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I kneeled on the grass and outstretched my hands. I closed my eyes and focused on my power—the power of creativity, of healing, the power of life.
Magic flowed from my fingers like colored light, and the plants responded to it. They craned their necks and danced, tugging at their roots, and the leaves grew bigger, and the snow-white flowers bloomed brighter and smiled up at the sky, celebrating the simplicity of being alive. I sensed them reaching for me and my magic, taking what I gave them and becoming beautiful.
I opened my eyes and smiled at how well my plants were coming along.
The garden looked nothing like it had when I’d found it, first.
I lay back on the grass and closed my eyes, drinking in the last rays of the setting sun. I took deep, even breaths. Time was ticking by, and it was getting later and later, but I didn’t want to leave my sanctuary, the safety and the privacy of my quarters, for a dinner where I had to make polite conversation.
Hewould be there, and I didn’t know if I had what it took to face him.
Finally, I stood and walked back into the palace, closing the doors behind me. I should have declined the invitation, told them I wasn’t ready to face a dinner like this. But it was too late now—not arriving would just be rude.
I dressed into the clothes laid out for me before I walked to the dressing table.
I stood in front of the mirror and tied my hair into a bun on top of my head. When I turned my head this way and that, it made me feel elegant and graceful. But my head ached dully, and the tight bun only increased my headache.
I pulled the bun out again, letting my brown hair fall like a curtain around my shoulders. I tried pulling half of it back, but that didn’t feel right, either.
Nothing felt right.
Finally, I just ran my fingers through it and left it as it was.
I ran my hands down the bodice of my dress. It was a deep evergreen, the color of the forest behind King Rainier’s palace. The dress complimented my pale skin and brought out the blue in my eyes.
This would have to do. I couldn’t fuss any more. I was already late.
My stomach twisted in a knot of nerves, and I breathed in deeply through my nose and out through my mouth to try to calm myself.
“It’s just a dinner,” I told myself. “It’s not a big deal. Everyone you know will be there.”
Everyone, including Erol.
Just thinking about him made me shiver. He’d been the Conjurite King Falx’s right hand, and he’d been the one to keep us locked up in the dungeons under Falx’s castle. He’d been merciless and menacing.
Except for the part where he’d set us free, but it was hard to see the Regent of Palgia through a screen of mercy after everything he’d done.
He was, after all, still ruled by Conjurite magic.
Finally, I was ready to go. And much later than I should have been! I picked up my skirts and ran through the hallways of the palace. I hopped and skipped over the intricate flowers that had been laid into the marble floors. I knew they’d been turned to solid stone, and stepping on them wouldn’t damage them, but it felt wrong to step on beauty. I always skipped over them.
I turned the corner and ran along the corridor with the large oil paintings of previous kings and queens on either side, a long red carpet stretched from one end to the other.
Finally, I turned down the hallway that would lead me to the dining room.
I bumped into someone tall and solid.
“Oh!” I cried out and bounced back. I tripped over my feet and sat down on the ground—hard. My green skirt puffed out around me, the bodice digging into my chest. I winced.
“Are you all right?” a deep voice asked, and my stomach clenched.
When I looked up at him, Erol’s dark eyes locked on mine, and a shiver ran down my spine.
“Hazel,” he said politely. “Here.” He held out a hand.
I hesitated before I took it. When I did, the Conjurite magic that danced on Erol’s skin reacted to the Luminescence within me—the light magic that was the very essence of the Fae. Fear curled at the pit of my stomach.
Erol pulled me up with ease, and when I was on my feet, I peered up at his enormous form. He was tall and broad, and he was built like a warrior, with taut muscles and a fluid way of moving.
