Page 56 of The Noldrin Witch

Elise attributed the strong reaction to the lingering effects of the Dutiful Maid Potion, but even so, she could not help but shiver at the duke’s closeness.

Kurt stood motionless, his eyes wide, taking in every detail of Elise’s flushed appearance.

Torn between breaking into a sprint or pretending to faint on the spot, Elise must have looked like frightened game in hunting season. Kurt shook his head and, gentleman that he was, took a step back.

“Are you faring well?”

“Kurt...I was just...” Elise said, lowering her head. “I was just looking for my crow.”

When she finished what she thought was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why she was strolling through the castle gardens instead of attending to her duties with the fairies, Elise lifted her head and found that the duke had likely not heard a word she had spoken. His eyes remained fixed on her dress, and even his slightly parted lips suggested his attention was entirely elsewhere.

In any other circumstances, Elise would have taken offense. Yet the warmth spreading through her chest made it difficult to object.

“I can help you find him,” Kurt said.

Elise shook her head. “You have already helped me enough.”

“It’s really no trouble,” he insisted, walking dangerously close toward her. He stopped within arm’s reach and brushed a twig from her hair.

Elise felt as if a demonic force took possession of her. A sudden urge to touch him proved impossible to ignore. She reached for his hand before she could think better of it.

“I have meant to thank you for the opportunity to find employment under the king’s service,” she said, meeting Kurt’s gaze and feeling her heart racing to her throat. “I did not wish to celebrate too soon, but now it seems everything should work out well.”

The duke was without words for a moment. His temperature seemed to rise as he took Elise’s arms and drew her closer.

“You are most welcome. I was certain you would be a good addition to the staff.”

Elise sighed. Her mind began to play all the romantic fantasies she liked to indulge in every now and then. Her cheeks grew warm and her eyelids betrayed her, half-closing while she wondered if those noble lips were about to move closer.

Sadly, and much against Elise’s wishes, Kurt’s lips did not move nearer. Instead, they opened to ask a rather dangerous question, one that appeared to have been troubling him a great deal.

“Who was the man at your house yesterday?”

A fear almost as intense as the stupor Elise had felt moments before drove her to pull away from him in a single breath.

“He’s...he’s no one,” she murmured nervously, breaking his gaze.

“The way he was treating you, I thought he was your—"

“No, no. That could never be,” she gasped.

“But then?”

“I have to return to my duties,” Elise managed. “Thank you again.”

She sprang away, leaving the poor duke with numerous questions on the tip of his tongue. This had been an impulse, a mistake she was already regretting. There were so many things she could never reveal to Kurt, and that was perhaps the most dangerous part of being near him.

*****

Elise returned to the herbarium breathless. She did not know what had possessed her to reach for Kurt’s hand. Everything suddenly seemed so complicated that all she wanted was to hide among the herbs and never emerge again. She intended to remain there for the rest of the day and, with some luck, for the remainder of her employment.

But much to her surprise, once she had calmed her nerves, she realized all the baskets on the table were gone. In their place sat a small copper key and beneath it a note with a few lines.

Susanne?

Elise read the note with a measure of concern, though after the first few words all her worries eased.

Dear Elise,