so good to see the greenery,” Vanya said softly. “When we passed through here last, there wasn’t much vegetation to speak of, but now… It looks much better already, Erol.”
“I don’t know how long it will take to restore the kingdom to what it could be,” I admitted. “Falx reigned with darkness for a long time, and before him, his father was just as dark and cruel. It’s a lot of damage that needs to be undone.”
“We know it can be done, and that’s all that matters,” Hazel said.
I nodded. “Sure. It can be done. I just worry about how long it will take.”
Hazel frowned. “Why?”
“We’re talking about millions of people who have given themselves to the darkness. It won’t be easy to reach them all, and even if you do, taking care of ten at a time…it will take many lifetimes to reach them all. I’m just thinking about logistics. What if they all die?”
“Our margin of error is small. We’re talking about less than ten percent,” Hazel pointed out.
“Ten percent of ten Fae is one death. Ten percent of millions? Can you afford those odds?”
Hazel bristled, glaring at me. I stared coolly back at her. She could get upset all she wanted, I was looking at facts.
“Not everyone will want to do it if it means they might die,” I added.
“We’ll figure it out,” Vanya said, defusing the tension that grew hotter between me and Hazel.
I wanted to rile her up, get her angry. She was hot when she was feisty. I wanted to see what she would be like if she lost control.
Zita nodded next to me. “If anyone can do it, it’s them. They tap into the Goddess herself, and that’s not something to sneeze at.”
“Maybe,” I grunted, irritated when the tension faded again.
It was easy to talk about the Goddess Terra and how powerful she was, but no one considered the dark goddess Cyrene and how powerfulshecould be. The Conjurites weren’t religious in any way. We knew about the goddess Cyrene, knew that by giving up the light, we vowed to serve her.
Lavinia—Falx’s high priestess—had been the only Conjurite I’d known who spent time in prayer to the Dark Goddess. The rest of us allowed the dark magic to drive us, and we did as we were told.
It had always been that simple. It had always been thatcomplicated.
I wanted to say something about it—did they know what they had to contend with? Did they realize who they had to go up against?
Before I could say anything, Hazel turned her face to me, her eyes bright, and she stared into my soul.
“We have faith, Erol,” she said gently. “Faith and hope. Armed with the light, Terra’s blessing, and our hope and faith, darkness can’t prevail.”
She was beautiful when she talked, and the flicker of hope in her eyes was reassuring. It resonated with something deep inside me—something I hadn’t known was still there. When she looked at me and I was aware of the spark of light within her, it reminded me that somewhere, very deep down inside, there was still a spark of something beautiful within me.
I just hoped to the Goddess—I wasn’t sure to which one I hoped and prayed anymore—that what I had left was still enough to save me from the life I’d chosen.
Without it, the darkness would rule all, and I would lose what I’d come to love. I would lose my kingdom, my people, and what I’d come to know as a certain freedom.
5
HAZEL
Iwas terrified of going back to Palgia. I still had nightmares of being stuck in the dungeon, of eating the gray sludge they fed us there, and being helpless without magic.
To go back to the castle of our own free will sounded crazy. I kept telling myself that we were here for one reason and one reason only—to save lives. So many Conjurites needed saving, and that was what we were here for. It was all that mattered.
