The Burning Witch 3: A Humorous Romantic Fantasy

CHAPTER 50 WHICH IS THE WITCH

The throne room was becoming more crowded, or at least it felt that way as Alina, Ladies Rebecca Devark, Sarah, Wynonna, and Kezia had all arrived. It had been a lengthy wait getting them assembled—one that had been done in a smothering silence.

Kat had been forced to sit on the stairs to the throne, as she couldn’t handle standing for very long in her weakened state.

Surprisingly, the devil didn’t try to antagonize anyone as they waited … though his dark eyes were disconcerting as he took his time studying everyone.

When the sun began to lower in the sky and cast the throne room in a weak glow that hinted of brighter days to come, the king had a bench brought in for the devil and Leo Zephin to sit on. Shortly after, the women and Faucher arrived.

The noblewomen faced the throne and had collectively curtsied to the king and queen.

Alina nodded regally in response, though she still looked pale from the pains she was experiencing during the previous few days.

The devil eyed the back of the noblewomen from his position on the bench with a subtle smirk …

Brendan and Alina watched him charily as he did this, and upon noticing that the king was staring so pointedly at him, the devil stood and issued a bow to the two monarchs.

Despite the mysterious man behind them, the noblewomen kept their faces downturned. None of them had been told why they’d been summoned.

Kezia had a grim air about her, her wavy black hair was draped and pinned over her right shoulder. There were dark lines under her effervescent blue eyes—but that could have been due to the stress of being ejected from court and tending to her infant son.

She wore a deep red velvet dress to combat the wintry cold, and, as always, looked wildly stunning. The only piece of her normal visage missing was her pendant containing her mage crystal threaded on a black ribbon, as it had been confiscated the previous day.

“I have gathered you all here, as I believe one of you is guilty of treason. A noblewoman in this court is plotting to bring an army of men and ancient magical beasts here to Vessa with the goal to slaughter thousands. I have Mr. Samuel Zephin here to help me determine which of you is responsible for these events,” Brendan announced loudly. His anger and anxiety brewed together in his gut slowly but steadily.

Lady Sarah and Lady Wynonna looked to each other with wide, fearful eyes, and Lady Kezia straightened, her gaze snapping to the devil with dawning realization.

Brendan, Kat, and Alina felt their hearts sink to their stomachs when she did this …

“Kezia … ?” Kat asked, her voice warbling with pain.

The noblewoman looked at Kat, her brows lowered and her full lips pursed. “No, ryshka. No, I am not a traitor.” She then looked to Alina and gave her head a brief shake before once more facing the devil, who had brought his hand up to his mouth, his thumb touching his lip as though his cloying smile may turn into a laugh. “While His Majesty hasn’t announced who this man is, I know he is the devil. I can feel it in my bones.”

“What a marvelous intuition you have.” Sam dropped his hand and took a swaggering step forward. “Usually, it’s only witches who are capable of sensing that so easily.”

“His Majesty has been looking for the devil for months. It makes sense that a man who dares act so arrogant in the king’s presence is him.” Kezia stood her ground as the devil started to circle her. He eyed her up and down, though Kat could see Kezia’s hands were trembling while clasped at her front …

“Tell me, Your Majesty.” Sam turned to look at the king, his hands held behind his back. “If I declared this was the first witch, would you cut off her head here and now?” He reached out and flicked a wisp of Kezia’s hair, and Brendan let out a warning rumble while Kat was sorely missing the presence of her sword.

She looked to Faucher, and he met her gaze knowingly and raised an eyebrow.

“Do not touch her.” The ominous warning came from Alina, who stared down the devil as she gripped the armrests of her throne.

“No need to be angry. That would be the best way to determine who is the traitor after all. The first witch may be powerless, but she is still immortal. If you tried cutting off everyone’s heads, you’d find out the answer rather quickly by who just happens to morph into a brand-new young woman with a perfectly intact head.”

“What is he talking about?” Lady Sarah whimpered while holding Lady Wynonna’s hands fearfully.

“The first witch doesn’t die. She ages and lives like her mother, the Goddess. When she dies or reaches the end of her years as a crone, she returns to the state of a maiden, then continues to age to matron, and so on. Over and over. Her appearance morphs each time she becomes the maiden once more,” Kat explained as she stared at Lady Rebecca Devark, who had remained impressively stoic and silent during the whole exchange.

Kat tilted her head, still observing the older woman. “Lady Rebecca, are you simply one of the most hardened women I’ve ever met, or are you also not surprised that this is the devil?”

Sam laughed and looked at Kat. “It’s interesting, isn’t it? How quickly people become suspicious and read into any little detail they can.”

“Oh, so she absolutely isn’t the first witch?” Kat asked, pointing at the older woman while directing an unimpressed stare at the devil.

“Well, I’ll tell you why I have my doubts that she is,” the devil drawled. “For one, she has been one of the most protected noblewomen since birth. For another, everyone would have seen her grow up.”

Eric cast a very brief look at Kat. He had said the exact same thing …

“Enough with your games. Who do you believe to be the first witch? You don’t seem concerned that she has been amassing great power in order to banish you to the Forest of the Afterlife,” Brendan barked while shifting to the edge of his seat.

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes, but then …

He froze.

His expression turned serious, and he peered around the room with keen alertness. “What just happened?”

