CAIN

TEN

and she's back !

It had not been a week when the first letter arrived. The envelope was a cream coloured paper, with the royal seal stamped on the front. I had recognised the crimson ink at once and had gotten rid of it almost as quickly as it arrived.

This was not the end of the envelopes, however. There became floods of them on my path where the wards were weaker and even a few down my chimney. I learnt to always keep a fire burning, the smoke a gentle reminder that I enjoyed my privacy. But nothing could seem to cease the persistent reminders that I was required at the palace.

My days were spent avoiding Alice and her father, attempting to convince myself I was too consumed in my work to respond to their calls. My work, of course, really only involved the annual weeding of my garden, and long evenings spent scouring my books for runes. My dreams became unsettling images of dead werewolves and witches alike so I was forced to trade my sleep for mugs of dandelion tea and star charting.

It was afternoon when Alice arrived, tired of waiting for me to answer the telephone I wasn't sure I knew how to operate. I had almost cleared my path, sleeves rolled as I pulled creeping thistle from between slabs of stone. I wouldn't have noticed her if it were not for Puddles hissing from his spot in the sun. He never was a fan of dogs.

"Couldn't you use magic to do all that?" she called, opening the gate as I let her pass my wards. She was wearing a white summer dress, hair pulled back from her face in braids so I could see the freckles on dark skin that were now showing as the sun grew warmer.

"It's more satisfying this way," I told her, looking around at my garden which was frankly too unkempt to be considered a real garden. Its borders were marked by a low stone wall, but even that had been held hostage by ivy for the last few months.

"Your cat still doesn't like me," she remarked, as I shook my head with a smile. Alice couldn't quite grasp the concept of familiars - demons that could change form at a whim's notice - and was instead convinced I had a lot of pets, and not one magical companion.

"Come inside," I said, "I'll make you some tea."

She didn't say anything sitting down until I had placed the mug of warm chamomile in front of her. I was surprised she had come alone, no more of her bodyguards polluting my cottage. "When were you going to tell me that His Majesty was your mate?"

I paused for a second, slowly taking a seat at the table, "When did you know?"

"After His Majesty shifted at the Annual Ball and you were able to calm him when he should have killed you." She didn't meet my eyes. Instead, she gently stirred her tea around with a spoon, adopting a kind of reserved tone which aged her far beyond her youth.

"Alice, I-"

She didn't let me finish, "Were you planning on telling me?"

"Yes, by Hecate, yes! But I wasn't sure, and your father..."

"What of my father?"

I struggled for the right words. "He was certain that you would marry Cain. And you just seemed so enamoured with him, I couldn't risk ruining your happiness for something so...trivial.

"Mate bonds are not trivial matters, Morgana," she said, as if it was something she had rehearsed, "They are rare and sacred."

"They clearly can't be that rare," I muttered before I could stop myself.

She was not impressed, but her soft features wouldn't quite form anger. Instead, she appeared as if I had hurt her which made me reach my hand towards hers.

"I won't ever return to the palace, if that's what you want," I told her, "Your future, Alice, is important to me. There are things greater to worry about than...this."

"No, no," she shook her head, "You'll need to return to the palace to clear your name."

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at her, "To clear my name?"

"You disappeared after the incident with His Majesty . The council wishes to speak to you."

I did not give a flying rat's tail what the council wished. I was older than their foundation, but I assumed this would not amuse her. "And what do you want?"

She paused before she spoke, as if she was to assume a more dignified position. "I want the king to have the opportunity to be with his mate, Morgana. It is the right thing. And I want you to find the demon that is attempting to murder him."

I sighed, reaching for Puddles' furry form and lifting him over my shoulder so I could give the grumpy boy a pat. "I will look for this demon, if that's what you want, but I am old, Alice, and so is Cain. What I am trying to say is nothing needs to come from this, nothing has to change."

Alice was smiling when she looked at me, "I don't think you quite understand how wrong you are."

The words rang through my head with a sharper resonance than I would have liked. I felt them sit in my stomach and burn. They were filled with a sense of foreboding, as if she was warning me. And then it struck me.

"Alice, my darling, you're right!"

Her eyebrows furrowed, as she placed her tea down, "What do you mean?"

"Beware! That's what the rune says. It's not a spell, it's simply written in the same code."

"I'm not sure what you mean, Mor," my friend replied, but I was already scouring the bookshelf for the code of the necromancers, or any magical dictionary which would confirm my hypothesis.

"I thought the rune contained the magic which forced the guard's will, but if the demon has the power of persuasion, why draw a rune at all?" I placed a pile of heavy textbooks on the table, clearing them of the dust, "It's a message. A statement of intent, if you will."

I turned to the page of necromancer symbols, all so ancient they had largely been forgotten. Not by all, it would seem.

"Here it is," I pointed to the same tune carved into the dead werewolf. It was circular, with strange angular lines protruding from it and the eye of Hecate within the middle. "It means beware, judgment is upon us."