“And this? Junk. Pure garbage. You can tell they were trying to add variety to the offering, but just threw random things together in the end.”

  “Rrr.”

  “You really haven’t looked through all of this?”

  “Mhrrrm.”

  “Even if you don’t care about it, you should know what people are giving you.”

  “Mmrm.”

  “Now, Eli mentioned you had one last cave filled with things.”

  “Hrm.”

  “Good timing seeing as we have to leave tomorrow.” Harris tossed the worthless bit of pottery he had found in one of the multiple chests of gold and treasure Wixim possessed, not caring when he heard the inevitable shatter with such a move.

  The reason for the dragon’s horde was simple. Soo Hebin’s servants hadn’t been able to communicate with Wixim, and thought the best way to placate him was giving him valuable treasure. Wixim didn’t really care about the treasures, but he found it funny to watch the humans cower.

  At first, Harris had been terrified of the dragon, too. Then they found themselves spending large chunks of their seven days together sorting through the gifts, while Eli either practised on her own or was mysteriously absent with Tam.

  In other words, this quality time between Harris and Wixim had led to an understanding developing between them.

  Harris turned, his hands on his hips to squint toward the alleged final cave filled with treasure, when Tam swept into the cave. His stormy expression and quick steps indicative that he was not in a good mood…

  Ever since Luca had been taken he’d been in a grim state, but there was a more frantic air about him at present that suggested something else may have happened.

  Harris watched as Tam rifled through some of their remaining food and herbs, plucked up a few chosen items, then stalked off once more.

  The Daxarian duke sighed. “Kids. Am I right?”

  The dragon gave a low, throaty chuckle, his mouth stretching into a smile of agreement.

  “He gets it from his father. Fin was a shit-head when it came to his love life.”

  The dragon tilted his head.

  “Just your standard ‘man thinks he wasn’t worthy for a woman who ranked above him and was the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom’ scenario. Even though Fin himself was rather memorable for his looks and has far too much power for his own good.” Harris set off toward the final cave with Wixim ambling along at his side.

  Upon entering the last discreet pocket of the cave, Harris tilted his head, spotting something in the corner that had him tilting his head with an intrigued eyebrow raise.

  He glanced at Wixim who already appeared to be grinning knowingly.

  Curious, Harris crossed the stone floor, and plucked the item up.

  “What the— Oh. Oh. What? You had this the whole time and only told me now? This should’ve been the first thing on the agenda!” Harris burst out excitedly, then bolted outside with the bit of treasure still in hand.

  *

  Tam stared at the first flames that flickered to life numbly.

  Was he overreacting with Eli?

  His stomach clenched.

  No. No he wasn’t.

  She’d been acting callously and disrespectfully.

  His mind flew through their argument—while also making a special note about the alleged proximity to the timing of her cycle. If her cycle was close, didn’t that mean they’d done things during that risky window? He knew that sometimes that was all it took to accidentally conceive a child, and their intense bouts intimacy as of late had been rather frequent.

  Like we don’t have enough going on…

  “TAM! TAM TAM TAM TAM TAM! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS! I DON’T KNOW IF IT’S AN ILLUSION OR WHAT, BUT LOOK!”

  Startled from his thoughts, Tam turned around.

  Then rose up from his crouch as shock coarsed through him.

  “Harris…? What… How?” Tam asked, dumbfounded.

  “I think it’s a magic sword!”

  Tam gawked.

  The person in front of him was definitely Lord Oscar Harris… Except he was twenty years younger. His thinning white hair had crept back up and turned auburn, the deep lines under his eyes had filled back in, his paunch had disappeared, giving way to a toned middle, his eyes brighter.

  Dropping his gaze to the sword in Harris’s hand, Tam noticed that it was wider than most swords by at least three inches, and it stayed as wide all the way to its tip—though its length was shorter than the Daxarian style. Tam then studied the handle. It was wooden, in a spindle shape, with black inlays of stone…

  “That’s a Lobahlan sword,” Tam concluded with undisguised awe.

  Harris looked down at the weapon with glee still dancing in his eyes. “I guess that explains it! The only witch who has ever been able to imbue a weapon with magic was Theodore Phendor. And his weapons had to connect with a witch’s own power. I’m magnificent in my own right, but definitely not magical.”

