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“Good boy. We wouldn’t want you to bite off your tongue, would we?”

Without any warning, she poured over whatever was in the vial—Kai guessed it was Satan produced—bathing his whole body in hellfire.

A groan vibrated through his throat as excruciating pain consumed his whole body, burning the flesh off his bones and peeling the marrow out of them.

His eyes rolled to the back of his head as another wave hit him and for the second time that day, everything went black.

Chapter 12

Noora

“This is what you wanted to save.” Noora threw a lazy hand gesture over to the man—Kai—who had slumped in on himself, still unconscious.

His side was now wrapped securely with gauze, she managed to clean the wound entirely and stitch it up evenly. She had to stitch herself up countless times when she just started to hunt in the forest. She didn’t know where to step, stumbling over roots and slashing her skin against sharp stones in the river av Livet.

She still had the scar running down her right calf, when she accidentally woke up a small lynx family as she stumbled over their cave, searching for mushrooms.

It was barely noticeable now, her skin so pale that it blended with the scar. Lulva said it made her look brave, though Noora knew it was only another chip in her well-built wall.

The wolf sprawled closer, carefully poking his nose against the gloved hand of Kai. He turned his head to her as if to ask her why he was still unconscious.

“How should I know? If he can’t even handle getting his wound disinfected, I’m of no help.”

The wolf huffed.

She sighed, grabbing the satchel filled with a needle and thread and other things to help someone in need.

“Let’s go, if we’re lucky he wakes up hours after we’re gone.” Noora turned to go, already trying to make up a plan on how to keep on going.

All her gold was gone.

It would take her ages to save up the amount of Gulls she had.

Even if she would sell a wolf every day—which was highly unlikely—it would not be enough.

She did not like the default plan she had come up with a few hours ago, there were too many risks, even if the reward of her success would be more than satisfying.

First, she needed to get out of Lukas’s farm before his family returned.

Taking a step towards the entrance she heard a familiar growl.

“What?” She snapped, turning around.

The wolf showed his teeth at her in disdain, his snout pulling backward and revealing his monstrous nature.

“What do you want me to do? I stitched him up, and he is fine. I don’t want to spend any more time in the presence of a guard from the palace. He might look harmless but you heard how he talks about people like me.”

The animal huffed before it nudged Kai’s hand again. This time the light caught onto something glinting on his finger.

Dropping the satchel back to the ground, she quickly walked over to the unconscious man.

She was right.

A silver ring was sitting snugly on his finger, acting as a cage for a large Aventurine.

“Do you know how much that is worth?” she unnecessarily asked the wolf. Casting a glance up at the man to make sure he was still asleep, she went to slip the ring off his finger. Her gaze snapped to his jacket lying discarded on the ground.

She snatched it quickly and her hands dove through all pockets, two on the outside, three on the inside.