The Burning Witch 3: A Humorous Romantic Fantasy

CHAPTER 49 A DEVILISH DEBUT

Kat had stumbled thrice by the time she reached the stairs to summon the council members. The first two times, she had grumbled and pushed off Eric’s assistance, but by the third time, he didn’t care whatever she said or squawked as he slipped an arm around her waist and grasped one of her hands.

“Give yourself a break; you were drugged and unconscious,” he whispered in her ear as maids passed by and paused to gawk at them.

“I need … to hurry though!” Kat retorted while barely hiding her panting.

Eric looked at the intent frown on his wife’s face as she attempted to take two more shuffling steps.

“If you really want to go faster, then get on my back.”

Her head snapped round. “That isn’t proper though …” While she said the words, a mischievous smile was starting to climb her face.

Eric didn’t bother pointing out the obvious fact that she was wearing pants and an untucked shirt with her hair looking like she had just come from being bedded. Instead, he rolled his eyes, released her, then crouched down in front of her.

Once loaded on, her arms around his neck, Kat leaned in close until her breath tickled Eric’s ear. “Giddyup!”

“We aren’t doing that.”

“I’m just having fun.” Kat pouted.

“Say it again, and I’ll take you back to the chamber.”

The huskiness in Eric’s voice made Kat blush scarlet as she then understood what her husband was getting at.

“Now of all times? Weren’t you just saying how I’d almost died?!”

“We men are complicated creatures.”

Kat gave an embarrassed chuckle and buried her burning face into Eric’s back. “Come on. Let’s get going. We need to wake my da up as soon as possible— By the way, have you seen Pina?”

Eric stood with a grunt and started walking quickly toward the king’s chamber.

“No, not since you first collapsed. Both she and Kraken took off, and I’m not sure where.”

Kat frowned, unsure what her and her father’s familiar could be up to, but she decided that in the very worst case scenario she could endure an awkward conversation with Cleophus Miller to find out where Pina had run off to. Gods knew the man kept better tabs on the kitten than she did …

With Eric’s assistance, the couple made it to the king’s office only to learn that he wasn’t there.

He was in the throne room awaiting a guest.

So they rerouted.

“Who is the king expecting?” Kat wondered aloud.

“I know as much as you do,” Eric explained as he descended the final set of stairs far slower than he would’ve at the beginning of their journey as his wife was starting to feel heavier than when he’d first picked her up. “How is it that you’re taller than me and I’m always the one carrying you?”

“Life just works out for me like that.”

Eric half laughed, half moaned. While it seemed outrageous that they were bickering and bantering as they usually did when the tension in the castle air felt both oppressive yet delicate at the same time, the prince was just happy to have Kat awake again to care too much.

At last, they reached the throne room where two guards stood waiting.

“We need … to speak with His Majesty.” Eric had to swallow while speaking. His throat had gone dry from all the heavy breathing.

He was moderately shocked his wife hadn’t made fun of him for it.

The guards looked at each other uncertainly.

“Chop-chop! My elderly husband is on the brink of a death rattle from carrying me like this!” Kat barked.

Eric rolled his eyes.

He should’ve known it was coming.

He pretended to drop her and made her squeak.

The guards were even more put off by such a display.

“His Majesty said no one is to enter,” the guard on the left explained slowly.

“Really? Would he have said that if he knew I was awake?” Kat asked once she had hoisted herself back up to a position where her arse wasn’t dangling close to the floor, which had made Eric stagger.

“I … will ask, Lady Katarina.” The guard nervously backed away from Kat, a move that was not lost on her. Nor was the shiftiness in the other guard’s eyes.

She could tell they were frightened of her.

That meant that the rumors of what had happened in the council room had already spread …

After a few moments, the great door opened again, and the guard slipped back out.

“His Majesty says you may enter.”

Kat could tell by the guard’s stiff face that he was not in agreement with the king’s decision.

She lowered her head with a tight smile of thanks.

The guards’ reaction to Kat had sombered the temporarily bright mood between her and Eric, so they proceeded into the throne room with serious expressions fixed in place.

Brendan sat on his throne with Mr. Kraft, Mage Sebastian, and Faucher standing nearby. They looked … tense.

