Page 81 of The Noldrin Witch

“If this is because I refused Adelle’s invitation—”

“Kurt, you offend me!”

“I will be the one going,” Sebastian said.

“That’s madness!” General Gunter shouted. “It’s a death trap. We might as well hand them the kingdom already.”

The commander nodded. “We cannot send our king. It would be a slaughterhouse for you, Your Majesty. With all due respect we need a man better trained for battle than politics.”

It was an unpleasant thought, but Kurt knew these obstinate men were right. It was not merely because he was the youngest. If modesty allowed him the thought, he knew he was the deadliest man in the room and more importantly, one of the very few whose loyalty to Sebastian was beyond question.

“It would be me, then.”

Chapter 33

Thunder rumbled across the sky. Rain and hell were about to descend upon Metz. Morgaine was glad she was just arriving home after the deed Devon had so generously laid upon the witches. Another army defeated, another day of peace.

That had been the reason Beth had come to Metz. It hadn’t taken much more than one witch to do the job, but Devon, distrustful as he was, had wanted Morgaine to have a little company to carry out the task.

Noldrin was back in the hands of Falaine. It had taken only a simple spell to frighten the horses and a touch of poison in the water, but it was done at last. Beautifully executed.

Now it was only a matter of waiting for the kings to begin negotiations instead of demolishing more of the forests around Noldrin.

With the destruction of the land brought to a halt, it would take only a couple of months for the shield between worlds to return to its former strength. Bromheim was becoming unstoppable, and even if Morgaine did not like the idea of helping Falaine, it was all she could do to prevent Bromheim from conquering the entire kingdom and perhaps beginning an even greater conquest in the lands beyond.

Defeat for Bromheim during these pesky days of war meant peace for the magical world, and if that meant helping some fools, Morgaine was perfectly fine with it. The only side she bowed to was the delicious side of her bed, which she had missed dearly.

Two nights of flying. One night of work, and now she was ready to return to the life she enjoyed most. She preferred helping people one to one, as she did with her clientele. There was something wicked about the way people behaved in groups this blessed century. Perhaps it was the lost belief in female divinities. Perhaps it was that the price of bread kept rising. That was for others to figure out.

Morgaine skipped to her door, satisfied at last after accomplishing the impossible. She hadn’t lost her touch. At this point, she wondered if there was a challenge big enough for her to fail.

Little did she know, that pleasant thought was about to be put to the test. As Morgaine reached for the bolt on her door, the sight of a woman marching through the forest with the urgency of a crossed lover made her gasp. She wondered if someone had come to take revenge for the mischief done to the Bromheim army in Noldrin. That was, until a furious caw announced the visitor with all the ceremony of a royal herald.

“Elise?”

“Morgaine, you have to help me!” the girl cried with enough desperation that Morgaine assumed something truly heinous had happened to the poor soul.

“What is it?” she urged.

“I need to finish a Healing Potion by tomorrow, and for all that’s holy, I just can’t figure it out.”

Morgaine relaxed immediately. She gestured for Elise to come inside, where they could talk by the warmth of the fire. The rain was starting to fall, and she was eager for a change of clothes after the horrid night of warfare.

Once inside, Elise explained the famed challenge that Fabian had set for the entire magical staff. The whole thing was rather pitiful, really. There seemed to be no one qualified enough to solve something so simple. In a matter of days, Elise had already caught up with the entire workshop and was now leading a team on this wretched little quest.

“Darling, darling,” Morgaine said. “Worry not. If there’s one thing I have learned in all my years, it is that the strain of the mind ages you faster than time itself. No burden is worth surrendering one’s beauty over.”

Elise nodded in agreement, though something seemed to still linger in her mind.

“I thought perhaps a chant could seal the deal,” she said. “I studied all the parchments and manuscripts the fairies have in the workshop, and that’s the only thing I can see missing.”

Morgaine raised a brow. “The only thing?”

Elise let out a weary breath. “I almost wish Sebastian had left me fetching things around the workshop.”

“Sebastian, you said?”

Elise went on to explain in remarkable detail everything that had transpired between her and the king.