Page 56 of The Heartless Archer

Nikolai spluttered at that. He looked so offended, that Noora felt tempted to laugh. What a prudish, snobby man the prince was, it was ridiculous.

“I am your king, it is my sole purpose to tell you what to do.”

“You are unbelievable,” she scoffed. “Do you think, just because you have a stupid crown on your head, I will just listen to what you say? If I say I am full then that’s not up for debate.”

“Are you mad that I offered you a plate of food? I only had your best interest in mind, Noora.“ She shivered subconsciously when he spoke her name, something about it made her skin crawl.

“Even if you do not participate in the tournament, I wanted to make sure that for once, you could complain about a full stomach instead of an empty one.” His gaze flared like green fire and even though she rationally understood what he was saying, she could not back down.

Noora was hurt in her pride and that was never a good thing.

Slamming down her fork onto the table, she got up, ready to yell at him again when she realised that the table had gone quiet.

Everyone was looking at her and to Noora’s horror she felt her cheeks heat under their curious gazes.

“Is there a problem?” Queen Euphemia asked, her gaze narrowing at Noora. Tyra seemed to be withholding a chuckle, the sides of her lips quivering dangerously.

“No, Your Majesty.” Noora slowly sat back down, her teeth grinding against each other.

“Well, now that it is quiet, I might as well brief the contestants on tomorrow’s task.” Queen Euphemia cleared her throat and got up from her chair, towering over the rest of them.

A sharp pain shot through her leg and she whirled around to see Nikolai smothering a smirk on his lips, his gloved hand hiding most of his mouth.

He was not looking at her but instead focusing on his mother.

Did he just kick her back?

Shaking her head, Noora turned back towards the queen.

“You will have approximately one hour for tomorrow’s task. There will be a token provided that only one of you willbe able to receive,” she said, turning to look at every one. Pika straightened beside Noora as the queen’s gaze lingered on the two of them.

“There will be, of course, obstacles that may hinder you from obtaining that prized object, or else it would be too easy. You all will be tested in strength, instincts, and tactics but,” she held up her hand, her voice turned more urgent, “the most important part is that while obtaining the token will help you in the next task, it is not required for you to be able to win.”

Noora perked up at that as the other contestants shared confused glances.

“There will be a jury of four, judging you on your skill, efficiency, and style. You might obtain your token but if your procedure is less than conservative, your points will be very low.”

“And who will judge us?” Kekoa asked.

The queen turned to look at him and something in her gaze started to concern Noora. There was just something in the air around the woman that felt…wrong.

“The king, of course, me, an old friend of the royal family, and…a special guest.”

Pika furrowed his brows beside Noora. “Special guest?”

Instead of listening to the queen, she turned to look at Nikolai, who was suspiciously quiet during the talk of his mother.

His eyes met hers in an instant, a certain gleam inside the depth of his gaze. As if he already knew he won.

And even if Noora wanted to stay stubborn, she somewhere felt defeat already crawling over her skin and burying in her heart.

“Somehow I got sidetracked in my plans today.”

Noora froze in front of the door leading into the chamber she was currently residing in. She turned to look at Nikolai, who insisted on escorting her back to her rooms.

His gaze was somewhere beside her head, maybe he was staring at her ear?

---