Page 75 of The Noldrin Witch

It was a demonic dialect that sounded completely infernal to Elise.

With such a fiendish chant, she half expected the rock to come alive. Instead, a revitalizing energy began to flow through her.

“What is this?” she asked, her face so close to Seth’s that she could breathe his otherworldly masculine scent.

He leaned closer until their noses almost brushed. “This is what you should have been doing, witch.”

Elise took a deep breath, pressed her lips, and with an almost inhuman force, she pushed the demon away from her.

“My name is Elise, demon.”

The new energy running through her made her stumble from the effort. Seth, for his part, had nearly lost his footing.

“That should be enough for a few days,” he said. “I’ll come back for you then.”

“I don’t want you here.”

“You clearly need me—”

“I’m fairly sure I can manage without you. Besides, it was Bruno who found the stone, not you.”

The demon’s demeanor twisted in displeasure. “I’ll need to come at least two more times before you can feel the magic on your own.”

Elise was bristling with fury. It must have been the masculine energy of the divinity. Morgaine had warned her about this, but one needed to feel to fully understand.

“Two more times and after that I don’t want to see you again.”

“That’s fine with me…Elise.”

Chapter 31

After finding the rock, Elise slept with a smile on her face. She lay atop the bed, feeling the magic running through her like fire in her veins. The sensation could only be compared to the Strength Potion. This time, however, there was no visible manifestation of magic, though that did not prevent her sleeping mind from producing a fair amount of nonsense during the night.

Her dreams had drifted between glorious fantasies of Kurt and other...more demonic visions. In an unexpected turn and completely against her wishes, Seth had somehow made his way into her dreams. Such heated imaginings had left little room for proper rest. Slightly ashamed to discover she was capable of dreaming about the demon in such a fashion, she preferred to ignore the folly. She attributed the unpleasant vision to the intensity of their encounter and nothing more.

Elise walked to the workshop feeling ready for action. Perhaps if she had been claimed by a female divinity, she might have enjoyed a more peaceful existence. Instead, she found herself thinking all sorts of inappropriate things about both Kurt and Seth, though especially the duke. Ah, how she wished she would bump into him, if only to see whether they might steal another moment alone to...

She brought a hand to her mouth, remembering Kurt had made clear he was not interested.

At any rate, these were the sorts of thoughts that had plagued her ever since the magic from the Stone of Raj had settled into her. She had been warned that controlling her magic would be a slow process, but she had not expected this particular inconvenience. It was difficult enough going about her day without being haunted by visions of handsome men at every turn.

By the time she reached the catacombs, Emery and Conrad were already waiting for her. Emery seemed to carry a renewed air about him, his mood considerably improved. Conrad, on the other hand, greeted her with a thin-lipped look and the smallest of bows.

They had the table tucked in the darkest corner of the workshop. It was usually reserved for leftover herbs and roots discarded during potion preparation. It was not the most desirable place to work, but she did not mind. Elise saw its advantage in being the table closest to the row of black cauldrons used for brewing the potions.

As she walked, people began to whisper, but she paid the murmurs no heed as she made her way to Emery and Conrad. She had more urgent things to worry about. The stone’s energy was still running through her like wildfire.

She spoke with Emery about the general process the fairies followed. He had been there for years, but judging by his explanation, Elise wasn’t quite sure he knew any more than she did.

There was little time to plan, as Fabian made his entrance shortly after the brief talk.

“Morning, all!” the red-legged fairy called from the center of the workshop, his eyes gleaming with mischief. It seemed he had needed only a good night’s rest to go back to his usual antics.

He began walking around the workshop, sweeping his gaze from one fairy to another as he continued, “The appointed day for the Healing Potion has changed. The task needs to be completed in two days. It appears the illness is spreading faster, and there’s no time to waste.”

“But Fabian!” a small fairy named Gwern rasped.

Elise had noticed she was the one closest to Fabian. It was the fondness the fairy had for speaking loudly about the shortcomings of others that Elise assumed had earned her such a favored position in Fabian’s good graces. Gwern always managed to deliver her rather petty observations in the guise of light teasing, which of course still managed to inspire a measure of authority and fear among her peers.