Page 6 of The Heartless Archer

“Fear not, mother.” He placed his hand on hers before retreating. She watched him dissatisfied. “Why have you yet not proposed to Princess Aileen-Akamu? I gave you the family ring, you have gotten to know her for the past month. Tell me, what is holding you back?”

He didn’t know.

Her eyes searched his and he knew the longer he let her look, the closer she would get to the truth.

“You are not thinking of sending her back to the Southern Isles, are you? You know we cannot let that happen.”

Nikolai got off his bed scoffing. “Of course I know that. Despite what my sister told you, I do not intend to send the princess back.”

He paced in front of his window, overlooking most of his kingdom. The landscape was barely visible, the sun vanished from the horizon a time ago, making way for the tribune of the moon.

“Then why wait?”

He turned aggravated. “Is it such a surprise that I am looking for a different solution? That I do not want to doom Princess Aileen into a loveless marriage, so I can attain their armada to protect Oy Frossen from the Sosye?”

His mother stood up from his bed and he wondered what he looked like. Distressed and scared like a little boy? That was how he felt most of the time. He knew that it would come. The tribes of the witch hunters, the Sosye, were growing every day, and when the time was ripe, they would attack. They were barbaric folk, camping in the woods, hunting for their desire. It was bound to happen one day that they wanted more. No one was ever satisfied with what they had. The numbers were growing and there existed more witch hunters than in all time Nikolai could remember.

It was his task to protect his kingdom from them. A potential coup to take on the throne and redeem their species to obtain the rights only noblemen were allowed to procure. The armadas from the Southern Isles would be a great alliance to make, the Sosye would not dare attack his kingdom with a man force like it. Which is why he was supposed to marry Princess Aileen-Akamu.

“You know that there is no other way, Niko. The Sosye will not cower in fear, they are fearless hunters, ravenous folkwithout any manners less any mercy. They will run over Oy Frossen and take the throne with many victims left behind.”

“Do you think I don’t know that, mother? All of this wouldn’t have happened if—” he stopped himself because he knew he already said too much. Something glinted in the cunning eyes of his mother. The queen got off the bed, straightening her skirts. “Is that what it is? Are you still thinking of her?” she asked.

“No.”

It’s a desperate try to convince her that he was over it, that he didn’t dream of her almost every night.

His mother paced over to him her hand finding his shoulder. Instead of taking his burden, it felt like she was bearing down, weighing him down even more. “She is gone, Niko, and she will never come back.”

You don’t know that.He wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that despite the fact that the girl he was supposed to marry went missing when they were children, there was still a chance she was alive. Some people could survive in the wilderness and maybe she found her way to a town nearby and could not reach the palace to tell them she was alive. Maybe she did not remember him, she was quite young when she was taken.

“No matter if she is here or not, Amalie would not be the solution to this.”

“How can you know that? Father intended for her to marry me because she grew up in the lands of the Sosye. The Winter family is respected by the witch hunters and maybe they wouldn’t be vengeful for blood if I were to marry her.”

His mother’s nails bored into his shoulder with her next words.“It was the witch hunters who kidnapped her, Nikolai. They are the ones who didn’t want you to marry her. How much could they respect the Winter family, if they took her daughter fromthem? She was half a witch after all.” Her voice was almost a hiss and his shoulder started to burn with her grip on it.

“Father said—”

“Your father is DEAD! It is you who is the king now, you need to start taking responsibility and face the truth. Amalie is dead and she will not magically come back to save your kingdom. You have to save it, not anyone else and I fear that if you do not realise, it will be our all ruin.”

His mother swallowed her next words before she was back to herself. The seething creature returned to its shell. He had never seen his mother like this. No matter how much her words stung, he knew she was telling the truth. She always wanted what was best for him.

Turning the ring on his finger, he bowed his head to her.

“At the end of this I want to see that ring on Aileen’s finger, Niko.” She kissed his cheek gently before making to leave. “I love you, you know that?”

“I do,” he mumbled not bearing to watch her leave, to endure the disappointing look on her face any longer.

She sighed a last time before leaving his chambers, leaving behind an acidic loneliness crawling up his fingers and his arms.

Chapter 4

Noora

It was already dark outside. An owl hooted into the night, the creatures awakening slowly to prowl in the shadows and wait for their prey to fall into their traps. Everyone was already asleep when Noora slipped into the sleeping chamber. She passed the rows of beds as quietly as possible, stubbing her toe against the boots discarded at one of the girl’s beds. Trying not to make a sound she found her bed. Lulva was an ocean of red hair peaking from beneath the duvet. Careful not to wake her, Noora retrieved the salve from beneath her mattress and slowly peeled off her shirt. Biting her tongue hard, she drew blood as the shirt stuck to her wounded skin. Black spots danced in front of her eyes but she kept on going until she finally dragged the shirt over her head. She would not be able to reach all parts but even just a bit of the salve would seal the wounds.

She would not be able to sneak out tonight and meet with Lukas but to her surprise, it didn’t bother her as much as she thought it would. She spread the salve on two fingers before reaching over her shoulder and spreading it over her wounds. A shuttering sigh left her lips at the cooling sensation.

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