Tam stood with his hands in his pockets, Eli at his side with her arms folded stubbornly, and Luca, Gods bless him, tried to imitate his father though he added a threatening scowl.

“It’s ridiculous! Why would we travel by boat to Gondol? It’s faster to take the carriage!” Lady Marigold trilled at the coven member’s face.

Odette Gilly, the Daxarian Coven of Wittica representative that had joined the group shortly after the luncheon hour, shrugged coolly, “The coven doesn’t want anyone escaping while they travel to Gondol. We have to investigate whether or not Lord Tamlin’s claims are true regarding his marriage with Her Highness.”

“This wasn’t mentioned to us before,” Duke Harris noted, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the Daxarian coven member. “Why now?”

“Because now it is a whole other matter that Her Highness is allegedly married to Lord Tamlin! If they are lying–”

“A very dangerous accusation,” Tam observed evenly.

The Daxarian coven member’s eyes flit in his direction only briefly before addressing Duke Harris.

Tam’s gut churned.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The Daxarian coven should be acting protectively of him…

“A ship is the safest place to prevent escape,” Odette repeated dismissively. “Now, I have sent word with a member of the Giong Coven for two vessels. In the meantime, Lord Tamlin, Your Highness, you will wait here under heavy guard.” She then proceeded to swing back around to give orders to the armed men that still milled about in the confusion.

Tam felt Eli stiffen at his side, and even Harris was frowning.

Odette was a water witch, though she wasn’t one of the witches with unique physical attributes. She had shoulder length black hair, and clear blue eyes, with a sprinkling of freckles over her nose. She was near the same age as Eli, perhaps a little younger, but her haughty confidence worried Tam for a multitude of reasons.

Harris sidled back over to his nephew while Lady Marigold and her husband started to whisper back and forth to each other. “Tam, I don’t like this. I hadn’t noticed it on the ship when I traveled with the coven members, but… Things don’t feel right.”

“Now you see why I started talking about a revolt. The corruption in the Giong Coven might only be a fraction of what’s going on,” Tam said in a murmur.

“Easy there, Tam. Bloodshed is not a fun thing.”

“I’m aware.”

“Do you, though?” Duke Harris didn’t mask his dubious tone.

Tam didn’t comment further on his expertise with fighting, and instead went on to say, “Soo Hebin has ties to the slave trade, they might be trying to get us on the water to corner us and kill us.”

“They wouldn’t plot murder around you or myself lightly, Tam. Though I admit, it is questionable; this order that you be placed on a ship.”

Movement halted both the duke and Tam’s discussion. They turned to watch as Lady Marigold and her husband returned to their carriage, said a few words with the Daxarian coven member, then stepped into the vehicle.

Concerned, Harris tilted his head and started walking toward the carriage.

Tam looked over his shoulder where Jeong loitered innocuously. “I think we might be making a run for it sooner than later.”

The Zinferan cringed. “I don’t know how good of an idea that is right now.”

“Getting on a ship isn’t the worst thing depending how close to shore they stay,” Eli contributed.

“You told me about one of the traders that worked closely with Lord Yangban, aren’t you worried they’ll contact him to come?”

“Of course I am. In fact it is almost too obvious.” Eli sighed.

“Well, we can still try to escape by jumping in the water,” Jeong suggested.

“Not with the water witch accompanying us. Not to mention the air witch,” Tam reminded while eyeing Harris an the aforementioned air witch who had hungback during Odette’s confrontation.

Harris appeared to be in a heated discussion with his half sister at that moment.

“That leaves my original plan, too.” Eli looked at Tam expectantly.

“I don’t like your plan. A lot can go wrong,” he retorted firmly. “Besides, even if we all go into the void, when we eventually come back out, this area will most likely be crawling with guards.”

“Tam you took Lord Kim into your void and moved from his office to our room in Junya. We’ve never officially tested how far you can move with someone.”

“There are four of us!” Tam interjected. “I had to fall asleep immediately after when it was just Lord Kim I was moving!”

