The young witch tried to put on a brave face, but she gulped in an exaggerated manner. She put up her hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, understood! Do you really think I would come back here and bother that boy? No, fat chance. I’m cured of it for good.” She snorted. The bravado in her voice couldn’t hide the shiver and quake in the center of each sentence.

Lissabet was afraid of him.

Good. She should be.

Prin leaned away from her. He knew he had to get off the boat before it drifted too far. Having never learned to swim.

“Why don’t you tell them he’s dead. Just tell them that.” Prin said.

“I – They would know better.” She said. “Still, membership is down, most of the others are elderly and rarely leave their own homesteads, cottages, and mausoleums. I wouldn’t worry too much, I don’t think they will spare another to come take my place.”

Prin narrowed his eyes.

Lying, probably lying, or stretching the truth anyway, the voice said. Kill her now.

Prin didn’t feel like killing her. She seemed too much like a pawn, someone just following orders. And being forced to pretend to be a meek housemaid for years on end was a hell of a hazing into the coven. He had a sense that it had chafed her every moment. And maybe was punishment enough for what she had done.

Well, not really. But she would get the punishment when she returned to the others.

“If you have nothing else to tell me, I guess . . .” Prin trailed. He was nagged by the feeling that maybe he should kill her.

He needed to leave her quickly before the feeling got any bigger. Too big for him to wriggle his way out from under. Like a boulder.

“You know all I know about it now!” Lissabet said. “Hey, if I were you, I would just learn to live with it. You know? It sounds like a double edge sword. The curse cuts you and it also cuts others in equal measure.” She grinned with a sudden devilish glee. “Use it to make your way in the world. There are plenty of people out here.” She gestured wide to encompass the whole of sea and land. “That deserve to be eaten.”

Prin lunged at her.

“Ahh! Not me though! I’m just a peon!” Lissabet threw her hands back up over her in a pitiful protection from the devil. “If you spare me, I’ll be sure to return the favor someday.”

Prin sighed. “You aren’t even worth eating.”

“Good.” The apprentice witch said firmly. “I’m all bone and gristle anyway.”

Prin carefully swung his legs over the side of the boat, getting hit with the sensation of icy water up to his knees. He winced. “Just go away and hope I never see you again.” He was getting tired of being tough and felt like crying.

Lissabet began to row away as Prin trudged back to shore while regretting every life choice up until now. He thought there was a chance she would just die at sea with no provisions in that tiny life boat. But he would never know one way or the other.

When he had made it to shore he heard a mocking voice call out. “You couldn’t even find your own witch! You’ll never find me!” She laughed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Good, like I wanted to find you again. Smart ass.

Prin chose not to respond. He stood on the shore in the dark, dripping with sea water, as he watched her boat recede into the horizon.

When he was sure she was good and gone he sank down in the sand and tried to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. He was all dried up.

Prin just rested instead, looking up at the sky, watching the stars like crystal ornaments in a wishing pond, wink in and out of existence as the wispy clouds like ghost fish swam over them.

He wondered if the ones back at the house had woken up yet, and how would he tell them what had just happened? Well, Elwin and Valor anyway.

Just as he was beginning to fall asleep, or get just a little too comfortable anyway, a crab scuttled over his ear.

“Oh no, uh uh.” Prin sat up quickly, vigorously brushing sand and critters off of his hair and body. “I can’t stay here.” He stood up, a wobble in his step.

It was the middle of the night, even later than the middle at this point.

Prin staggered away from the beach and back toward town, which luckily was not too far, it being a small island and all. He felt exhausted, his wet sandy clothes chafing uncomfortably and weighing him down.

When Mama Kris’s pink house came into view, Prin had an overwhelming desire to see Aster. Aster wouldn’t mind. She’d be awake since this was part of her normal work hours. Aster was his comfort person? In addition to Elwin, of course, who was farther away at the moment.

Prin wanted his friend. He needed comfort. Her warm arms, sweet smelling hair . . .

She’s not your mother. That harsh laugh again. Audible only to Prin? Or could anyone hear it?

Shut up you.

The fairy is here. Let’s squash it.

Prin ignored this. He was neither concerned about, nor interested in the fairy right now. He approached the door, then veered to the side, going around to the back yard. No one tried to stop him from entering the private area of the employees who worked in the pink house. Either he went unnoticed or they had seen him around enough to think nothing of it.

He slogged off through the clothes lines and assorted debris, his wet boots squelching the hard packed dirt into mud. It occurred to him that she may not be at home, or rather in Mama Kris’s establishment. Working. He shuddered at the thought, hating it intrinsically, although his mind was very fuzzy on what “selling affection” entailed. He didn’t want to know. He hoped he still had his key.

At first, he saw a silhouette of Aster, unmistakable due to her height, full dress, and hair that was coiled into braids on each side. Almost like the shadow of a pan with pretty curled horns and delicate features. Prin almost had time to breath a sigh of relief, before he saw that there was a man with her, pulling on her arm.

At first he thought it was Jules, and a tongue of spiked fire licked at his guts, but no, it was someone else, shorter and without the distinctive extra long hair and dapper overly decorative suit.

Prin wasn’t sure who it was, but the fire didn’t subside.

He stayed still for a moment, watching to see if the situation would resolve itself.

The shadow of Aster was saying. “No, men aren’t allowed out here.” In a firm, but not overly loud voice.

If her words were calm, her body language was anything but, as she used her other hand to try and pry the man’s grip off her wrist, arching the rest of her body as far away from him as she could get, and digging her heels into the dirt.

“I can’t go back in there.” A familiar voice said. “You’re going to tell me what you know. I know you know something.” He pulled Aster, yanking her small form against his body and holding her tight.

“No, I don’t. I have nothing to do with this. I didn’t even know the woman, why would I want her dead?”

“Well then, maybe we can work something else out.” The man said.

“We don’t give freebies here.” Aster’s voice dropped a few octaves. “Let go or you’ll regret it.”

The man laughed at Aster. “You’re cute. A bunny rabbit threatening a wolf.” He put his face close to Aster’s. “It’s just amusing more then anything, I can’t even be angry.”

“Rabbits can bite and kick.” Aster said. “And have little knives hidden on their bodies in unexpected places.”

He laughed again, unbothered, apparently, by the squawking of small animals. He dragged Aster to the shed, and when he gave the door a sharp tug it instantly flew open. The splintering of the old wood as the lock tore away was not even that loud.

Prin was getting hungry. The burning, wrenching in his gut made him briefly woozy. Is this how it would be? Anger triggering the hunger? He could almost taste the hot blood in his mouth. Delicious.

That’s the spirit. The phantom voice encouraged.

Prin didn’t bother to refute it, rather embracing the beautiful prince from his dream. Absorbing his strength.

He followed them into the shed, pulling the broken door closed behind him.