Page 64 of The Noldrin Witch

“The king saw me wandering before I could find the stone,” Elise said. “He questioned me about you. He wants to know where to find you.”

This last remark made Morgaine lose her smile. If there was one thing the witch always was, it was poised. If there was one thing capable of rattling her, it was news of the king.

“No, no,” Morgaine rasped. “Did you tell him?”

“No!” Elise said, glad at last to have held her tongue with the king. “But he was very insistent. He told me he would summon me tomorrow to continue our conversation.”

Morgaine let out a deep breath.

“So, what should I tell him?” Elise murmured. “I thought all that talk about you giving up a queenship was a jest. How could you not warn me about any of this?”

“I sometimes forget that we look alike, darling,” Morgaine said, suddenly hesitant. “I didn’t know he still remembered me. Is he still unmarried?”

“Ha, ha, ha,” Beth’s voice came from the small glass. “Why do you care, you harlot? I bet you still want him.”

“Absolutely not!” Morgaine huffed, somehow sounding nervous despite her best efforts. “I merely inquired because of Devon’s orders.”

“Oh, I see,” Beth whispered.

“Morgaine,” Elise rasped. “You haven’t told me what to say about you tomorrow.”

“Dear Elise, let me tell you a little story,” Morgaine replied with the calm of someone who’s handed out queenships every spring.

Elise heard Beth squeal, and the image of Morgaine moved as though she were making herself comfortable before relating her tale.

“There was once a beautiful witch who, after proving her worth, began working for the king. This happened around eleven years ago when the king was still a lad and I was just a maid.”

A loud cackle made the mirror shake.

“A maid?” Beth said. “You mean a young tart.”

“Beth, are you going to let me tell my story or shall we hear your version instead?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Morgaine continued. “It was during one of those hot summer days. I remember it as though it happened yesterday. I was wandering through the gardens when I saw him. He was one of those men who could start a fire in a woman’s...Well, it is fair to say Sebastian was tall and handsome,” the witch sighed. “Unaware that such a strapping lad was none other than the king, I may have flirted a bit. One glance at him and I thought to myself: ‘That is a fine cut of meat.’ Though some of those candid thoughts may have escaped my lips. That part is a bit hazy.”

Morgaine allowed a moment to pass as she seemed delighted to remember in more detail.

“We conducted our business among the bushes and beneath the searing sun. Ah, how we liked to go back to that wicked maze. We repeated this arrangement for a good part of a month until I discovered he was the king. After that, matters became more complicated. I do not know whether it was his title or the way he moved through the sheets, but we might have visited every chamber in the castle. I was quite taken with him.”

Elise heard Beth sigh.

“What a beautiful love story.”

“That sounds...intense,” Elise said, confused as to how any of this would help her decide what to tell the king the next day. “So you wish to rekindle your romance?”

“No, no,” Morgaine quickly interjected. “It would never work, my dear. I fled the moment he made his intentions clear. He intended to make a respectable woman out of me.”

“That cannot be!” Beth exclaimed, fighting her way into view of the small mirror.

Morgaine nodded. “Best leave it at that. Tell him I have not aged a day, but that I am devoted to spinsterhood and have retired to a mountain to practice witchcraft in peace. Tell him I am somewhere beyond the borders of the kingdom so he will not send for me.”

“Very clever,” Beth said.

Elise nodded. “I shall convey your message as soon as he sends for me.”

With that, the mirror returned to its natural sheen, and Elise tried not to dwell too much on Morgaine’s confession. It was difficult enough keeping her secret mission straight without tangling her thoughts in someone else’s romantic history.