The Burning Witch 3: A Humorous Romantic Fantasy

CHAPTER 62 HOMEWARD BOUND HEROES

Kraken glared at the kitten, who was in the process of having a leisurely stretch in front of the fire while yawning.

He lowered his head and padded closer.

“Now that the battle has ended, little familiar, you have much to explain.”

Pina turned her head so that she stared at Kraken upside down, her ears flattening against the carpet.

Kraken could tell that if a human were nearby, they would be helpless to her charms.

Seating himself in front of her, the empurror waited, his air of disapproval palpable.

“I will not simply let you be should you pretend not to be able to speak again.”

Pina rolled back over to rest on her belly, shook her head, licked her lips … and purred.

“I wasn’t sure what kind of cat you were.” Her voice was young, but sweet …

Kraken’s tail twitched. “Speak plainly.”

“Well … My witch kept talking about how great you were—”

“Naturally.”

“How you are the empurror of Daxaria—”

“All this is true, yes.”

“And how you could relay what I say to my witch.”

The fluffy empurror huffed. “I have yet to glean the reasoning for your deception.”

“What if you decided you wanted to be the only powerful familiar? You could lie about what I said. You could turn me into a villain.”

“Your age is apparent. Don’t you know it is a familiar’s sacred duty to serve their witch well? I am the familiar to the mighty house witch. It would not be appropriate for me to interfere with the harmony of our family,” Kraken scoffed.

“That may be true for your relationship with your witch, but … What if I want my own land? Will the great empurror share his kingdom?”

Kraken stilled, and Pina started to smile.

“What do you need with such power? My witch’s destiny is to create a harmonious home for those he cares for. It is best that I offer my influence to help him achieve that.”

“My witch is prone to trouble. I need to help her escape those situations. Her destiny is to burn away the darkness and the bad. I bring out the good in people, and that makes her calling that much easier to fulfill.”

Kraken fell silent.

Pina stood while slipping into another languid stretch as she flexed her claws. “I am charm, sweetness, and soft as the Goddess’s touch. I rule the hearts of the good, and I needed to be sure that you, Empurror Kraken, were one of the good.”

The empurror stared down at Pina and lowered his chin.

A charged moment passed between the two felines.

Kraken then abruptly tackled her to the ground, kicking her back legs, and smothering her face in his chest fur.

Pina tried to squirm her way out of his hold, but there was too much fluff to battle against.

She was about to start yowling for help when a low rumble sounded in her ear.

“Not bad, little familiar, but we’re going to have to train you up.”

Pina paused in her struggle, realizing that this impromptu wrestling was better intentioned than she had originally interpreted.

After a moment of scuffle, Kraken eventually released her from the hold, though he reached out a large paw and rested it on her forehead.

“It was good of you to speak up during the battle and that you were able to convince the golems to help.”

Pina sighed and ducked out from under Kraken’s paw. “The first witch and devil will come back.”

Kraken chirped. “Yes. After all this, I’m beginning to suspect what my witch heard foretold from the Goddess decades ago is not about our dear burning witch …”

Pina squinted. She had no idea the prophetic words the Gods had uttered back when Finlay Ashowan had died …

Sensing her confusion, Kraken purred mightily. “The Goddess declared that a child of my witch’s would help a being she cares about … We can surmise the being is either the devil or first witch but … I am starting to suspect that it may in fact be Tamlin Ashowan who is destined to help the Goddess’s offspring.”

The kitten listened, sitting primly.

His dramatic announcement weighed down the mood of the darkening room as his musings rang with truth …

However, the moment was ruined when Pina then took it upon herself to get even with the empurror and flung him to the ground with a flying leap.

The rest of the evening was spent engaging in races around the castle to see who was fastest (Pina), and who was strongest (Kraken), but after a while, they both forgot about the more serious matters and instead enjoyed having what some might call the starting of what could be a long friendship blooming.

Three months after the battle with the first witch …

Kat stared at the nearing shore with a beaming smile, her hands gripping the railing as she leaned her head back and let out a long breath.

“I. Can’t. Wait. To. Be. HOME!” she crowed loudly without a care in the world.

At long last, she was almost back in Daxaria.

While her father had tried to arrange for them all to leave at least a month earlier, the poor weather conditions and Kat wanting to stay longer to help Alina solidify her position in the council took more time.