  “I knew Lobahl was more advanced, but to do something like this… How do you feel? Is it merely an illusion?”

  Harris shook his head. “I feel incredible. This is absolutely does not feel like an illusion. Here, you try!”

  Tam grasped the sword handle, and discovered…

  He shrank.

  Harris, once again looking his true age, roared with laughter. “So it’s a fixed number of years it reduces!”

  Tam looked down at his eight year old body. The sword suddenly felt ridiculously heavy in his hand.

  “L-Luca? LUCA!”

  A shriek ripped through the air, making Tam and Harris whip around as Eli flung herself down in front of Tam, her hands grasping his face as her eyes glistened.

  “Oh Gods, we were terrified! Your father needs to see you! How did you get away? Are you hurt?” She was gasping as the tears spilled over. Then she hugged him tightly. “Thank Gods… Thank the Gods… Is Penelope with you? We’ll get her back if not. Don’t worry. Dear Gods, thank you, thank you…”

  Tam’s throat closed.

  He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

  He stood in Eli’s embrace stiffly, then released the sword, letting it fall to the ground.

  Instantly, Tam shot back up in height.

  Eli fell backward with a shout, her wide-eyes staring up at Tam, anguish and confusion written all over her face.

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  “The sword…” Tam’s voice rasped. “Wixim has this Lobahlan sword that makes the wielder twenty years younger.”

  Eli trembled on the ground.

  Tam swallowed, lifted his gaze off to the distance, and walked away to get ahold of himself, tears starting to warm his own eyes.

  Emotion overwhelmed him when he was faced with Eli’s love for Luca. He was already a mess.

  But seeing just how much she also missed his son was just… torture.

  ***

  Aradia’s fingers fluttered against her upper arm as she stared at Thomas Julian with her chin raised in the air.

  The young man was standing behind thick wooden bars in his cell.

  “You have my apologies, Mr. Julian. I thought you had failed to inform the queen of my presence. It would seem she did know, she simply didn’t come searching for me. I confess, that surprises me.”

  The young man bowed his head in acceptance of her magnanimous pardon.

  “Has Katarina Ashowan or her mother come to see you?”

  “The duchess came down at one point to tell me about my Uncle Likon,” he responded while still inclining himself subserviently.

  “And what did you tell her?”

  “What you told me to tell her. Which is the same as what I had told the Daxarian queen.”

  “Good. So they are aware of what we are aiming to do. Putting it in their minds now about our intentions on how to reform the covens will help the Daxarian king accept it later when he receives the ransom note.” Aradia dropped her arms back to her sides. “I will see that you are released the night I depart for Daxaria.”

  “Thank you, Your Magnificence.”

  Nodding her head in acknowledgment, Aradia turned and exited the dungeon.

  At least that had gone to plan.

  She was still wildly irked about the children escaping her so easily.

  But no matter. They were still within the palace walls, and when the time came she’d take them back. She’d send Penelope off first, and then once she had toppled Soo Hebin’s control and assigned a new heir for the Zinferan empire, she’d follow with her brother. If any of the Ashowan’s tried to interrupt the next step of her plans, she’d merely threaten to cut her brother’s throat. Even if they knew who and what he was, she doubted the righteous family would let her cut a child’s throat.

  Aradia still needed to speak with the witches who had loaned her their familiars to find out if there was any news on whether or not they had succeeded in the task she’d given them.

  Time was running out before the birthday party for Prince Jum’s birthday. Soo Hebin was making it lavish as expected, with of course the added plot of poison, hostages, and all the other villainous types of activities.

  Aside from hostaging the Daxarian queen and the duchess, Aradia was still on the fence about whether or not poisoning Lord Jiho Ryu who was coming to attend, along with the other representatives from Troivack who had arrived…

  She knew Mr. Kraft and Sir Cas were in attendance, but wasn’t certain who the third person would be.

  She wasn’t worried, though. The most powerful witch in Troivack at present was a water witch. The young man was only fifteen years old, so there was no chance that the Troivackian king or queen would have sent him.

  Climbing the stairs to return to her quarters, Aradia found herself letting out a breath.