Though seeing Katarina conscious did bring a bit of relief to both the king’s and Faucher’s faces, it was short-lived when they registered that she was being carried in …

“Lady Katarina, we are glad you are awake,” Brendan called with a stoic nod and questioning gaze.

Kat tapped Eric’s shoulders and slowly slid from his back so she could bow to the monarch. In doing so, she revealed her disheveled appearance.

“While I am grateful to be alive, I am concerned at—”

“Gods—her magic!”

“That. Yes.” Kat grimaced at Mr. Kraft’s outburst.

The king turned to look at the coven leader expectantly.

“I … I inspected her before and could see her magic was stable if depleted.” He regarded the redhead in morbid awe. “It really did become a part of your everyday life. I can see how it flickers uncertainly in you now.” Mr. Kraft almost sounded apologetic.

Kat lowered her chin and clasped her hands in front of herself, already avoiding the look of concern Faucher was giving her.

“That is why I came here, Your Majesty. I wanted to ask a favor of you.”

The king leaned forward and gestured for her to continue, though his eyes drifted to the door expectantly …

“I would like to meet with the council members. The ones who are still alive.”

Everyone froze in alarm.

“I need to absorb as much hate as possible to regain some magic. Or … if we capture a magical beast that we need killed, I can absorb something from them? Or maybe I could go for a quick bit of regular hunting …”

The men stared at Kat, looking collectively concerned.

“While it may sound a tad risky to greet the council given my current reputation, I’m hoping that if I regain some of my magic, I can maybe try and bolster my father’s own power and help him wake up. I know it really has just been a theory until now, but if it’s possible, I think it’s worth a try.”

“Are you certain that the hate the council feels for you will be enough?” Brendan questioned “If not, I recommend we let them rest. They are not thinking favorably of you at this time, so if I antagonize them by forcing your presence, it may end poorly.”

“I don’t know for certain, but—”

Kat didn’t get the chance to finish her argument.

The doors opened, and in stepped none other than Leochra Zephin followed by …

The devil himself.

Eric instantly stood in front of Kat, blocking her from view as the two men entered with the doors closing behind them.

“Why wasn’t I notified he was coming?” the prince furiously asked Brendan over his shoulder.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness,” the devil greeted breezily as he walked. He wore a burgundy coat and all black underneath, his long black hair still partially tied at the back of his head in a very similar manner to most Zinferans.

Though … he looked like he had lost weight since the last time Eric had seen him, and there was a certain eagerness in his countenance that was directed toward Kat after he had bowed to the king and prince.

“Lady Katarina, I see that you chose to stay and have paid a hefty price already,” the devil observed, his tone lazy, but his eyes sharp despite Kat being mostly hidden from view behind Eric.

“I have summoned you here, Samuel Zephin, because I am under the impression that my citizens are going to be slaughtered in large part due to the feud between you and the first witch.” Brendan’s voice boomed imperially in the room.

The devil raised an eyebrow, and the corners of his lips quirked upward at hearing the use of the surname he had received from Leochra’s parents. He glanced at his subordinate by his side, Leo, but the man had his eyes dutifully lowered to the ground.

“Yes, well. It seems my sister wants me out of this realm no matter what. She’s finally gotten desperate, though we’ll see if she can honestly wipe out thousands of people. She never really was good at widespread evil doings.”

“She has already been drugging thousands of people to death. Whether she is or is not capable of an all-out war is not a gamble I am taking with my people’s lives.” Brendan’s voice had lowered dangerously. “I want whatever this feud is settled between the two of you outside of Vessa.”

The devil stared at the king and slowly folded his arms. He looked humored … and interested … but the manner with which he addressed Brendan was as though he were still a seven-year-old child king.

Mage Sebastian took a step back, Mr. Kraft was rooted to where he stood, remaining perfectly still, and Faucher was doing everything in his power not to grasp the hilt of his sword.

“I take it Your Majesty isn’t all that war-hungry since seeing the stone golems?” the devil asked with a faintly taunting note.

Brendan’s gaze darkened. “To you, this moment of time is most likely similar to many others you have already experienced in your eternity, and it may already be forgettable to you. However, I don’t intend to spend the rest of my days rebuilding my capital city or battling for control of my kingdom with the offspring of the Gods.” There was a rare passion in the king’s voice, and it most likely came as he knew deep within his bones that should his army face a horde of magical beasts, they would not survive.

