Later on that evening, I watch some of the warriors going into the center of the camp to start a campfire. Night had started to descend upon us early, stars glimmering like tiny rhinestones in the sky. I watch as some men return from the woods surrounding the camp, baskets full of codfish, an assortment of berries, and deer. They were out hunting perhaps this entire time. Though my stomach grumbles as soon as the codfish hits the iron skillet sitting atop the campfire, I wait. Even as the scent of seared fish and deer stew hits my nostrils, I don't give in.

So far my instincts had been screaming at me to go back. To wait until Varla was distracted, and see what she had hidden in her tent. I knew that snooping was wrong, I wasn't a child— but I also knew that she was hiding something. She knew how to get to Settrinos. A withering old woman spends all of her years fearing and casting away demons, only to not know where they enter Holdrex from? What portal they use? I call bullshit.

Still, my doubts are running wild. She had used three bells to ward away demons, ignorantly. Yet— maybe she wanted to be portrayed as ignorant, underestimated. I wouldn't put it beneath her.

No matter my doubts, I knew that I had to return and search for what I could find. I owed my father that much. No one seemed as concerned as I was about finding him— but to be fair, nobody knew him. Nobody knew what having him around everyday felt like. His sweet whispers whenever I was having bad dreams, a hand that never touched me when I was in the wrong. No. He refused to hit me, only corrected me, taught me otherwise. He trained me, he befriended me. He was all I knew.

And now he's gone. And I refuse to accept that. I'm going to get him back— even if I have to snoop around an old witches tent, or worst comes to worst; drag and evil demon by his balls.

I bite my lip as a hunger pangs hits me, refusing the warriors whenever they'd offer me anything. You'll eat later. I reassured my frantic thoughts; and then it happened.

She stepped out of her tent. Varla, the witch who had the permanent face of a grizzly bear ready to strike, had finally set a sandaled foot out of her tent. She warily eyed the camp, but easily got distracted by the enthusiastic, overpowering smells of food. The men had already begun to eat and tell tales of childhood stories that still made them laugh. The young warriors slurped stew, sitting on rocks as chairs, listening fascinated. Eyes glued onto their elders, the firelight danced wickedly on their cheeks.

I swallowed the overpowering sensation of my mouth watering. I watched as she stepped into the circle gathered around the campfire, greeting a couple young warriors that she knew. As she grabbed a wooden bowl and spoon, I shot to my feet and slowly made my way to her tent. I went undetected as I moved in the shadows, moving in silence through the grassy floor.

I glanced back once I was at the entrance of the tent, making sure that she was occupied. She was. Talking and cackling with warriors, munching on berries and codfish. Without another moments hesitation, I stepped into her tent.

The smell of coconut oil enveloped me as I search her candle lit room. I'm frantic with my movements, anxious to get out of what felt like a trap. Searching through grimoires filled with spells on love, lust, and youth. I wrinkle my nose at a paragraph detailed on how to achieve putting your feet behind your ears during sex.

"Wacky." I mutter, throwing that book to the side. "Where could it be, where could it be." I say to myself, noticing a big wooden closet at the back of her tent. Why is there a wooden closet in a tent? That doesn't seem right. Frankly, I don't know how I didn't notice it earlier, the thing stuck out like a sore thumb. Maybe she had it enchanted.

I lick my lips, moving swiftly towards it.

"Where could What be?" I hear a voice drawl from behind me. My heart drops to my organs as I twirl around immediately. There, sitting smugly flipping through the sexual grimoire, was Kilian.

"It's always you." I say in a hushed whisper, glaring at him. His eyebrows shoot up at a page in the sex filled book, biting his lip slightly.

"Did you know about this position?" He mumbles to me as I roll my eyes.

"I don't have time for this." I say, turning my back to him and reaching out for the wooden closet. He snaps the book closed and stands, walking closer to me.

"I assume not, but maybe you might have time for some stew? I noticed that you hadn't eaten anything out there—" he scratches his head slightly as I glance back at him. "You should be hungry by now. Right?" He asks, holding out a large bowl of deer stew filled with chopped carrots and potatoes. The smell wafts up to my nostrils and my mouth waters. He grins at my immediate reaction, as if to say I knew it.

I hesitantly glance at the bowl, wondering how long it'd be until the witch made her way back to her tent. I glance back at the wooden closet, as if thinking of my choices. Kilian realizes what I'm thinking and immediately reassures me.

"She's distracted with some warriors, you know that old woman has such an appetite for men— it's scary." He drawls out, eyes holding laughter in his red pupils. I eye him warily, accepting the bowl slowly.

"Aren't you supposed to not be helping me look for a way into Settrinos? I mean, you do realize that's what I'm doing, right?" I ask, taking a spoonful of stew. I almost moan at the taste, stomach accepting graciously. He looks at me intently, as if debating how to answer me.

"Who said that I'm helping you? Maybe I'll just casually stumble into a book that holds the information you seek, while you eat a bowl of stew. Maybe I'll drop it accidentally and you'll pick it up, reading the answers you seek. After all," he puts an astonished hand at his chest. "I'm no traitor to my crown." He purrs out as I continue eating.

It's hard not to allow my relief to show, to not let him know what I'm thinking.

To let him know that I'm happy that he showed up.

That I hadn't wanted to do this alone, and he showed up like an angel with stew instead of a mischievous demon. But of course, he'd never know that I thought of him that way.

As I spoon in the last bit of stew into my mouth, I watch Kilian pick up the book he had been searching for. He grins at me as I watch him.

Suddenly, we hear the chatter of Varla coming close to the tent. Me and Kilian glance at each other, my eyes wide. I get up as he lifts me into the wooden closet, atop dusty books of all sorts. The last thing I see is him settle in behind me, legs open as I'm practically pushed onto his lap. He shuts the wooden closet doors just as Varla steps into the tent.

"I'll be right out! I just need my antibiotics." She calls out of the entrance. My eyes widen as I look through the crack of the wooden closet, realizing the worst thing that could happen.

I had left my empty wooden stew bowl on the floor of her tent.

Right next to the wooden closet we were now hiding in.

•

•

•

•