Eli made an agitated noise. “Right now, it looks like the Coven of Wittica and the Coven of Giong are in cahoots. And they are taking their orders from Soo Hebin.”

“And or the first witch,” Tam added helpfully with a grim note.

Eli nodded. “The first witch wants ‘the devil’, Soo Hebin wants me dead. I’m tricky right now because I’m tied to you. But they can’t prove how I’m tied to you… Even if they summon Captain Woo to kill me, it opens up all kinds of vulnerabilities to Soo Hebin. The only threat that we would have no real safety against would be if there are any of the other concubines who would see my death as an opportunity to partner up with the Ashowan family and bring Daxaria into the fold.”

Luca stared between Eli and Tam, utterly lost as to what in the world was happening.

“Do you think Soo Hebin will risk exposing herself like that?” Tam asked next.

“I think she will bide her time to double check if we are or are not married. If she finds out we aren’t, there is less risk, and she hates me enough to go forward with having me taken out of the portrait. She’d probably send a bird to Captain Woo to do away with me while we travel to Gondol,” Eli explained.

“We can become the pretentious nobles that we somewhat are and dig in our heels, demanding better treatment and refusing to get on the ship,” Tam suggested next.

“That’ll go over better for you than it will with me what with the well planted rumors that I eloped with a peasant boy. My character is dubious to the Zinferans at best. Even with our alleged marriage. The other rumor has gained traction already. So I doubt people are placing much stock in this new claim.”

Tam made a grumbling sound in the back of his throat.

“Alright. We get on a ship. We try and make a break to shore at some point. I can try practicing vanishing into the void with all of you while on the ship.”

Eli nodded glumly.

Jeong cleared his throat in assent.

“What if they try to split us up?” Luca voiced aloud suddenly.

Both Tam and Eli looked down then back up at each other at the same time.

“Then I have to resort to plan a,” Tam said softly.

“What’s plan a?” Luca wondered with a tilt of his head.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Plan a means you close your eyes and hide with me,” Jeong grasped Luca’s shoulders, his defeated tone undisguised.

Tam gave an apologetic half smile at Jeong, who reluctantly nodded in understanding.

Even he realized how precarious their situation was.

Reaching over, Tam grasped Eli’s hand, and gave a reassuring smile. “If only I could tell them how seasick I get. Then maybe they’d think again about being trapped on a boat with me.”

Eli laughed. “Do you think you’d be able to aim while getting sick?”

“Only way to find out is to try!” Tam grinned.

“Eww!” Luca slapped his hand over his eyes, though he was giggling.

Little did they know, Duke Oscar Harris was eyeing them from afar.

The Daxarian nobleman noted the way Tam interacted with his niece, and the way they looked at each other.

Despite the nefarious schemes they were caught in, Harris gave a chuckle.

Gods, Fin. The coin I would pay to see your reaction to what your son has found here…

***

“You expect me to believe that you’ve been lying in wait for the first witch to escape this whole time?” Katarina scoffed as she stared down at Thomas Julian who knelt before her.

She still had her sword drawn, though she had its tip resting against the wooden planks of the floor.

“It’s true! I didn’t want to betray His Majesty! But when I met Ansar, he told me how even if she failed, she had done enough work that once freed again, she would be able to finish executing her plans!” the young man argued passionately.

Kat rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I have no reason to believe you, and I don’t. You want something. Or you’re trying to play both sides in the event things don’t work out. Get up. I’m having you arrested.”

“No! Please! Please, I really… I just want to help! I can tell you what the first witch is trying to do!”

“Not interested.”

“No, Your Majesty, it is so much worse than you think! Even the Coven of Wittica has been corrupted!”

Kat had been on her way to alert the guards that there was an intruder in her room, but froze.

“The first witch long ago worked with Louise Riddel to gradually start persuading coven members to separate from serving the king, and instead create its own sect. A temple for the covens to reside in and operate under that would govern its own independent land, and hold records of all witches. The temple hierarchy would be in charge of sending out witches as they deemed fit. Not under the control of the king!”

