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She held no magic at her command, but she had a grip on a matte black tomahawk she kept at her side. Cords of muscles along her arm were proof enough that she could swing her weapon with serious strength behind it.

Her mother dropped the power she’d stirred up and brightened when her eyes caught sight of the Bloody Elf who was rolling his sleeves up as he approached the exit. Tattoos rippled as his muscles flexed.

“Wife.” He said, dropping a firm kiss on the woman as he grabbed her hand, “Our daughter waits at the southern border. The Coven has gone back on their word. Shall we join her?”

Delight crossed the woman’s face. “Yes, immediately.”

“Well, only sort of,” Louisa corrected.

King Kyron raised an eyebrow.

Kin explained and by the end of his story both the queen and king looked horrified at the implications.

Then Alessandro felt it. They had arrived exactly where Rowan had predicted.

He was stepping towards joining her when King Kyron shot him a wary look.

“Before you do that, I should let you know we are not cooperating with the Coven. We will take the young man into custody and they will more than likely try to paint us into villains. I believe it would be beneficial to split public outcry between your people and ours.”

“It’s a wise plan.” Alessandro admitted and hesitantly said, “I’ll remain in the shadows. If they try anything, I’ll be here as backup.”

It was to his total shock when Aqua stepped forward and held up a small green pill. “She’s wounded.”

King Kyron’s nose flared. “Yes. That is a common occurrence lately. What is it?”

“A healing elixir. Mostly for physical wounds, but it’ll also give her a slight boost in magic.” Aqua answered.

The king beamed at the blue-haired dragon. “Thank you.”

Alessandro couldn’t help but notice the slight reddening of his Water General’s face and then the heat that trailed out of his Fire General.

Noting the intriguing reaction, he sent Stone and Aqua to the West side of the castle and Kin and Blaise to the East to finish thawing out the remaining victims. He melted into the shadowsand walked behind the three elves and the vampiress as they moved to meet Rowan and the witches.

XOXOXOXO

Rowan wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but two of the highest ranked Coven Members seemed like overkill to her.

“All we have come for is the rogue witch.” The woman taking the lead was tall with black hair streaked with silver. Her black eyes were sharp and beady as they regarded the two sisters.

Rowan knew Eve Tanoch could feel the edge of the barrier, but not the consequences of passing the threshold.

Rowan had only had the misfortune of meeting Eve once during one of the ex-Elder’s visits. They had been best friends. Although Henrietta’s nonchalance about the whole Rowan situation was amusing, Eve firmly believed Rowan was a threat not only to the world but to herself if not supervised carefully by the Coven. Her pale, ashen skin always reminded Rowan of a decaying corpse.

Rowan knew under normal circumstances that the witch’s signature blood magic would have been tough to combat in her current ragged state, but in the Eastern Elven Kingdom, Rowan’s arsenal of tools was extensive.

To choose to send Eve along with Dorin Indigo was a flex on Antoni Barros’ part that Rowan couldn’t pretend to miss.

Rowan had only heard stories of Dorin Indigo’s adventures into dark magic. He didn’t seem to care much about the worth of a life. To him, the greatest goal was finding the true limits of what magic could do and, as such, had gotten put on the Coven watch list, much like Rowan had in her formative years.

Unlike the Eastern Elven Kingdom family who threatened war if the Coven tried to take her, Dorin’s people surrendered him without preamble.

She wasn’t all that impressed by his buzz cut or his thundering dark blue eyes, but his body was a different story. White scars told of his violent past. Muscles under every inch of skin gave him a hardened warrior appearance that reminded her of the Dragon King. Her hunger throbbed, but she had to keep her cool.

She concentrated on the nagging feeling that the two witches were almost hollow.

Unlike Hye, who had seemed fanatic and crazed, the two witches didn’t have eyes glowing with a mislaid sense of righteousness. Their expressions were little more than deadpanned, they weren’t raising their voices. She wondered if perhaps their power affected the illusion. If there was doubt weaved in.

“Under the contract signed by both the Coven and the Eastern Elven Kingdom Chapter 3 Section 12 subsection B in the event of a witch trespassing onto Eastern Elven grounds without giving at least a two-day notice of planned arrival, the ruler of the aforementioned kingdom can choose what to do with said trespasser up to but excluding execution.” Zeva cut in.