Annika’s breath had been taken from her body.

“Wh-Why did you ask me like that!” she finally managed while unable to fight off the small pulse of dizziness that floated across her vision.

It was Fin’s turn to look surprised.

“Is there a different way to ask? One fellow back on Quildon tried to propose with sonnets and I don’t think either of us wants to see me try that approach. There is requesting your hand through your male family members, but I think your brother is hard to reach in prison…” Fin reasoned out while growing slightly more amused at the obvious state of fluster he had cast her in.

“But… just like… that… after toting me out of the solar. Just… I know you tend to be direct, but Gods!”

Fin looked to the ceiling for a moment to try to stop himself from laughing.

“Annika. You’ve planned six years of our lives out. How is it so strange? Or were you hoping I’d be content to remain as your long term… paramour?”

“No! I already said I wanted us to be married after all of that, but it has been two weeks!”

Fin fixed her with a flat gaze.

“So should I take this as a no? I’ll admit that might put a damper on my day…”

“Of course it’s yes, you arse! It’s just… of all the…”

“Annika?”

“What?” she snapped, still clearly at a loss for words as she began wringing her hands uncharacteristically and her eyes looked oddly wet…

“Can I kiss you now?”

“I need a moment!” she burst out, her cheeks deepening in color. “Why is it you- you can reduce me to a twittering idiot without any effort?!”

“I’d like to think it’s because you love me, but you may have other reasons.”

“Why are you so calm?! And confident?!” Annika demanded, her tears finally spilling over.

“Is my being calm and confident with you a problem?”

“I just don’t understand what has changed!”

“Everything has, Love.” Fin's blue eyes somehow darkened in seriousness as they regarded the woman in front of him.

Annika stilled then, and the two locked gazes and a deep meaning and understanding suddenly passed between them. Time seemed to stop in the quiet as they both felt overwhelmed by their connection, and the greater knowledge that things were going to have to start growing more serious soon.

So intense was the moment, that when the sharp rap on the door echoed into the room, they both jumped.

“Mr. Wit, Mage Lee is here demanding to see you.”

Fin let out a small breath, and turned to the door. His hand had grasped the handle, his back to Annika who took note of her racing heart as she tried to sort through her jumbled thoughts.

Then the redhead made matters far more fevered when he abruptly turned around, cupped her face and kissed her. His thumb brushing against her smooth, somewhat damp cheek.

“I’ll try to be back before midnight,” he whispered before turning back to the door and exited without another word, leaving her to lift fingers to her lips and dazedly realize that she was engaged.

Engaged to a cook… but not just any cook.

To a House Witch.

*

Fin had made the wise decision to take the servant’s stairwell on his venture down to greet mage Lee, who was waiting in the front hall and gazing about himself curiously.

“I’m beginning to wonder if you’re stalking me,” Fin called out, drawing the elder’s gaze to him as he pressed his hands into his pockets.

“Ashowan, I thought your courtship with Clara was over. Imagine my surprise when I overhear from your kitchen aides that you have returned to Viscountess Jenoure’s house,” the man huffed with an salt and pepper eyebrow raised.

“I hadn’t told anyone where I was going,” Fin pointed out, fixing the man with a keen stare.

“No, but they speculated you would be here,” the mage retorted, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly.

“I had left some of my clothes here and so came to pick them up. I didn’t feel like returning late to the castle, so I requested to stay another night. After I investigate Madame Mathilda, I will be returning to my post in his majesty’s kitchen.” The redhead had rehearsed the lie on his trek to greet the mage, and was grateful for his years of practice of discretion.

“I see. Trying to win Clara back?” Lee challenged with a knowing smile. “Came to tell her you might be in line to inherit a title in a few years, hoping to change her mind?”

Fin rolled his eyes.

“Why are you here, Lee?”

At this, the old man grew suddenly uncomfortable. His arms uncrossed and he suddenly leaned on his staff as though weak, when Fin knew it was more a sign he had ulterior motives.

“I… beseech you… on behalf of everyone in the castle… please, please come back and cook and don’t… don’t leave for a very long time. Even if Clara agrees to take you back, we’ll give you a raise so that she doesn’t have to work and can live comfortably on your pay… We can’t take it anymore.” The man looked to be on the brink of a breakdown as the grip on his staff tightened.

All color drained from the redhead’s face.

“I just said I will be returning once the investigation concludes. What in the world did the kitchen aides do?”

The elder’s face grew pale. “Mr. Ashowan, have you ever heard the term: food poisoning?”

“Oh Gods.”

“Yes… your mother has her hands full trying to mend some of us, but she is still weak from her time with the Queen. She healed his majesty, and a handful of the rest of us but… Please. Please never let them touch so much as an egg ever again.”

Fin closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

“Very well. We’ll negotiate this raise once I return. I will do as his majesty instructed however, and try to find out what I can about Madame Mathilda for now.”

“I will come with you.”

“Perhaps I should give more weight to the stalking jest…” Fin replied while exiting the front doors of the estate without waiting for the mage. It was an overcast muggy day, and the taste of lightning was in the air.

“Last time you went you were drugged and would be hobbling about on crutches were it not for me,” Lee reminded, walking quickly to catch up to him and showcasing how fit he truly was.

“True, but I don’t intend to drink or eat anything they offer me this time.”

“You also could use my authority to make a little more headway.”

“Last time I was there Annik- Lady Jenoure’s men lent me a great deal of authority wouldn’t you say?”

The mage glanced at Fin oddly then as they stepped onto the gravel of the drive; he had stopped walking and the witch was forced to turn around to stare at him.

“What is it you daft old man?” Fin demanded, hoping to the Gods it wasn’t about his slip of the tongue a moment before.

