Volume 2: A New Plan and a New Problem

Looking around at his vast store of treasure, Cafer was still unhappy. He had had all the power of the world within his grasp, and it slipped through his fingers all because of one useless human. Worse than that: a little girl. He would have his revenge. It had been nearly a decade since the final battle with Her Majesty, Empress Aurora, and her Consort, Devrim, but the wound was still fresh in Cafer's mind. Gnomes had long memories, and his was longer than most. He rested against the large golden chair inside his lair below the earth, grumbling quietly.

Cafer lifted the gilded mirror that sat on the table next to him. There was no message waiting for him in the glass. Prince Alaron had not sent him anything in several days. This was unusual. Perhaps the boy, now nearly sixteen, had found other interests to occupy his time. Cafer did not like thinking about that. He needed to keep his hooks in the young prince in order to exact his sweet revenge on the boy's mother and regain