Page 91 of Bewitched

“What about the King?” asked Rhys once again. “Where is Osric?”

“I can answer that.” The King’s advisor, Raudfer, walked forward to join them. “King Osric died last night from his wounds, I am sorry to say.”

“He did?” asked one of the guards.

“Why weren’t we told?” asked another.

“I was keeping quiet, since the gods asked me to work with them,” Raudfer explained.

“Good luck,” said Cnoir, disappearing before their eyes.

“How can this kingdom survive without a king?” shouted one of the people of Kasculbough.

“We’ll be slaughtered by Evandorm or Sethor now for sure,” yelled another.

“You have a king.” Raudfer held up a parchment. “In this scroll, King Osric names Sir Rhys Blackseed as his successor, since he did not have a son.”

“Rhys is king?” asked Darium in surprise.

“Of Kasculbough? Are you serious?” gasped Zann.

“I am serious,” said the advisor. “The document was written up by me. The King signed it in the presence of both me and his second advisor. It is legitimate, I assure you.”

“I thought he wasn’t going to name me heir unless I killed Medea,” said Rhys in confusion.

“He counted on you following his orders, and wrote up the agreement right away,” said Raudfer. “Mayhap he would have changed the contract in time, but now he is dead and so the contract stands.”

“Well? What do you say, Son?” asked Alaina.

“I—I’m not sure what to say.” Rhys looked over at Medea. “Except that I am glad Medea will be my wife and not Osric’s.”

“Now she’ll be your Queen as well,” said Talia, walking over with their daughter and handing her to Medea.

“Mama,” said the child.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing that.” Medea kissed the little girl on the head. “I only wish I had more time to hear it. She’ll be grown so quickly that it will be over before it really begins.”

“Not necessarily,” said Alaina. “After talking with your sister Rapunzel, we discovered something important.”

“What’s that?” asked Medea.

“It seems the blue milk you replicated that your mother gave you, had an herb in it that I haven’t run across in a long time.”

“What herb?” asked Rhys.

“It is something no one can pronounce,” said Rapunzel. “But Alaina, being an elemental asked her friend, Rae-Nyst, who is an elemental of the earth, about it. It seems the herb is activated by dark magic, and accelerates growth by three hundred-fold or even more.”

“Really So what does that mean?” asked Medea, sniffling.

“It means, if you no longer have dark magic in you, the herb won’t be activated,” said Alaina.

“And hopefully, Lily-Rae will stop growing at such a fast rate,” added Rapunzel.

“But what if Lily-Rae has inherited my dark magic?” asked Medea.

Rapunzel and Alaina looked at each other before Rapunzel answered. “Medea, your mother’s darkness, and feeding you that potion for eighteen days, is what kept you growing so quickly. You were stripped of your dark magic, and Lily-Rae only drank the potion for a few days.”

“So, if we stop giving it to her, will her growth rate slow down to normal?” asked Medea.