Everyone blinked and frowned in confusion.

Leo rose from his seat on the bench and moved to stand beside his master, making Faucher draw his sword.

“Just now … there was magic … but … not witch magic … it … it felt almost like mage magic, but … it … wasn’t …” Samuel turned to look up at Mage Sebastian, who faltered under the sudden attention from the devil.

“Nothing happened. You’re stalling,” Eric interjected with his voice rising in frustration.

“No, no. Something happened that none of you noticed … I don’t know how to explain it … Something … Some magic occurred … but I see no traces of it …” This time when the devil regarded the noblewomen under investigation, he did so with what some could mistake as mild panic.

Ladies Sarah and Wynonna cowered, Lady Rebecca held her ground, as did Lady Kezia, though she breathed a little more quickly …

“You know … Your Highness …” the devil started while turning toward Eric. Do you happen to remember how I said I’d send you a little gift last we spoke in Vessa?”

The prince’s eyes narrowed in response.

“You never received it, did you?”

Faucher began to descend the throne steps quietly, his sword at the ready, making Leo move in front of the devil protectively, his weaponless hands raised.

“He’s a water witch, Faucher. Be careful,” Mr. Kraft warned loudly.

Leo made a hissing sound of annoyance between his teeth, and it made Faucher slow his descent.

Kat stood up from the steps and joined Eric’s side as this happened.

“I had tried to let you know that your assistant, Mr. Thomas Julian, is loyal to a certain man named Likon, and he seems to tamper with correspondence when he sees fit … Or it could be that Likon is the one feeding him information and telling him what to do.”

“What the hell does Likon have to do with the first witch besides the fact that either she or you kidnapped him?!” Kat almost lunged for the devil, but Eric held up an arm to hold her back, the prince’s stare had turned hard at this piece of information.

“Well, I’d be interested to know a few things about him, like whom he spent time with, how often he was meeting romantically with Lady Katarina’s maid, or possibly interacting with these noblewomen here … I know my own sources saw him gathering all kinds of information.”

“You haven’t a clue who the first witch is, do you?” Katarina laughed indignantly while listening to the devil change the course of the discussion with news of Thomas Julian’s betrayal.

“I don’t,” the devil confessed instantly, startling everyone into silence. “But I have a hunch that the prince’s assistant, who has been moonlighting as an informant to his uncle Likon might have some insight.”

“Where did you even hear about this?” Kat insisted while moving the rest of the way around Eric’s outstretched arm as she bore down on the devil, who ambled over to stand in front of her with an unimpressed eyebrow raise. Her fury over his implication toward Likon’s shady activities was eclipsing any sense of danger.

“I noticed the boy writing a letter to your dear Likon back when we first met. This was when I was posing as a wine merchant and your carriage had stopped. It didn’t take long to figure things out from there once I looked into everyone named Likon associated with the Ashowan family. And Likon’s nephew, Thomas Julian, just so happened to be serving the prince!”

Brendan’s fist pounded against his armrest, drawing everyone’s attention to him as he glared down at the devil. “Enough. We are wasting time as an army marches closer. Go fetch the boy, and we will see if he can point out who is the—”

A gurgling, gasping sound stopped the king’s words.

Everyone turned to see Leo Zephin with his eyes wide, his face ashen, words cut from his body from an attack that came from behind …

“LEO!” The devil rounded in alarm to see the final moments of the man who had grown up beside him as a brother for his 142nd life. By the time Sam had processed what he saw, however, Leochra Zephin, the legendary mercenary, was dead.

His body fell to the floor in a heap. In the next instant, a blade whipped through the air, a stream of water wrapped around its handle, that then plunged the dagger into Kat’s side. She let out a yelp and half leapt, half fell back into Eric, who caught her just as the blade was yanked free of her and snapped back into the hand of its owner. Kat gasped as Eric slowly lowered her to the floor.

“Oh Gods, Kat? Kat, you’ll be alright!” Eric immediately said as he looked at the location of blooming blood beneath her tunic and at least had enough clarity of mind to see that it wasn’t a fatal injury. However, the prince didn’t have much time to process or say anything else as his wife lay in his arms, her hands grasping her new wound.

Meanwhile the devil stared into the new face of his sister.

His sister, whom he hadn’t seen or spoken to in centuries. He was pale, but a small space beside his nose twitched as he tried to jeer but didn’t succeed. When he squared himself to her, his movements were clumsy with shock as he watched her reach up and tear off her hair covering.

“It’s been a few years, Aradia.”

She gave a breathy laugh, her eyes wild as she still wielded the dagger in her hand. “Sam, you look awful. You should’ve known better than to interact with a family our parents bestowed so many gifts to.”

“Me? You just stabbed one of them.”

While the otherworldly brother and sister shared a charged exchange, Faucher finished descending the steps stealthily. Brendan rose to his feet, his hand drawing his own sword, while Alina also stood with a shaky breath as she tried to process the shock, her hand reaching behind her back toward something hiddin on the throne.

“Oh … Gods …” Kat was panting in pain as she said the words, but she couldn’t help it.

There, with her hair unbound, wearing an expression no one had ever seen on her face as she stared with a mixture of hate and coolness at the devil, was the first witch.

Though while the devil had called her Aradia, everyone else had come to know her as …

Lady Wynonna Vesey.