My eyes flew open and I sat there for a second or two, hunched over on my stool, my face laying on the cool stone of the cooking counter. It very dark in the kitchens, for the only light was coming from a tiny, rectangular window on the far side of the room and only a small block of light was allowed in by the musty pane. I blinked a few times and raised my head up and saw that an imp was sitting patiently across from me at the other side of the counter. It blinked when I did and then finally spoke, allowing me to recognize it. "Mistress? The Miss Aggie has been looking for the mistress for the very long time. I did not tell her she was here. I just waited."

"Zurk.. Aggie? Why.." I had almost forgotten. But in that moment, it all came flooding back to me and I remembered everything. Liam had been there. And I had chased him off. Why? I couldn't help but ask myself. Why chase the only person who could help? Then the mist descended on me a little and my thoughts muddled. He didn't help you. He abandoned you. I nodded a bit to myself. Yes, he had abandoned me. Right? I was shaken out of my fuzzy thoughts by Zurk's movement as he hopped up onto his feet.

"I will go to get the Miss Aggie now and tell her that the mistress is safe and laying in the kitchens?"

I began to nod, but then I hesitated. The mist was not so strong today. It still fussed with my thoughts and slowed me down, but for some reason I felt more in control. And I had questions. "Yes, in a moment.. Zurk, sit down for a second." The imp nodded quickly and plopped back down, nearly catching his thin tail underneath him.

"Does the mistress have a question?"

I leveled my gold eyes at Zurk and looked into his huge, pure black ones. He merely stared back curiously. "You know you were my first summoning, Zurk?" He nodded quickly again. "Do you remember when?"

"Oh, of course, of course! When the mistress was very young. Nine years old?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes.. but we didn't start training together until I was thirteen."

"Yes. The mistress's father did not like for Zurk to be around during the studies."

I shuddered inwardly at the mention of my father. "Did he ever say anything to you? When he took you away from me, I mean."

Now it was Zurk's turn to hesitate. His large coal eyes blinked a few times before he said, slowly, "Yes.. Said many bad things, he did. Not really bad, maybe. Just.. worrisome. Said the mistress was an asset. No, not asset.. Weapon. Called the mistress a weapon. A warlock." He trailed off.

My father was a coward. An intelligent man and a sharp, quick man, but a coward nonetheless. He would have never dabbled in the demonic arts. That would have put him at risk and if something went wrong, he himself would be held accountable for it. But to put his child through it and then use her as a weapon, as a threat against the rest of the council members and even the king himself? No, he was not above that. In fact, that was his plan all along. I remembered the dream in which I saw the pregnant woman in the sitting room, telling her husband that she was having a little girl, and the evil smile that crept across his slimy face. Madeline. The name swirled and sliced its way through the mist that covered my mind.

"I am very sorry, Zurk," I whispered, "if he was mean to you."

I had always known I was being trained as a warlock. But I did not want to be like the sulking, hooded beings who stalked through the slums of Gilneas City, looking for unwary victims to participate in their rituals. I was a child, and I wanted to become friends with the beings that I summoned. So I tried my best to do so, despite the huffing and puffing of my father. Perhaps being a warlock and having the abilities that came with it was the only thing that kept me alive when my family had been ripped to shreds. I remember hearing the roars and hissing from my father's study and realizing that it was too late to save him. I remember hearing my mother's screams as she discovered Ronnie slashed away, only to be cut down herself moments later.

Zurk stared, not sure how to respond. Then he tilted his head, one of his green ears folding over a little. "Why does the mistress do that?"

I blinked quickly. "Do what?"

"Worry about the others, when it is the mistress that should not be sad. The mistress used to sing, even when her father would make her study the demon books. She does not sing anymore."

I fixed my eyes on Zurk once more, and once more he did not flinch. "I am different now, Zurk. You can tell."

He shrugged. "Different, yes. But the heart of the mistress is still the same. She can still love?"

"Love?"

"Yes. Used to love the young prince? Does she still?"

I winced at the mention of Liam. Zurk was being bold, mentioning him. "I did love him. You know what happened, though. He abandoned our family and left us to die."

Zurk was quiet for a long time and when I looked up at him again, he was biting at his bottom lip nervously. Then he piped up, almost a whisper, "Zurk does not think he abandoned the family."

"What? Why not? Did we receive any help from the soldiers? We were left to fend for ourselves."

"Overhead many things since the mistress summoned me, but very important was the advisor. Big man, beard. He speak to the young prince as he leave. Prince tell the man to send a part of soldiers to this house and harbor. The man say yes, but he had certain look. Evil, lying. Had a look like the mistress's father."

I realized that I was holding my breath and let it out all at once and I'm certain that the shock could be read from my face. A big man with a beard that was near Liam. It could really only be one person and that was a noble, one that was very close to the throne, Godfrey. I had never spoken to the man myself, but I had seen him many times. I had never liked him. He looked conniving and he was a little too clever for my own tastes. Everytime I had seen him, he had a glint in his eye, the same one that my father had acquired at times.

He was dead, though. They had found his corpse weeks earlier, at the bottom of a steep cliff drop. He had jumped. No one knew the reason, though, and if they did, they weren't sharing it.

Before I could even answer Zurk, I heard the pittering of tiny footsteps and one of the kitchen doors creaked open slightly. Two imps, both smaller than Zurk, poked their heads into the room and one of them squeaked, "Mistress! The crone calls for you. There is someone here. Very urgent, very, very urgent. The man smells of fear."

I took in a sharp breath and nodded, keeping my eyes on Zurk for a moment longer before I finally rose off of my stool. As I walked through the stone passage that would take me from the kitchens and to the foyer, I heard a distant thumping that resounded in my ears and made my chest vibrate a little, but at the time I paid it no mind. The mist had descended again and it blocked away the noise.