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I shook my head. “I refuse to believe it. He has good in him, Zita.”
“He hurt us,” Zita clapped back.
“His power hurt you,” I countered. “We can’t pick and choose what we want to believe about the Conjurites. We’re here to help them, and that includes Erol.”
Zita scowled, but my mom put her hand on hers.
“She’s right,” she said softly. Zita looked into my mom’s eyes, and the hardness bled out of her face. “We can’t decide that some of the Conjurites are worth saving, and some aren’t. They’re all prisoners of the darkness. Terra hasn’t turned away from any of us, no matter what we’ve done. We can’t do that to Erol.”
Gratitude for my mom being on my side flooded me.
Zita still looked unhappy, but she nodded.
“You’re right,” she relented. “We’re here to help, and if anyone needs help, it’s Erol.”
“I have to find him,” I repeated.
“I just wish we knew where to start,” my mom said.
I thought the same. I didn’t know Erol that well, and I didn’t know Palgia that well, either. I wouldn’t know where to begin.
After the breakfast plates had been cleared, and Mom and Zita had gone for a walk before we summoned another group of Conjurites, I walked to my room.
“My lady,” an older servant said, her head bowed. She shuffled closer, hands tightly clasped in front of her. “If you’re looking for the Regent, I know where he might be.”
“What?” I went to her. “Tell me, please.”
She looked up at me with watery eyes from a wrinkled face.
“He has a cabin in the mountains. He visited it a few times during Falx’s reign. If he wants to isolate himself, that’s where you will find him. It’s a good place to start.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
She shrugged. “The servants see all and know all. I’ve been here at the castle since long before Erol came to join us, and I’ve seen him grow. He’s done a lot, my lady, but I pity him. Here.” She handed me a folded map.
I unfolded it, and a red cross marked a spot in the mountains.
“It’s an old map, the new structures aren’t on it, but you only need a location.”
I reached for her and touched her shoulder. “Thank you. I want to help him. He deserves freedom as much as the rest of us.”
The servant bowed her head and shuffled away.
I ran to my room and packed a small bag before I summoned a guard to prepare a hovercraft. They hesitated until I reminded them that I was a royal guest and working with Rainier, the King of Jasfin. It spurred them on, and within the hour, we were ready to leave.
The flight to the mountains was a short one. I asked the pilot to drop me a short distance away from the point on the map. I would summon him if I needed to go somewhere else—if Erol wasn’t there. I didn’t want to arrive with a large entourage and scare him way. We needed to talk alone.
After I stood with my feet firmly on the frozen ground high up in the mountains, the hovercraft lifted into the air and disappeared. I wrapped my fingers around the device in my pocket. I could call the pilot back at any moment and be saved if I was stranded alone.
I flashed on when we’d traveled through the Uprain mountains on foot, when we’d fled from Falx and his armies, when we’d finally found freedom again. It felt like a lifetime ago, now, yet it was so similar. It was Erol who needed to find freedom this time, not me.
I followed a narrow path, winding its way up the mountain. It led through rocks, gnarled trees, and over a thin stream. At the stream, I kneeled and drank deeply. The water was icy cold and fresh, and it tasted like heaven.
I walked on a few more hours. Just as I thought I would never find any cabin, I was in the wrong place, looking for something that wasn’t there, a structure appeared around the next bend. The cabin was small, but it was in good condition, well looked after, and smoke curled from the chimney.
Before I reached the door, it swung open, and Erol stood before me. His chest heaved as he breathed hard, and his eyes were filled with panic and rage.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded
