Page 88 of The Noldrin Witch

Despite the magic flowing through her, Elise felt completely hopeless. Weak. Lost.

“I’m a prince, you lordling,” Seth muttered, holding Elise’s arm.

A prince?

Elise looked up to see Seth’s proud face. She wasn’t impressed by the title, though the revelation did explain the demon’s behavior.

Feeling more in control of her body, she pulled her arm free from Seth.

“Elise,” Seth said in his usual commanding voice, but she was determined to do what she had to.

“This is not how it looks, Kurt,” she said desperately.

“Then what is it?”

There was a glimmer in Kurt’s eyes this time. He stood tall, meeting Seth with a defiant glare. His torso was broader than the demon’s, his head a couple of inches higher.

Elise worried Kurt might challenge Seth to a fight, so she was quick to intervene.

“He’s here to help me,” she said, turning to Seth with pleading eyes.

Thankfully, he added nothing, and Kurt was the one to continue.

“Help you with what?” He paused as if the words bore a bitter taste in his mouth.

She was overcome with regret, and with the power flowing relentlessly through her body, her vision began to blur. She put one foot in front of the other, but her legs gave way.

“Please, Kurt. It was just a kiss.”

The last thing she saw was the worry in Kurt’s eyes before she felt a familiar heat wrap around her. She had no doubt who it belonged to.

Chapter 35

Elise opened her eyes after what felt like a few hours of deep slumber.

“It was just a kiss, lordling,” Seth grumbled, fixing an infernal glare on the other side of Elise’s room.

She blinked, her eyes moving from one wall to the next. Relief washed over her when she found Kurt standing there. Bruno kept hopping about, turning his little beak back and forth between the two men as though trying to decide which one was the better bet.

“So why are you still here, Your Majesty?” Kurt shot back at Seth. “Where is this so-called kingdom you fancy yourself ruling, anyway?”

Before the demon could elaborate on the origins of his pedigree or his domains, Elise quickly sat up in bed. If the truth was to be revealed in this very moment, she preferred that it come from her own lips.

“Kurt. Seth,” she said weakly.

“Elise!” both said in unison.

She looked down at her clothes. Much to her relief, it was the same purple linen dress she had worn in the gardens. For a moment, she feared one of them had thought it proper to change her into dry clothes.

Now, for any other woman, having these two remarkable specimens in the privacy of her chamber would have invited the most sinful thoughts. But for Elise, still pure of heart, the sight of Kurt and Seth was hardly less alarming than having a fire in her room.

“What happened? Why are you two here?” she asked, hoping to buy herself some time to gather the courage to reveal everything to Kurt.

The two men seemed equally eager to claim the right to explain what Elise had missed while she was unconscious.

“I was about to leave when this man picked you up as though you were an old rag he owned,” Kurt said, his eyes narrowing at Seth.

“She fell into my arms,” Seth shot back. “Clearly, even on the verge of fainting, she’s able to recognize the best place to fall.”