However, after the battle, not much really needed to be done to promote Alina’s image as a hardened Troivackian woman, as several powerful men had seen her violent acts during the attack.

What had actually wound up being a significantly larger amount of work was managing all the new responsibilities that the council felt she could handle—and of course hiring new handmaidens.

Lady Kezia had been officially appointed as the Royal Court Mage, and Lady Sarah had begun the process of taking over as the next head of her household—she begrudgingly admitted Katarina had given her the courage to do so. This meant every handmaiden position had to be filled.

Dana was hired as Alina’s handmaiden, though she was known to antagonize Sir Cleophus Miller a great deal whenever they crossed paths. Faucher permitted Sir Cas to continue teaching the women who wished to learn to fight, though he still hadn’t come around to allowing his daughter to join. Despite this, by the time Kat set sail, she knew it was only a matter of time. Especially as Alina had sternly informed the military leader he was to stop giving Dana new dogs, meaning he had no other means of placating his daughter’s displeasure.

Mage Sebastian and Mr. Kraft had departed a fortnight after the battle to try to find any mysteriously appearing infants who could be the reincarnated devil …

The first witch’s invention, Chronos, was to remain in Troivack to be studied, but her dagger was to return with Finlay Ashowan to be kept safe with the Coven of Wittica.

Piers, Conrad, and Dante gave a tearful farewell to their father’s best student—though Kat was already well aware that the only reason for Dante’s upset was that he had to say goodbye to Pina …

Lady Rebecca Devark didn’t find poop in her shoes again, though she did find an unfathomable amount of cat hair in her food and beverages. Despite this, even the impenetrable former queen had started softening a little over the recent months as well.

When asked about her short hair style, she admitted to having had cut it when her boys were young, shortly after her husband’s death, as it seemed more efficient, but she knew it was unladylike …

A fact that Kat teased her endlessly about.

Suffice it to say, the former queen had eagerly helped Kat pack for her trip back to Daxaria.

Caleb Herra had taken over as the head of his house given that his father had been a part of the coup and his older brother was dead. The poor man barely had time to come out and grunt whenever Kat had taken it upon herself to visit, as he was flooded with new responsibilities.

And while Joshua Ball was not being considered for taking the place of his half brother, he had started visiting Elyse Ball more frequently while he started preparing to take his knight’s exam the following year.

Best yet, by the time of Kat’s departure, Alina found that she was once again feeling more like herself, though she had her good days and bad … It helped that for the first time since setting foot on Troivackian soil, she felt genuinely welcomed and as though she was making a difference in a relatively safe environment.

Yes, everything had more or less wrapped up, save for the fact that the devil was out there somewhere … and he may have a small vendetta against them all … While the first witch lived in her new prison, far underneath the city of Vessa, where only a handful of people knew how to find.

A hand clasping Kat’s shoulder distracted her from her thoughts and had her turning around to see Eric wearing a white tunic and loose trousers that fluttered in the fair sea wind.

She reached up and gripped his hand in return, then leaned back and gave him a quick kiss.

“Are you happy that we’re finally back? And please don’t talk about the honeymoon again. You know we can’t leave for another two months at the earliest after we tell everyone about our marriage, and I have to go through the stupid coronation …”

Eric laughed a little and proceeded to wrap his arms around Kat’s waist and rest his chin on her shoulder.

“I am excited to be back, yes.”

Kat nodded her head. “Good.”

Eric nuzzled her neck, making her squawk in response.

“By the way, I kept forgetting to ask, but back when we first told your father—and he was angry with us—you said you had a plan. I don’t think I ever heard what that was …”

Tilting her head back and letting out a laugh, Kat enlightened her husband. “Ah, that! I was thinking of baking him a pie and talking about emotional things … Maybe while Pina was on my shoulder.”

“You can cook?” Eric asked without fully hiding his skepticism.

“Oh, I’m terrible at both baking and cooking. I tend to burn things. I was just hoping that between my sincerity and him never wanting me to make him anything ever again he’d choose to forgive us a little.”

Eric chuckled. It had been a fantastic plan, though in the end they didn’t need it.

“Are you really okay with leaving Likon in Troivack?” the prince asked suddenly.