Stepping forward cautiously, the elder eyed his tunic which was black. A terrible color for a summer day, but then again he hadn’t really thought about it when getting dressed.

“This is expensive material,” mage Lee observed before lifting his narrowed gaze to him.

“I wore it when I took Clara out courting.” His reply was too quick. Too desperate.

“Where are the other clothes you came to retrieve?”

“She had… er… She’d burned them.”

The old man’s eyes began to grow a little wider. “Finlay…”

The witch swallowed with great difficulty, and it was then the gardener happened to stroll by. “Good day, Mr. Wit! Raymond wanted me to tell you the biscuits are coming out just fine now!”

“Afternoon, Alvin,” Fin greeted with a small wave, his stomach wrenching in twenty different directions.

“Why does the staff here keep calling you Mr. Wit?”

Instead of answering the mage, the redhead did the only thing he could do in that moment, and ignored the question entirely. He placed both hands back in his pocket and resumed his journey around the fountain towards the road that would take him back to Austice.

The mage jogged after him with ease. He was even more spritely than Fin had originally surmised. Perhaps he dyed his beard white… surely no elderly man could move so swiftly.

“Finlay! You need to answer me this instance!”

Fin did not.

He continued his stroll without even glancing to the mage at his side.

“I brought a horse here, could you just- blast. Finlay!” the mage barked irritably.

Still, the redheaded witch continued his steady pace down the first hill towards Austice. The mage tried unsuccessfully to pester him several more times, until they reached the sea level stretch of road before the final hill.

Finally fed up with his latest evasive technique, mage Lee darted in front of the witch and blocked his path. The cook tried to side step him several times before finally lowering his blue eyes.

“I thought you were banned from Madame Mathilda’s.”

“Ashowan.” Lee’s voice was tight as he stared at him wildly. “I am beginning to suspect you are up to something that is a grave concern to not only myself, but even his majesty.”

Once again, the witch remained silent before he swiftly brushed past the mage.

“Just tell me you aren’t having an affair with Lady Jenoure. Tell me I’m crazy.”

“You’re crazy.” Fin called over his shoulder without stopping.

Mage Lee struck his staff into the ground, and a wall of wind suddenly sent the cook flying back, the crack of it echoed up the cliff. Fin managed to land with one knee on the ground, and grunted as he felt the bone bruise.

“Ashowan, this is a very serious matter. You will not run from this conversation.”

Pushing himself to his feet with a wince, the witch's blank expression regarded the mage. Lee didn’t like it. He had seen that look on people’s faces when being interrogated before.

So instead, he changed his approach.

“Alright, if you aren’t going to speak, then you are going to listen to me very carefully.” The mage’s voice was suddenly incredibly low, a slight gravelly note entering his normally soft speech.

“If this is an affair with Lady Jenoure out of boredom, cease. It will bring nothing but trouble and shame to her. You will be released from your position as the Royal Cook, and forced back to your island.” Mage Lee watched as Fin’s expression failed to betray a single emotion, but he knew better. He could feel the deep anger simmering beneath his surface, and was glad that the witch hadn’t an ounce of power in him that moment.

“If you or her, or both of you are in love, Gods help you. You have a ways to go before this could be seen as a possible match. Then again…” The mage eyed him suspiciously. “Did you come to her after hearing that Captain Antonio might be leaving a Baron title to you?”

Fin continued to say nothing.

“Godsdamnit, Ashowan! There is enough chaos happening! Could you not have satisfied your itch with another lass closer to your-”

Fin grabbed the mage by the front of his robes and hauled him up until he was an inch from his nose. “Never make mention of my itches again, hm?” He then released Lee and continued on his way as though nothing had happened.

“If you intend on coming to see Madame Mathilda with me, I suggest you hurry along.”

Straightening his robes and closing his eyes, Lee sent a brief prayer to the Gods, muttered a curse, then jogged to rejoin Finlay at his side.

*

Elizabeth Nonata was examining her ledgers with a gold rimmed magnifying glass when the first pattering of rain could be heard against her window.

Her dog Cassian’s head raised at the noise and tilted, his nose beginning to twitch.

With a sigh she dropped her hand down and watched as the animal pattered over to her, and licked her fingers affectionately.

“I’m glad you’re braver than my previous dog. Old Tanner was double your size, but I’ve never known a more timid brute in all my days,” she remarked idly recalling how her last dog would dive for her desk during any thunderstorm and stay curled up and trembling with her needing to pet and soothe him.

With a sigh, she stood and stretched, crossing over to the window she watched the local riffraff dart towards the various pubs and store fronts to save themselves from the pending deluge.

“Hopefully this rain cools off some of the heat. The stink of the main floor is starting to waft up here,” she muttered thinking how she needed to cut back the amount of perfume her girls were allowed to don.

The women seemed to think the more perfume they used the less they’d have to smell their evening companions, but in reality the smells merely souped together until Elizabeth was left gagging. The first rumble of thunder drew her eyes to the heavens.

“I don’t know why, but I have the strangest feeling like this is going to be a hell of a storm.”

Cassian’s claws clipped against the floorboards as he made his way over to sit beside his mistress. He knew he would have to leave her soon when the lower level grew busier and she wanted a steady guard for her private quarters. So he relished whatever time he could with her.

Then, as she began to turn away from the rain washed glass, Elizabeth noticed two figures strolling towards her establishment. Even though it was the middle of the day… and the bar was closed for restocking and cleaning for at least another hour…

Squinting, the first flash of lightning cracked the sky, giving her enough light to see a glint of coppery hair being pushed back, and the wink of a mage crystal disappearing under her eaves by the front door.

“Oh Good Gods… not again.”