The devil sighed and looked to the ceiling as though already weary and bored of the exchange.

“Rest assured, Your Majesty, if you can tell me who the first witch is parading around as, I’d be happy to escort her away from Vessa. But you don’t know, and unless she comes forward herself, I have no way of knowing either.”

“Wouldn’t you be able to see the threads of fate tied to her?” Kat interrupted while sidling out from behind Eric.

The devil dropped his hands and then clasped them behind his back, while turning to look at Kat, as a teacher would a favored student. “Excellent question. I am not able to see anything strange about her, thanks to one of the many annoying details of my punishment here.”

Gods, the devil’s time here sounds more like a— A rush ran through Kat as a sudden realization dawned on her …

“You … You weren’t banished by the Gods from the Forest of the Afterlife. You were cursed by your sister. She lost her powers by binding you to this earth forever, except she can’t die like witches should when a curse is cast …” Kat reasoned out, her eyes rounding.

The devil raised an eyebrow and then beamed a smile in her direction. “You aren’t far off. I was trying to suppress her magic, she fought against me until she reached her limits, and well … here we are. I got what I wanted, but … as your family well knows, there must be an equivalent exchange. I paid my price. In my books, I still count it as a punishment by my parents, as this all is happening under their laws and power.”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of this sooner?!” Kat demanded, throwing her hands in the air only to become light-headed and have her left knee buckle.

The devil’s cavalier expression momentarily turned to concern, but by the time Eric had steadied his wife, the look was gone.

“If I told you everything from the beginning, I was risking a lot of problems. For one, I was trying to convince Lady Katarina to leave, but knowing her family and their terrible habits of taking on the protection of others, I assumed she would stay to stop a war. Oh dear. It looks like I was right.”

“Oh yes, because knowing the devil was here wouldn’t raise any concern, and I’d be happy to abandon my best friend here,” Kat snapped back sarcastically.

“For another reason,” the devil continued a little louder to the king. “I prefer to live relatively inconspicuously. My sister is the one changing things, and I wanted to avoid becoming embroiled in it. However, as I’m given to understand from the message Your Majesty sent with Leo … you believe she intends to kill thousands of people to transfer even more ancient beasts here and to not only open a portal and ‘defeat’ me, but to enforce her own will over the kingdom of Troivack.”

“Yes, and so what we are going to do is bring the woman we suspect of being your sister, and you two can settle this once and for all and keep my vassals out of it before she gets the opportunity to do either of these things,” Brendan informed the devil with a rumble.

Sam scoffed. “Sure. If you think that is a good idea given that we know so little about what weapons she does have, and you don’t know exactly what she wants to happen in Troivack, by all means. While my sister does have connections, she is technically powerless. Go right ahead, Your Majesty.” The devil held out his arms and smiled elegantly. “Let us have a family reunion between the devil and the first witch right here in your throne room, though I believe the best thing to do is simply let me leave as she will have no choice but to abandon her plans and chase after me. I sincerely think that even she wouldn’t proceed with a full attack just for the sake of obtaining more magical beasts. It simply isn’t in her nature.”

“I’ll be sending you both outside my city to handle each other however you two see fit.”

Brendan did not care at all for the devil’s smugness, but if at the end of the day he had at least determined which of the women nearest his wife he could trust, that would be a small blessing. Especially if it did once and for all prove Kezia’s innocence.

He waved to Faucher, and the military leader descended the steps obediently, kept his eyes ahead, and gave a wide berth between himself and the devil when he passed.

While nothing terrible had happened yet, there was still the serrated blade of unease in the air that something horrible was nearing …

Sam tilted his head as he stared at Kat, still smiling. “So tell me, how is that father of yours? I must admit, I’ve been incredibly curious to meet him and of course, the infamous Emperor Kraken himself in the fluff.”

Kat’s hand curled into a fist at her side.

She wanted to punch the devil in the face.

She wanted to do it so badly …

But … She bit down on her tongue and held his gaze as levelly as she could.

She wouldn’t let him coax out an explosion of any kind from her ever again. And so instead of responding to him, she merely folded her arms across her chest and glared.