CHAPTER 57 A RELIEVING REVIVAL
The morning before the arrival of the first witch …
Kat stared over her father’s sleeping body, her magic humming, and her energy levels unparalleled.
Her mother, Lady Annika Ashowan, stood silently behind her with the Coven of Aguas’s leader, Mr. Kraft, at her side.
“Right … Mr. Kraft, I’ve apparently been bolstering other people around me without realizing it … Shouldn’t I be able to direct it more specifically if I want to?”
“In theory, yes,” the coven leader began. “You recall how you are able to feel and sense your magic within yourself? Have you ever tried to examine how it flows from your body and interacts with people or things outside of yourself?”
Kat furrowed her brows, though she didn’t look away from her father. “I can’t say I have.”
“Then try starting with that. You see, I believe that if you identify this flow of your power, you can manage how it is routed.”
“Your father has said his magic has a relationship with all the items in the home, and, therefore, they work with him. It could be your magic connects to others,” Annika volunteered quietly to her daughter.
While Kat had been feeling significantly more confident since regaining her strength thanks to the efforts of the Coven of Aguas, her mouth twisted to the left worriedly while she closed her eyes. What if Mr. Kraft and her mother were wrong and she couldn’t sense anything?
She focused on the brilliant, blazing ball of magic in her chest that was whirling and dancing merrily. It was happy to once again burn as brightly as it wished to.
Part of Kat felt afraid to even attempt seeing what her magic could do outside of her body, as though prodding it would somehow make some new catastrophe occur …
So when she turned her attention to the faint threads of her magic she hadn’t ever given much thought to, the ones that drifted free of the core of her power that she considered the same as sparks that would burn to ash away from her, she half expected to find nothing.
Only … she found they weren’t ash … Not at all … She could feel … tiny, easy to ignore tugs on the wispy lines drifting away from her power.
She felt a thread going toward … Alina.
Kat recognized the feeling of her friend on the other side of her magic. She wasn’t sure how, but it was as though … she could sense her friend’s presence there with her …
Resisting the urge to blink her eyes open, Kat shifted her focus to another thread … This one burned hotter than many of the others …
Eric.
She could feel her love for him, but could feel that as she freely gave her love, her magic blended in with the emotion quietly …
At this she couldn’t help but open her eyes and look to Mr. Kraft.
“What was it that triggered a great output of my magic to these other people? I could feel my connections with Alina and Eric, but his is stronger than hers.”
Mr. Kraft tilted his head thoughtfully. “It could have something to do with how much you want to help or protect them, or how much of your emotional energy you expend on them. Similar to how you can absorb intentions toward yourself, you can send power out. Honestly, I would not have considered this were it not for your father’s insights, but … really, the Goddess knew what she was doing when she crafted you.” He chuckled in awe. “She made it so that as long as you yourself were balanced, your abilities had the means to balance themselves as well. I imagine your coven had no idea how to approach this, as it is completely different due to your technically being a mutated witch.” The coven leader’s colorful eyes started to shine a little brighter.
“What do you mean so long as I was balanced?”
Mr. Kraft shifted and looked a little sheepish. “Lady Katarina, it could be that you are more … open with others now, and more transparent in your true thoughts and feelings. Leader Faucher expressed concern that you wouldn’t be able to do such a thing, but I had no idea it would go so far as to affect your magic. I was so focused on the intensity of what you had locked within you, that I never thought to look at the threads of what left you.”
Kat was at a loss for words. On one hand, she felt horribly, ridiculously embarrassed. On the other, the coven leader wasn’t wrong. She had started opening herself up to more people. She’d been honest with Faucher about her feelings more times than she could count. The same happened with Sir Cas, Alina … And of course, she’d been the most open with Eric …
She knew in that moment, that while she hadn’t meant to expend quite so much power, she wouldn’t have been able to come as far as she wanted to in every other area of her life had she remained as guarded as she had once been before.
