Page 112 of The Heartless Archer

She did not know how she ended up in the palace halls, she screamed and hit as the guards grabbed her arms and started to pull her inside the Hel where it all began. They took away her bow and dagger and she let her nails grow into deadly talons, swiping at armour and skin until she drew blood.

“You beast!” Someone yelled and she laughed as her claws dug into his skin. She would not let go of him, she would kill everyone, every single one of them was at fault that she was like this. She would let revenge rain down at every single one. Ripping their hearts out would be a feast as she stacked the still beating things onto each other, procuring a large collection.

“Leave her.” The demon spoke himself and she turned to see him standing there, leaning against the palace walls in all his glory, disguised in the case of an angel. His golden strands curled against the sides of his face, his eyes foreign to her.

“But, Your Majesty—”

“Leave us,” he repeated.

She slowly withdrew her talons from the guard’s arm who glared at her, before they both let go of her body. She wiggled her fingers at them with a satisfied smile before turning to look at the djevel.

“I know you are hurting right now but there is something I need to tell you, now that you have won the tournament.”

She tipped her head to the side, advancing on him until only a hairsbreadth was separating them. He was eyeing her but did not look afraid as she lifted her blood-stained fingers and let them trail over his cheek, down his neck, and let them rest over his heart.

“Yours is still beating, maybe I should take it for myself.”

He nodded slowly. “You can have my heart if you want, though it will do you no good anyway.”

She plunged her nails into the skin around his heart, making him choke. Jade eyes sparkled at her as his lips parted in pain. Something about the look on his face was familiar. He raised his hand and wrapped it around her wrist pushing her nails further into his skin. He whimpered softly and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Listen to its beat carefully, what do you hear?” he asked roughly.

She was tempted to rip his heart out of his chest without mercy, though she listened to him and hesitated for a moment. Ahh, there it was pumping blood through his veins faster than ever. When she heardit, she stepped back, her fingers leaving his chest. Nikolai slumped forward as he looked up at her.

“What is wrong with your heart?”

She did not want an ill heart, a heart that was already dying was worth nothing in this world.

“It fell in love, a long time ago,” he told her. The witch tipped her head to the side watching him closely.

“A long time ago a foolish young prince went out to search for an all-powerful witch. It was told to him that she could get himanything to his heart’s desire. Ironically his heart was ripped out long ago, only a hollow hole residing in his chest. So, he searched for her travelling to the kingdom of the east and found her. He begged the witch for a favour which she gladly obliged him, though in return she cursed him.”

He chuckled bitterly as if laughing at his younger self. How foolish he was to trust a witch, didn't he know they were the thieves of the souls?

Suddenly, Noora remembered. When Nikolai was little he was promised to a girl, Amalie Winter, they were to be wed when she was kidnapped and killed by the Sosye.

Noora looked up at the demon narrowing her gaze.

“The witch cursed you?” she asked.

“If the prince did not find what he was searching for in the matter of three days his body would start to rot from the inside out.” He slowly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing long spidery black veins running beneath his skin, pulsing with every breath he took. Noora took a step back, lips parting at the horrific look of decaying flesh.

The veins grew thicker over his arms and he got rid of his gloves revealing the skin of his hands to be completely black, as if dipped in ink.

“When they reach my heart, it will finally cease to beat,” he concluded. There was only little of his chest residing in unblemished skin.

Noora slowly exhaled her eyes following the ill-looking veins, he only had a little time left. “The dry land, the ill trees…” she trailed off. Nikolai nodded.

“The health of the king was always tied to the heart of his kingdom, we do not possess any magic, though it is a magical bond created by witches a long time ago.”

Goosebumps were now covering his naked chest, running over the defined muscles dipping and rising in his stomach. Hernails had created a cute pattern right around his heart. What a shame his heart was wasted.

“I came up with the tournament to find the best hunter on this continent to accompany me on a quest to find this witch and cure me.”

She raised her brows. “Would the throne not fall to the next heir in line?”

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