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I lost myself in the hours of the night. People worked all around me, but I focused only on the patients assigned to me. My weary hands cleaned and ground plants into powders, making teas and using the hard liquor I found to disinfect against infection.
I was so caught up in my work that I didn’t even see the man in a hooded cape sneak up behind me until it was too late. My shriek of surprise was lost among the cries of the wounded as a hand covered my mouth. I kicked and screamed as I was dragged off, but I had been in a dark, ill-lit corner behind one of the great pillars of the hall.
No one saw what was happening to me.
The man slid a hood over my head as he dragged me off. With each step, the hustle of the healing ward faded, and I fought harder, knowing my chances of being seen were quickly disappearing along with it. Eventually, he slammed my back against the wall and several pairs of hands grabbed at my wrists. Metal cuffs clamped in place, and I shrieked as the hood was ripped off my face.
“Ella,” Valtimir sneered.
I glared back at him, keeping silent. I should have known to be on the lookout for him.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” he began.
“Release me at once,” I demanded.
“I think not. You see, with your arrival, we have received news that the rift has torn even further. Helheim’s forces have reached alarming numbers, and there’s more reinforcements along the way.”
“I have nothing to do with that,” I spat.
“There is word someone else is looking for you, someone who would pay a handsome prize for your deliverance,” he said with a calculated, cold grin.
I swallowed heavily, lifting my chin in furious defiance.
“The Dark King has set his eyes on you,” Valtimir sneered in my direction.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned.
His hand snapped around my throat, cutting off my breath. “I plan to do far more than just touch you, human. I plan to enjoy what was so rudely interrupted last time before I kill you,” he stated, reaching down into the sheath looped onto his belt and pulling out a silver encrusted blade. I stopped breathing. I wanted to scream, but I knew no one would come. I chose to show bravery instead.
He pulled the hand that was wrapped around my throat away and replaced it with the knife. The sharp edge pressed against my flesh, and I did my best to pull away. I felt its bite all the same.
He stared into my eyes, his wicked grin bone-chillingly cold, and I remained silent, not moving a single muscle for fear he would decide to end me here and now.
There was a movement behind him, but I didn’t dare look. In all likelihood, it was just one of his goons guarding the door.
“I warned you, Valtimir.” Nykor’s voice bounced off the walls of the small cell. The steward stiffened, but I knew it was already too late for him. Nykor’s arm shot out, and he grabbed the half elf by the back of the neck. The look of shock on his face was in stark contrast to his confident, murderous intent only moments before. His eyes widened, never leaving mine. I simply watched, which to him was probably the worst thing he could have ever imagined. I knew how this was going to end, and it was clear that he did, too.
Nykor’s expression was mercilessly feral. There was nothing but brutal fury in his eyes as his fingers tightened around the steward’s throat. Nykor threw him clean across the room, and he hit the wall so hard that his scalp bounced off the rock with a sickening crunch. Valtimir’s eyes rolled back in his head as he collapsed to the floor. He came to a moment later and pushed himself shakily to his feet, but Nykor was already on the move.
This was only going to end one way. Nykor had granted him mercy the first time, but he wouldn’t make that mistake the second time.
He grabbed Valtimir’s head and slammed it into the wall with ruthless violence, choosing to end things quickly. The steward crumpled and collapsed to the ground in a heap, his eyes deadening as a pool of blood soon became visible beneath him. As the seconds crawled by, the pool widened.
He didn’t get back up, and I knew he wasn’t going to.
All of a sudden, the piercing ache through my heart intensified, and my body pitched forward. Nykor turned his furious gaze on me. Slowly, it melted away as my cries turned louder, and he surged towards me. I screamed, but he reached to either side of my head and pulled at the chains embedded in the walls. They disintegrated in his grasp, freeing me in an instant.
The freezing cold spike worsened. Then all at once, it disappeared, and I fell, but Nykor was there to catch me. I breathed through the ebbing effects of the pain, feeling my body slowly warm once again, and when I was finally ready, I reached up and yanked my dress down so that I could see the wound with my own eyes again.
It was gone.
“The seer healed you, but her help wasn’t free. She named a price,” he stated softly.
“What was that price?”
“In order for you to fully heal, I would have to take back the crown. If I refused, the tainted magic in your heart would only get worse over time until it killed you and delivered you to the Dark King,” he finally explained.
“Take back?” I exclaimed.
