Page 12 of The Heartless Archer

“I see we’ve hit a nerve.” Isak grinned. “No worries, we will treat her very nicely.”

It was enough.

Noora could handle these idiots. She didn’t mind eating the dirt, didn’t mind them pulling at her hair or calling her a half-breed whore. But they would not touch Lulva.

A high-pitched scream left Isak and just then Noora noticed she was standing. Her bow was clutched in her hand but the arrow was located elsewhere.

She shot the arrow through the top of Isaks shirt pinning him to the wall of a nearby building. He looked at her with fearful eyes.

Her chest heaved as she glared at Noa and Aksel. “Do you want to join him? The next arrow goes through someone’s eye.”

They could not have scattered more quickly.

“Hey! You bastard traitors!” Isak called after them. He stiffened in fear when Noora approached him. Her gear was splattered with mud and her scalp still stung from him pulling at it minutes ago.

In a matter of milliseconds, she drew her skinning knife and held it against his throat.

“What are you doing?” Isaks face widened in fear, sweat gathered above his lip. Noora narrowed her eyes again. “Are you scared now?” She pressed the blade against his skin, hard enough that he would feel the cool metal but too little to actually slice skin. If she had shed Oy Frossen’s blood, she could not imagine what the townspeople would do.

Luckily the building was hidden by the shade, and the mass of people around them was too distracted by the market.

Isak started to tremble, sweat trickled down the side of his temples, making the wheat-coloured strands stick to his skin.

“No matter what you call me, Isak, it will never distract from your devoid character and plain heart. Your words do not hurt me and I might spare you today,” she drew a little closer, smelling the scent of his sweat. “But if you mention her again if you dare look at her again, I will pull out your intestines, skin your body, and sell it on this market, do you understand?”

He nodded frantically but quickly stopped when he realised it was drawing the blade against his skin further.

“Do you understand?” she repeated slowly. “Answer me with words, Isak.”

“I understand—please—please do not kill me. It was just a bit of fun.”

Noora scoffed.Just a bit of fun.

“You disgust me.” She ripped the satchel filled with her Gulls out of his hand. “I believe this belongs to me.”

She pulled the arrow out of his shirt and he slumped to the ground in relief. She turned her back to him, not sparing him a glance but when she was at a safe distance he seemed to regain some of his courage.

“You will pay for this.”

“Maybe, but at least it was worth it.”

She needed to stock up on that salve.

Chapter 7

Noora

A deep sound escaped his lips as Noora’s lips travelled along his angled jaw, capturing every dip and curve of his throat. She hovered over him as their lips met again, soft and slow at first, before it turned heated once more. She could imagine that the hay was digging into his back and her clothes were smelling of stew but he still pulled her closer to him. His fingers travelled over her clothed spine as if he were counting every single vertebra.

Her fingers started to undo the buttons of his shirt as his fingers slipped under her tunic. Noora stiffened in pain, making Lukas stop to look at her.

“What’s wrong? I thought it was all right if I touched them?” His fingers drew back from the scarred and pebbled skin of her back.

“You can,” she said through clenched teeth. “I’m just a little sore from working in the kitchens.”

She tried to lower herself again to catch his lips but he dodged her, making her roll off his warm body. She landed in the hay with an offended huff. She spit out a few stray heaps of hay.

“You’re hurt again, aren’t you?” He narrowed his eyes at her as if she was at fault for it.

---