The Devil's Cursed Witch

Seeing her give him a look of doubt, Morpheus added, "You can also call me whenever you feel like missing me. Just blow this whistle and I will come to you."

"How hard do I have to blow? What if you are far away from the palace? What if you are up in the mountains? Will the sound this make reach you?"

"It is enchanted by my magic spell so you have nothing to worry about. When you blow it, I will be able to hear it no matter where I am."

"Oh, but if it lets out a loud sound, won't it disturb people?"

Morpheus shook his head. "Only I will be able to hear it."

It amazed her. "But how do I use it? Do I just blow or do I also need to insert magic into it?"

At that thought, her worry deepened. The only magic she was capable of using was a basic manifestation of fire at the moment. If she needed to use magic on this wooden whistle, wouldn't it burn into charcoal?

Morpheus found her anxious face adorable. "You simply need to put that narrow end of whistle between your lips and  blow air in it."

Ember let out a sigh of relief. "Shall I try it now?"

"It's yours already so you don't need my permission."

She put the narrow end of the whistle between her lips and blew all the air in her lungs into it, but…it didn't make any sound.

She tried a few more times before looking at Morpheus with a skeptical gaze. "Did it work?"

A flash of mirth flashed across Morpheus' face, but he didn't say anything.

"I think it's broken?" Ember blew on it once more. "It doesn't make any sound."

"Well, it won't make any sound, but you are still not doing it properly. If you blow it the right way, this small bead inside this whistle will roll and you will know it's working."

"Let me try again." She blew the air with her eyes closely fixated on the bead but…

"It's still not moving."

Morpheus sighed. "Because you are not doing it right. All the air from your mouth is making its way out from the corners of your lips which you keep open. The air should only go through the whistle."

Ember was confused. She pouted a little at her failure and put the whistle again between her lips and the result was still the same.

"Such a child!" Morpheus remarked with a laugh, which caused Ember to feel displeased. Before he realized her intentions, she put that whistle in his mouth, taking him by surprise.

"Then teach this child!"

Morpheus got back to his senses and held that whistle. "Fine, pay attention to it." He crouched down, just enough for their faces to be on the same level, and blew the whistle.

Ember saw the bead inside it rolling but there was no sound. Morpheus held the whistle in his palm. "Did you see how I did it?"

She grabbed that whistle from him and followed exactly what he did. The next moment, she found Morpheus covering his ears. "Stop! Stop! Once is enough. You will burst my eardrums."

She stopped. "But I heard nothing."

"What did I say earlier? This whistle has a magic spell. Only I can hear it."With a grouchy expression, he rubbed his ears with his palm., "My little Ember, blow a bit more gently, or else I will turn deaf."

"Ah, I apologize. I will try again and then tell me if it's better."

He nodded and she softly blew into the whistle, its strength barely enough to move the bead inside. She stopped. "Is this much good?"

Morpheus, who was preparing to cover his ears again, felt relieved and nodded. "Perfect."

She felt happy. "This is my whistle now. Maybe I should make it into a necklace—"

"It is good that you're happy but…"

"But what?"

"Do not let others use it."

"Alright!"

"And…you shouldn't simply remove things from your mouth and stuff them into another male's mouth."

Ember belatedly realized she had done exactly that a while ago. Her eyes flickered towards his lips and stammered, "Oh, uhm, I…"

Morpheus didn't mean to make her feel bad but he just didn't want her to do it with other males. In the world of beasts, such simple unintentional acts could be considered an act of affection, and males could misunderstand such acts of females. If they were to fall for her but she doesn't feel the same then it would be bad for the male.

"It's fine with me since I understand you did it without thought, but you shouldn't do it with others. Be more careful with how you act around males."

"Draven?" she asked timidly.

"He is fine as well because he is your mate but not others."

"Understood. Sorry…"

Morpheus felt like a parent who was teaching his young daughter about the ways of the world. Such a naive female this human was.

"I will take my leave now but before that, I need you to make a promise."

"What promise?"

"If you face any difficulty in the future, if you find yourself in danger, if you land yourself in trouble and don't know what to do, the first thing you will do is to blow this whistle. Can you promise me that?"

"I promise."

He patted her head with a light smile, indulgently telling her "What a good little female you are," before opening his wings to fly away.

Once he left, Ember looked at that bird whistle once again and then found Morpheus gone. A slightly evil thought popped into her head.

"Shall I try it and see if he comes back?" She shook her head, "He will be annoyed if I call him just to check this whistle."

Sometime after Morpheus left, Reya came to the balcony. She found Ember looking at an unfamiliar item in her hand. "What is that, Miss?"

"It's a whistle. Morph gave it to me," she replied with a smile. "What do you think?"

"That's a pretty whistle, Miss. How thoughtful of the Commander to give you a gift," Reya complimented, already long used to the shapeshifter's unannounced visits to her master,  before informing her the reason for her coming. "Miss, I brought news. His Majesty just left the palace."

Ember was waiting for this opportunity as she needed to go to Draven's study. "That's good to know. Let's go to his study then."

Reya followed her master toward the King's study.