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Her blue eyes grew round as he stood in front of her, her mouth dropping open.

“Your Majesty.” The girl dropped into a crouch, making Nikolai tilt his head. Even a ten-year-old girl had more manners than Noora did.

“Get up, child,” he ordered and she quickly followed his request.

“What is your name?”

“Lulva’ina, Your Majesty.”

He offered her his hand and Lulva hesitantly stepped forward, placing her small hand inside his. The black glove encasing his hand swallowed hers, as he shook it lightly. “You may call me Nikolai.”

Her eyes grew larger. “But you are the king!”

“I still have a name I would like people to call me by.”

He let go of her hand, letting his eyes wander over her face. It was spotted with orange-coloured freckles that trailed along her chubby child cheeks and over a bowed nose bridge. Hereyes glittered in childish wonder, irises as blue as the ocean, contrasting against her darker skin.

It reminded him of Princess Aileen’s skin, the same bronze tint to it, it seemed Noora’s little friend was from the Southern Isles.

“Why don’t we find your friend?” He offered, resulting in Lulva’s confused face. “My friend?”

“Noora,” he stated and glanced at Raphael, who shrugged his shoulders.

“My sister!” Lulva exclaimed. “Where is she?”

Nikolai’s gaze flitted back to Raphael because if he was being honest after telling the guard to obtain Lulva, he would not track Noora’s further steps. He liked to keep himself as neutral as possible, not talking to any contestants, even if his sister had bothered him with irrelevant stories and facts.

His focus was merely on keeping the members of the Sosye camps far away from his kingdom while satisfying the alliance they carried with Ka-Hema. The tournament would serve its own purpose without him interfering, well besides his interfering when making sure that Noora was picked as a participant.

“She’s currently in the royal training rooms with the other contestants of the tournament.” Raphael provided the information without being needed to ask. “Well, then let’s go, I am sure she will be delighted when she sees you.”

If not he would make sure of it, after all this trouble he went through, she should be thankful for his generosity and kindness.

The three of them left his study to venge towards the dungeons, the air growing colder as they descended.

“Is she going to win?” Lulva spoke up, making Nikolai look down at her in surprise. “My sister? She will win, she is the best huntress I know.”

“That depends on if her skills will provide her any advantages in the tournament, I would not underestimate her participants.”

Lulva shook her head, making her red curls bounce against her shoulders. “My sister is really clever and strong, I don’t think anyone can be stronger than her.”

Raphael scoffed, making the king glance at him shortly. His closest guard and only friend had been seeing more of Noora yesterday which made him a better judge of her character than Nikolai, but somehow his puff of air aggravated him.

“She even endured the punishment of the matron and those are the worst. I know she always wanted to protect me, so I would not get hurt. But it was not my fault! The matron administers punishments because of absurd things and then she won’t be able to sleep on her back for days, even if she uses the wonder cream!”

Nikolai’s steps faltered. “What are you talking about?”

Lulva looked like she was caught doing something dangerous. “No-thing?” She stumbled over the word before clamping her lips shut as if it would hinder her from saying any more words.

Nikolai did not budge and with a gloved hand wound around the girl’s bicep they came to a stop.

“What do you mean when you say the matron punished her?”

It was a rhetorical question. He understood what she was implying, though he could not grasp the meaning.

“Just that when the girls misbehave we get punishment,” the girl mumbled, looking intimidated by him.

“But not punishment in doing chores but in physical punishment.” He did not need to clarify. When his grip turned stronger on her small arm, she winced.