Feeling bolstered by the coven leader’s insight and her own self-reflection, Kat returned her attention to her father. If she could find her connection with him, then maybe she could push enough magic at him and wake him up.
Kat closed her eyes again and searched for the magical link between her and her father …
At first, she couldn’t sense anything, and she started to panic … But then, there was a fluttering ribbon of blue wrapped around a faded flicker flowing from her magic.
She turned her power toward it and almost started weeping with joy. There he was, and … his own magic was encircling her own like a bow that had been tied there her whole life.
With her eyes still closed, Kat smiled.
Alright … Easy does it now …
She pressed a tiny bit against her thriving ball of magic near where her father’s wisp dangled and all but jumped in surprise as a healthy amount of power gushed out. The thread thickened to the likes of a vein, rushing full of her power toward her da.
There was a slight shifting beneath her hand …
Might as well give him a little more. We are less than a day away from actual combat.
A fraction more of her magic poured out. It wasn’t anywhere near enough to hinder her own abilities, but it was hot, and—
A warm hand grabbed her wrist.
“Kat.”
The croaking voice of Finlay Ashowan made Kat’s eyes snap open.
When she stared down into the waking face of her father, she burst into tears in an instant.
“Da, Da, I’m so sorry!” Kat flung her arms around her father.
Fin let out a small oomph but returned his daughter’s embrace, though he was still bleary and trying to fully wake.
“It’s alright, Kitty Kat,” he soothed gently. “I know it wasn’t your fault.”
Kat couldn’t respond, she just kept weeping …
Fin kissed the side of her head, then slid his gaze over to his wife, who was smiling in relief. She gave him a small nod. He returned it in understanding.
Mr. Kraft cleared his throat and bowed. “I will go inform His Highness that Duke Ashowan has awoken.”
Once the chamber door had closed behind the coven leader, Annika rounded the bed to the opposite side her daughter stood on and climbed on so that she, too, could join the embrace.
While the duchess had been able to manage on her own, her world only turned right when she could see her husband’s beautiful blue eyes glimmering back at her.
She held his gaze as their daughter sobbed into his shoulder and thought some well-worn words … Man that I love … man of my dreams … father of my children … Thank the Gods you’re back. We would not have won this battle without you, and life is unbearable without you at my side.
Eric stepped into the duke’s chamber wearing armor he had thankfully packed for his time in Troivack, though in putting it on he was unpleasantly reminded of his young assistant’s alleged betrayal as he struggled with tying on the more difficult pieces. While Sir Vohn was fortunately available to help the prince … the traitorous Thomas Julian weighed heavily on Eric’s mind.
The young, na?ve boy, who had been so eager to help and serve him … was Likon’s nephew, and he had been reporting on the prince’s activities and tampering with his correspondence.
A massive, surprising breach of trust.
When it came to keeping tabs on him, Eric could have possibly forgiven him if it had been done at Likon’s orders to ensure Katarina was protected. However, when he discovered that his assistant had in fact tampered with his correspondence and disappeared somewhere during the first witch and devil’s confrontation, he was in far less of an open-minded disposition.
Despite the news that Finlay Ashowan was once again awake, Eric could not entirely free himself of these dark thoughts, even when he had received news that the duke had summoned him to his chamber.
When Eric laid eyes on Fin, he found him pulling on a navy blue coat. While the house witch had a sword at his side, he didn’t wear a speck of armor.
While some people may think this a foolish move, the truth was Finlay Ashowan found he could fight better without it. Between his ability to heal and his shield, he rarely missed having that layer of protection.
“Glad to see you’ve recovered,” Eric started as a greeting while closing the door behind him.
Fin briefly glanced over his shoulder as he finished pulling the collar of his coat straight, a peculiar expression on his face when he looked at his son-in-law.
“Thank you,” the house witch responded casually. He then moved over to a long sturdy chest in his room. “I know I called you here when we are about to be attacked, but there was something I wanted to give you before the fighting started.”
Eric’s brows twitched together, his mind slowly pulling free of thoughts of betrayal and war.
