Faustus Blackwood – the recently widowed Dean of the Academy of Unseen Arts – had been surprised to hear from Professor Crow that Thorn Mortimer had not only angered but nearly killed her Herbalism teacher by her dangerous overuse of ingredients. The clawed man wouldn't stand for it, Thorn was his favourite student, frankly of all time, and she hadn't ever caused a single problem since she'd started at the Academy. Of course, the second he'd heard what had happened he'd ordered her into his office, just because she was his favourite didn't mean Faustus would show favouritism.

The young woman arrived at his office soon after her last class just as he'd instructed, his eyes raked over Thorn as soon as he saw her quietly step through the double doors and close them behind her. Thorn was a beautiful and very smart young witch in her final year at the Academy so he wanted to get to the bottom of the issue fast. She had skin like snow and long hair that hung around her face as though it were an obsidian cloak, her eyes were the color of polished emeralds lined in a thick black eyeliner that Faustus was sure was only there to emphasise those eyes. Her lips were plump and black, her skin smooth. She wore a midnight blue corset, tight white pants and looked every inch the powerful witch she was. Father Blackwood would have been a liar if he said he didn't find her stunningly attractive.

As soon as the doors closed he gestured for her to sit opposite him at his desk which she did with only a quick glance to the Ebony crib where Judas slept peacefully. Faustus sat back in his high-backed chair with a cup of tea and several pages on his desk looking powerful and imposing as always.

"What happened, Thorn?" He asked in a deep and oddly alluring tone.

"It really wasn't a big deal-" Faustus cut her off abruptly.

"Not a big deal?! I thought you were smart, Miss Mortimer, might I remind you that you very nearly blew up not only yourself but Professor Crow as well."

In all honestly Thorn didn't think that would have been much of an issue, Professor Crow was a terrible teacher; he wouldn't admit it but Father Blackwood would also agree. When he just continued to glare at Thorn expecting a better answer she realised he wasn't going to just let her get away with it and she sighed; she even sighed beautifully.

"I'm sorry, Father. I... I haven't been sleeping very well," Thorn looked off into the fires of his office "my hand slipped and I ended up adding too much Toadflaux. I really am sorry and I promise it won't happen again."

Faustus' head tilted ever so slightly as he raised an eyebrow. "It had better not, Miss Mortimer."

It was then as she continued to stare at the fires that Faustus realised how sleep deprived Thorn looked, her eyes were lined in black as always but he could still see the dark rings of sleeplessness that lurked there and a tenseness gripped her body refusing to let her relax. Blackwood wouldn't stand for it, not his prized student blowing up professors.

"Why have you not been sleeping?" There was that deep tone again.

There was quiet for a time then and it irritated the High Priest, he fixed his eyes on the young witch before him. Though blue like ice his eyes held a darkness that clearly informed people not to cross him.

Thorn sighed. "It'll be the anniversary of my family's murder in a few weeks and I never sleep well when it approaches. I can usually keep it under control but... maybe it's because this is my last year at the Academy."

Faustus knew exactly what she spoke of, he remembered as though it were yesterday.

"My condolences." He said obligatorily.

Father Blackwood had admired Thorn's father, Abraham Mortimer, he had been a strong and powerful man, well respected by all. Faustus shuffled ever so slightly in his high backed chair before he spoke again.

"I can understand your troubles, the loss of one's entire family is not easily forgotten. However, you are better than this, Thorn."

He treated Prudence the way he did because she was his daughter but he had taken Thorn under his wing because he saw such potential in her, she'd done nothing but excel in his demonology class and the raven-haired girl had never achieved anything less than full marks in conjuring. He sat forwards then but paid more attention to his papers than the young witch before him.

"You caused no real damage during your blunder, no one was hurt despite how much Professor Crow complains, but I do not want it happening again."

Faustus rose to his feet then and started to gather up vials and a small cauldron. It was that moment that Judas chose to start crying almost the instant his father had started to brew. Even though Thorn didn't say a word he knew she saw his deer caught in headlights expression. She glanced over to the Ebony crib with those stunning green eyes almost awkwardly.

"I, em, I could-" she gestured to the boy "-I could comfort him... if you like... until you're done, Father."

Faustus paused a moment to mull the whole thing over, Judas shouldn't have even been there, he should have been with a Nanny or better yet his mother but his son had only just been born, he'd had other things on his mind and a Nanny had fallen to the bottom of his list of things to do. Eventually he gave a curt nod and returned his attention back to the job at hand while Thorn slowly stood and went to the crib, truthfully he didn't think his son liked him very much.