Though he had been checking in regularly ever since Likon’s punishment had been decided, Eric could sense his wife’s unhappiness, and so found himself repeatedly asking the question.

Kat sighed and proceeded to turn around to face Eric more directly. “Of course I wish he could come home, but … I recognize he still had Thomas Julian reporting your activities, and that’s illegal. Even if it was to make sure I was safe …”

Eric raised an eyebrow, sensing that his wife was needling him.

“Plus, he wasn’t the one telling Likon to tamper with your correspondence!”

“We still need proof of that. Hence the duration of his punishment,” Eric reminded her seriously. “If he can find his nephew while serving as His Majesty’s assistant before the ten years of his term is up, then he can be released and come home.”

“Yeah, yeah … At least I know Brendan and Alina will bring him when they visit in the next three to five years …”

Kat’s eyes fell to Eric’s chest glumly.

Her deflated mood was unacceptable to the prince, and so he picked her up and sat her on the railing of the ship, making sure to hold her steady, though he knew she wouldn’t fall overboard so easily.

“Come on, you know we still have the absolute best event of our lives coming up.”

Kat smiled shyly and looked down at her lap.

“Do you … Do you think it’ll help things … ?”

“We both know the answer to that,” Eric affirmed while dropping his forehead to hers, then kissing her. “Alina already wrote to Reese Flint to have the painter ready for when we tell Mr. Howard the news that we’re married and your father is my in-law. Now let’s finish packing below deck. Also, can you please remind Sir Cleophus about boundaries when it comes to our chamber? I don’t care if he thinks Pina needs to be guarded while napping.”

Kat laughed and after grasping her husband’s hand followed him back below deck.

Meanwhile, from the upper deck of the ship, Fin and Annika watched their daughter, wearing content smiles.

“I admit it … I did not predict anything that happened for Kat in Troivack,” Annika lamented with a sigh.

Fin grinned and kissed his wife on the side of the head. “Things turned out even better for her, right?”

“She really has given up wearing dresses though.”

“What is the big deal about her wearing trousers exactly?”

“I just think she looks nicer in dresses … And I always had to dress while keeping everyone else in mind for how I wanted to manipulate them or to hide myself …” Annika explained quietly, looking ever so slightly as though she were pouting.

Taken aback by this new detail about his wife, Fin felt himself somehow fall even more in love with her as he realized just how much she had wanted to give their daughter a better life than her own …

After overcoming his surprise, Fin laughed softly. “Well, who knows? Maybe you’ll have granddaughters you can dress up as you please. I’m sure Kat won’t mind until the children express otherwise.”

The duchess’s brown eyes flew up to her husband. “She shouldn’t have children for at least another year! She needs to prepare for taking on more responsibilities for the crown, and amidst that, His Highness is adamant about the long honeymoon, and—”

“You and I both know trying to make Kat follow any sort of plan that is not her own won’t go well.” The duke sighed with a smile, his blue eyes lowering thoughtfully.

Annika’s gaze, on the other hand, narrowed.

“You know something.”

Fin jolted in alarm.

“You should retire from the spy business; you’re starting to get far too suspicious of everything I say—”

“Fin, I swear to the Gods, did she tell you that she’s—” The duchess wielded her finger up into her husband’s face as he held up his hands in surrender.

“She doesn’t know herself yet! So don’t be mad at her.”

Annika froze. Utterly shocked.

She had thought her husband had been teasing her.

“Fin … are you … serious … ?! Kat is … She … I’m going to be a grandmother?!”

Fin couldn’t help it—hearing Annika say the word grandmother had his face splitting into the biggest smile his cheeks could hold.

“I sensed it two days ago at dinner. Kat was craving lamb, but there was another little someone craving honey cakes …”

Annika’s lips pressed together, her eyes widened and watered.

At first, Fin didn’t know what she was going to say or how she would react. Would she be angry that their daughter was getting herself into a new world of trouble that would last a lifetime?

But then, as only she could do, his wife surprised him for a second time that day and let out a shrieking cheer before leaping into his arms.

“Gods, you really want a girl to dress up, don’t you?” Fin laughed but relished in the happy embrace as they celebrated the news that they would be grandparents in the near future … not that their daughter or her husband had any idea just yet …

Ah well. It was one of the perks of being a house witch.