Page 100 of The Noldrin Witch

It took two nights of flying before Elise and Morgaine arrived at the castle. It was well into the night when the broom came to rest a few feet above the stone courtyard before settling softly onto the ground.

Both Morgaine’s and Elise’s dresses were in disarray. The front of Morgaine’s bodice was barely containing the fullness of her cleavage, and the wind had tangled both their hair into a hopeless mess.

The men guarding the gate were not the same ones they had seen the night they left, but they proved no less helpful. At the sight of Morgaine, they were just as eager to lend a hand.

The witch accepted the arm one of them offered, while Elise took the other.

Elise felt as though the gift of walking on clouds had been granted to her the very moment she left Kurt behind at the camps. The journey had left her completely spent, and though she could hardly wait to crawl into her own bed, the happiness Kurt had given her could have carried her through another week. The feel of his lips was still fresh upon hers, and his scent lingered strong on her clothes. If she had once believed she knew happiness, this feeling proved her wonderfully mistaken.

“Thank you, Morgaine,” she whispered.

Morgaine drew her into a brief hug.

“He’ll be back, dear.”

Elise nodded with a smile.

The witch was just about to leave when the two guards rushed back to their posts.

Elise turned to see none other than the king approaching the gate.

Sebastian stopped dead the moment he saw Morgaine.

Elise felt Morgaine stiffen for a breath, but poised as she always was, the reaction passed unnoticed by everyone else.

Morgaine walked toward the king in complete silence. Their gazes remained on each other until they stood barely two feet apart. She leaned toward him as though to catch his scent.

“You’ve been starving yourself, I can tell,” she purred. “I told you not to.”

Sebastian seemed to shiver. Then, like a man who truly had been starving, he seized Morgaine by the arms and, to everyone’s astonishment, kissed her as though he had been told he would never see another dawn.

They wrapped themselves around one another with the determination of two warriors fighting over the same patch of ground. Neither seemed interested in breaking free.

A long moment passed. The guards cleared their throats. Elise smoothed her sleeves. But the king and Morgaine remained in their own world.

Eventually, Morgaine broke the kiss with a low groan and tipped his chin upward. Sebastian lingered with his eyes closed, drifting after her as though unwilling to believe she had moved away.

“Morgaine,” he whispered, as though the very sound of her name pained him.

Elise and the guards watched in stunned silence, unable to tear their eyes away.

“Don’t trouble yourself following me,” Morgaine said with a reassuring smile. “I’ll be back.”

Sebastian dipped his head in acknowledgment.

With that, the witch stepped onto her broom and took flight, leaving everyone below to watch her disappear into the night.

Chapter 40

That night, Elise fell into a most deserved rest. She spent the long hours of slumber with a smile, dreaming of Kurt. Morgaine and Sebastian found their way into her dreams that blessed evening as well, but it was the memory of Kurt that kept her so peacefully asleep.

After Morgaine had left, Elise had little to say to Sebastian. She was far too exhausted to make sense of whatever it was between the two of them. She went straight to her room and changed into the first clean clothes she could find. Then, sooner than she could remember, a most welcome sleep had claimed her. She rested so peacefully that one might have guessed no demon or creature of the sort lingered anywhere near her worries.

The inclement weather reached Metz once more, and thunder rolled across the dark sky. But in Elise’s room, she lay blissfully unaware of the tempest outside and the troubles drawing ever closer.

As fortune would have it, her ever-faithful guardian was sensible enough to wake her with a loud caw before danger reached her room.

“Kurt?” she murmured, blinking awake.