Ever so gently Thorn lifted little Judas out of his crib and rocked him lovingly in her arms as she walked around the crib in circles in an attempt to sooth his tears. Faustus surreptitiously watched the young witch out the corner of his eye and was surprised by how quickly Thorn managed to calm his child; she'd made quite the impression on Judas rather fast. The High Priest would never see his wife – Constance – hold Judas and he couldn't help but assume it was her weakness and how she'd perverted the Dark Lord's feast that had lead to her death.

He made quick work of his self-set task, it wasn't exactly difficult, and soon he packed his things away and returned the cauldron from the shelf he'd taken it from, all that remained was a small glass vial with an opaque green-blue liquid in a clawed hand.

Quietly he hovered over to Thorn who had a calmed and dozing Judas in her arms, she looked as though she'd done that before.

"Here-" he held up the small vial for her to see, the glass glistened in the fire light "-this will help you sleep. You could have made it yourself." Faustus informed as though she should have thought of it long ago.

"If we were allowed access to Foxglove." She reminded.

Faustus let out a deep hum, he was stood so close behind her that he could smell her perfume and the scent of her shampoo.

"Indeed, but we can't have that problem going on again."

He looked down at Judas snoozing in Thorn's arms and had to admit it was the happiest Judas had been since birth as far as Fustus could tell.

"You are good with him, my boy likes you. Have you considered midwifery?"

Thorn shook her head, emeralds locked on the baby. "I don't know what to do after I leave. I used to care for my little brother after my mother died though. I like kids, they're such potential, the future of our coven."

Suddenly the young witch realised she still held Judas and his father was so close behind her, after only a moment of hesitation she managed to swap the baby for the vial.

"Thank you for this, Father." She flashed him a smile.

"You are quite welcome, a drop a night should do it. I made it quite strong," he told her dismissively "but I don't want to hear of any more mishaps."

Thorn nodded. "There won't be any, I promise. Good evening, Father. Bye..." a pause, brief and hardly there "I'm sorry, I don't know his name."

"Judas." Faustus supplied easily as he looked at the sleeping boy already with a full head of dark hair.

"Bye, Judas."

Thorn left then, Faustus stood there beside the crib watching as she closed the doors and she vanished from sight. The Mortimers had been one of – if not the – most powerful and influential families in The Church of Night until a team of witch hunters had somehow managed to assassinate the whole family. Thorn had only survived the slaughter because she'd been at school, her father, Gray and Alistair, who'd been her elder and younger brothers, hadn't been so lucky. Though in her first year she'd gone straight to Faustus after Lady Blackwood had informed her and asked for help tracking the hunters down. He'd leapt at the chance to help her, she'd been little more than a child but she'd been angry and powerful; something he'd respected. Faustus had gone with her not because he'd thought she'd needed someone to take care of her or protect her but because he admired her strength and had refused to stand for witch hunters killing off members of their coven.

In Faustus' opinion Thorn was the sort of witch he wanted their coven members to aspire to be, relentless, powerful but at the same time there was something almost submissive about Thorn and Faustus adored that. In his eyes she was the perfect witch, a witch who'd come to him in her time of need. Thorn Mortimer was the living legacy of one of the founding families of their coven. She'd make an impressive wife one day, just her name drew power and respect. She'd elevate any man no matter his position. Her womanhood didn't weaken her either, Faustus could see the fire in her eyes, it had always been there – even when she'd first started at his school – Faustus knew she'd made her father, Abraham, proud.

On her way out Thorn glanced over the railing down at the large statue that stood as the centre piece for their school, when she rounded the nearest corner though she quickly ran into Prudence who was – amazingly and rarely – alone. The shorter and younger girl had a smirk on her face but Thorn didn't much care.

"Finally learnt you're not perfect, huh, Thorn? You know, now you're a screw up."

Prudence blocked Thorn's path, the older girl smirked as she looked Prudence over with a rather unimpressed expression.

"Oh, I never said I was perfect and it seems nearly killing Professor Crow isn't overly important."

Prudence raised an eyebrow. "You're not in trouble?"

"Of course not." Thorn flashed the younger girl the small vial that Faustus had given her not a minute earlier. "Father Blackwood has a soft spot for me since he's my mentor. It's nice being his favourite."

Prudence's face fell then and Thorn internally grinned, no more than a second later Prudence thrust her hand out to send the older girl flying... but to no avail. Thorn didn't move a single inch, the most that happened was that Thorn's raven hair fluttered slightly; clearly Prudence hadn't seen that coming. That unimpressed look Thorn wore only deepened.

"Really, Prudence? I'm a Mortimer, remember, you'll need to do better than that." A momentary pause hung between the two witches then the emerald eyed beauty tilted her head to the side. "Like this."