Kat slowly turned her body toward Thomas as he spoke.

“It’s already in motion! She’s arranged for this in Zinfera regardless of whoever takes the crown. She knows Troivack follows Daxaria closely… It’s all set for this take over.”

“Then why–” Kat cleared her throat that felt thick. “Then why are you telling me? It sounds like a lost cause.”

“Look I… I’m not a witch. I know I have no say over how this should go, but the kind of take over she is describing will not be a peaceful one, and if your husband, His Majesty, refuses? It’ll be a war against all the covens and humans. Especially if Zinfera sides with the covens, things will be…” Thomas Julian looked around the room as he searched for the words. “It’s going to be bad.”

“Not all witches can be in agreement with this. Otherwise they would’ve already brought this up to my father,” Kat pointed out, her grip around her sword hilt tightening.

“Not all, no. Mostly it’s the younger members that have sided with the first witch.”

“How did the first witch do this?”

“She has followers, and she helped get them positions as teachers for the covens. And well… If you control the education, you can control their point of view. She plotted this out for years.”

Kat pinched the bridge of her nose. “Godsdamnit. So she wants the covens to lead some sort of religion? That’s ridiculously dangerous to the balance of their existence amongst the people!”

“She thinks as the daughter of the Gods that she is more than capable of helping the kingdom’s transition to this new era.”

Cursing, the Daxarian queen dropped her hand. “So, how do we stop her?”

Thomas Julian turned sheepish, and it was like he was the same fifteen year old boy Kat remembered.

“You… You’re you, Your Majesty. And you have your family, and then there were sightings of the devil…”

Kat’s head dropped back. “My family is great, don’t get me wrong, and we battled this twit before, but now we’re talking covens full of witches and kingdoms! That isn’t just a couple of people we have to—”

“But it is! If you can somehow defeat the devil and the first witch again things will be alright!”

Kat sighed. “What if I agree that witches should be separated from the monarchy or government…? It’s true it’s a whole difficult matter to manage. It would open a lot of tax coin back up to help support the other citizens— Gods, I’m so boring now…” Kat lamented at the end to herself.

“But what if there are witches that don’t want to belong to the temple?”

“So you’re saying she would enforce that witches obey the temple?”

“Yes!”

“Like a monarchy forces its people to obey?”

“Yes—it’s worse though, because the hierarchy she is proposing would most likely surpass the human leaders, the covens would act as overseers to all areas! And the covens would use magic to enforce it.”

“Alright, I agree that that is not good. But those are terms that can be dealt with during negotiations. If there is one annoying lesson I’ve had to learn, it’s that a deal with teeth often turns to a gummy old dog by the end of a hellish amount of paperwork.” Kat shrugged.

“Do you really think the first witch is going to bow to any conditions you make? She’ll tell you it will have to be her way, or none at all!”

Kat’s gaze rolled to the ceiling. “This woman just had to be a pain in the ass.”

Thomas Julian stared at Kat. At first, he looked angry… and then bewildered. “Your Majesty, I thought you of all people would—”

“Would what, Mr. Julian?” Kat asked sharply. “Charge around this palace looking for the first witch? Declare war and rile the stakes even higher as I look for this bloody woman and the devil?”

“I expected you to do… something,” he finished wistfully.

Kat lifted an eyebrow. “I will do something. But I’m not going to be an idiot.”

“What are you going to—”

A knock interrupted whatever it was Thomas Julian was about to say.

He attempted to dive back under the tea cart, but Kat had moved closer as they talked and seized the back of his collar in a vice grip.

“Come in!”

He tried to struggle until Kat’s aura flared and she kicked out the back of his knees, sending him to the floor.

When the doors opened, a Zinferan woman dressed head to toe gems glided through the door.

Kat felt a growl building in her throat.

It could be no one else than Soo Hebin.

Despite feeling as though she’d been behaving herself, Kat wondered why it was that everyone felt like testing her patience all at the same time?