  She was looking forward to sitting in the garden with Ansar for a quiet cup of tea.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she had experienced such peace…

  Katarina Ashowan was quiet ever since she’d taken the children, Soo Hebin was busy with party planning and welcoming guests for the event, and the weather was perfectly lovely.

  After seven years in an underground cell, she relished being surrounded by nature and sunshine.

  To make things even more lovely, at long last after centuries of misery… there was an end in sight to the mess her brother had created. And with his powers dormant and his connections destroyed, he could no longer force her to suffer in silence.

  She would soon regain complete safety again, and all would be well.

  *

  Tam, Eli, and Harris stepped outside of Wixim’s cave in the early morning. It was another gray day threatening a storm, but the winds were moving from the east, which was perfect for flying to Gondol.

  “Thank you for letting me keep the Sword of Rejuvenation, Wixim. I wasn’t sure what I’d do after my own old sword got lost in the river.” Harris bowed to the dragon. He had wrapped the Sword of Rejuvenation in a thin sheet and tied it to his back so that when he drew it and reverted to his younger self, he would have the element of surprise.

  Eli was already in her beast form with their meager belongings strapped on her back. “Thank you for teaching me how to fly. And for teaching me the history of the first witch and the devil.”

  “You are welcome,” Wixim tilted his great head gracefully. “However, I also have a gift for you, and another for your witch.”

  Lifting her great head higher, Eli watched as Wixim lifted a clawed fist and revealed two items dangling from his grasp.

  One of the items was a brass whistle, the other was a smooth brass circle that dangled from a chain.

  Tam glanced at Eli, then the dragon’s claws.

  Wixim lowered his head, and Tam, taking the hint, proceeded forward to accept the two items.

  “Should the first witch commit the sin of harming you, an ancient beast, with her own hand, I will come to your aide. I will be near Gondol in the near future, so if the need arises, you may use the whistle—it is another Lobahlan crafted item.”

  At Eli’s side, Tam inspected the mysterious circular item. Noticing the delicate button at its top, he pressed it. The cover of the circle sprung open to reveal a glass face, with numbers marking around the border of a painted circle from within the item protected by the glass.

  “That is the predecessor to a device the first witch wielded during the war in Troivack. The device she used then was called Chronos. This device was not able to do what the first witch had hoped, but that does not mean it might not be useful for another. It still measures time, and it still accepts mage crystals, though I do not know to what end. Perhaps it has some purpose in the hands of another.”

  “Why give us these things? Isn’t this helping those who oppose the first witch?” Eli asked bluntly.

  Wixim yawned. “I gave away a sword that makes the wielder young, a discarded experiment, and a whistle that is mostly useless—If you blow it and she has not harmed you, I will attack you.”

  Eli swallowed at the casual threat at the end of Wixim’s flippant retort. “Are you banking on me getting attacked by the first witch in my beast form?”

  Wixim rose from his crouch to circle round the mountainside. “I don’t know what will happen. I simply think that the whistle might end things sooner than later. One way or another. Oh, please tell Harris that I would absolutely love to visit him. His wife sounds like a delight, and if I don’t have to eat him later, it would be wonderful to meet his family and spend a summer in Daxaria.”

  Too stunned for words, Eli momentarily shifted back and relayed what she had learned from Wixim about the items to the two men.

  When she concluded the message with Wixim’s response to a supposed invitation Harris had issued, the duke grinned.

  “Ah, Wixim. What a jokester. The kids will love him… Mackenzie will be annoyed at first—he looks expensive to feed—but maybe she won’t mind if he helps her set a few fires.”

  “Where are all these buildings your wife is allegedly burning down?” Tam asked flatly.

  “Don’t worry about it. The buildings are empty, and I either own them or they are due to be demolished. Sometimes I just build shoddy barns so she has something to look forward to…” Harris smiled longingly.

  “Right.” Tam shot a look at Eli who, regardless of the rocky state of their relationship, shared the need to briefly communicate with a more sane companion when it came to Lord Harris.

  Sighing without further comment, Eli shifted back.

  It was time to leave for Gondol.

  Which meant their time in Zinfera was coming to a very swift end.