With a flourish of her hand Prudence flew back into the solid wall where she landed with a dense thud. Thorn looked down at the younger witch as she tried to get up.

"If you're thinking about hexing me, don't. The most you'll do is irritate me. Night, Prudence."

Thorn strutted off then down the long hallways and out of sight leaving Prudence to awkwardly push herself up to her feet. Thorn Mortimer wasn't like the the Weird Sisters despite being an orphan herself, Thorn didn't have friends because she didn't want them. She wasn't cruel or spiteful or vicious unless provoked, in fact the only people she'd ever seemed to go out of the way to talk or be nice to was Father Blackwood and Thomas Delaney her former boyfriend. He'd left the year previous and they'd just drifted apart after that, or at least that was the story Thomas had gone with. Prudence and half the school knew that in reality she'd grown bored of the warlock, no one in their right mind would have willingly let a Mortimer get away, especially the last one.

Thorn hummed to herself as she avoided everyone else and headed up to her dorm room and most of the other students seemed to be doing the same; eager to dump their stuff and do something more fun. Once inside she settled down on her bed with a book entitled Advanced Tethering and Binding Rituals by Jenkins Ascelin, Thorn treasured that book, it had been a gift from her older brother, Gray, for her Dark Baptism. The rest of her dorm mulled around her but Thorn didn't really notice or care.

Meanwhile Faustus sipped at his tea while he looked down at his sleeping son. Judas was his heir and would do him proud of that he had no doubt. His boy hadn't cried much, he was strong after all, but when he did cry it was loud and beyond casting a silencing spell Faustus hadn't found much to sooth him. Thorn though, she'd calmed Judas in minutes, maybe Judas needed a maternal presence.

The shadow of Madam Satan appeared then and Father Blackwood sighed; he really didn't like her being in his school and he certainly wasn't in the mood for her veiled threats.

"What do you want?" He asked very disinterestedly.

She walked over to Faustus and stood between him and the fire so she could look down at baby Judas, the firelight danced across their faces.

"I just wanted to see the babe. He's your heir after all."

"Indeed he is." He took another sip of tea.

"His name?" Madam Satan enquired with a slight raise of her eyebrow.

"Judas." Came Faustus' quick response.

She just smirked. "How fitting. Shame about your wife, a boy needs a mother."

"Lady Blackwood was weak, I always knew that, her death was no real surprise. Judas though is a Blackwood by blood, he'll be a powerful warlock."

There was utter quiet for a moment as Madam Satan looked over little baby Judas with an indecipherable expression then she glanced over to the recently used cauldron up on the small shelf in the far corner of Faustus' office while the High Priest went back to his high backed chair.

"I notice you have a... predilection for young Miss Mortimer. What did she do to earn your affection?"

Faustus glared at her then but soon took another sip of tea, which happened to be the last, before he set the cup down on his desk. He did his best to ignore Madam Satan as he started to look through his pages, it didn't work though, he could feel her dark eyes on him. Faustus sighed but refused to look up and give her that satisfaction.

"She did nothing and I have no affection for her." He told her nonchalantly.

Madam Satan perched on the very edge of his desk and leant back a little as though she owned the place, she wanted a rise out of him but Faustus wouldn't give it to her. He took a deep breath as he started to make small edits to the work before him.

"We all know that's not true. She's a beautiful young girl," she began with a teasing smirk "bit too young for you though, don't you think?"

Father Blackwood didn't speak, he still refused to grant her one iota of satisfaction. Madam Satan chuckled to herself.

"Your silence is as good as a confession, Faustus. But I don't blame you, she doesn't help the matter with all those revealing corsets and short skirts, though I do actually like her shoes."

"I'd be more careful if I were you, it's starting to sound as though you have the affinity for Thorn."

Madam Satan's head tilted a little in thought. "Mmm, maybe if she weren't a child. A strange name though, Thorn, not exactly pretty is it?"

Faustus set the pages aside and leant back in his imposing chair, firelight danced across his dangerous features, he really did have better things to do; pull his own teeth out, ground them into a powder and snort them perhaps.

"Oh, I don't know. Every rose has its thorns ready to prick and draw blood, danger hidden behind beauty. I think that rather suits her."

"So you admit she's beautiful."

Is there any future where she leaves any time soon? "It cannot be denied, however, it does not mean I am attached to her. Also, I think I have had enough of whatever game this is. You've seen my son and if you've not got anything regarding Sabrina then clearly we're finished here and I need to finish these." He gestured to the stack of paper beside him and Madam Satan huffed.

"Fine." She rose to her feet. "You pretend all you want."

She finally left then, wandered off to who knew where and Faustus got some much deserved peace and quiet. He might have needed more tea though.