Fin crouched down, unlocked the chest, and lifted from its depths … a sword.
It was a magnificent weapon. Its sheath was made of black leather and decorated in silver, the hilt already polished to a gleam.
Eric’s stomach flipped when he recognized exactly which weapon it was.
“This is the sword Captain Antonio gave you the day you became a master of the sword. You were sixteen. An impressively young age to have earned that title, but it was because you loved it. You spent hours every day studying, and even helping your friends improve and learn. Captain Antonio had this made for you with your style and size in mind. It was crafted specifically for you, and I know … he was proud. He knew you’d be a great king just from seeing you learn this discipline alone.”
Eric swallowed with difficulty.
“You sent this sword back to Austice shortly after your mother died and a few months later you went missing. I’m given to understand you haven’t touched this sword since.”
The prince’s hands gripped into fists.
“Why do you have that?”
Fin had been slowly walking back over to Eric as he spoke of the late Captain Antonio.
“I brought this because I hoped that maybe … you’d come back to yourself during your time here in Troivack. And the way I see it, as of right now, you’re a married man aiding your sister’s army to defend against beings from another realm. I’d say you’ve more than regained the right to wield this sword.”
Eric was starting to shake his head, his heart pounding. “I’m not—”
“Eric … I’m sorry, again, for how I’ve failed you, but just as my daughter has grown as a person and has every right to be proud of what she has accomplished, you have the same right. It’s okay to forgive yourself.”
“I’m not a better person than I was, Fin.”
The house witch’s face hardened as he stopped a foot from the prince. “Just because you forgive yourself doesn’t mean you aren’t finished working on yourself, Eric. It just means you don’t want to be the same person you were before or make the same mistakes, and you will continue to try to improve. That alone is enough to be proud of.”
Eric’s thumb rubbed the side of his fist before he gingerly raised his hand, uncurled it, and grasped the handle of the sword Fin offered to him.
His heart raced as he stared down at the weapon and thought back to Captain Antonio the day he had gifted him the sword … his one clear blue eye proud and bright …
He could still hear his mother and father cheering from the sidelines with Alina, who had no idea of the significance of what was happening at eight years old, but who had clapped just as enthusiastically as everyone else.
For years, it had been the proudest moment of his life.
Fin’s hand rested on his shoulder. “I think it’s time we rejoin everyone.”
Eric swallowed and lifted his eyes to meet the duke’s.
After years of nightmares and pain … he was staring at his best friend … holding his own sword …
Before he could say a word, however, an excessive stroking noise at the door interrupted them.
Knowing exactly what was making such a sound, Fin stepped around Eric and opened the door to stare expectantly down into Kraken’s face.
“Witch, come. The daughter of the Gods is nearly here, and I have a new plan.”
Fin looked over his shoulder at Eric, his warm expression morphed to one of seriousness.
“It’s time. Are you ready, Your Highness?”
The prince faced the doorway. “Yes. I’m ready to get this over with and take Kat on one hell of a honeymoon.”
Fin recoiled. “Keep those plans to yourself, please.”
Eric smiled mischievously. “What? I would’ve thought the house witch would love the idea of becoming a grandfather.”
“Eric, we were having a nice moment just now, do you really have to—”
“I could ask Mr. Howard to babysit.”
Fin paused at the mention of the king of Daxaria’s assistant, who infamously loathed—though respected—the house witch thanks to his antics and a certain rumor about the two having been in a torrid love affair years ago …
“He did escape being around Kat and Tam growing up because your family was in Rollom on the other side of the kingdom …” Fin grinned to himself.
“Exactly. Now imagine you as a grandfather, Kat as their mother, and they are now part of the royal family.”
The two men exited the chamber, momentarily distracted from the battle that was fast approaching the castle doorstep, as they couldn’t help but enjoy a shared reprieve from the heavy atmosphere as they further reflected on dear Mr. Kevin Howard’s future. The poor man didn’t even know Eric and Kat were married …
It was important to remember there were happy times yet to come as they descended into battle.