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Nikolai was around the bush in an instant, kicking her fallen sword to the side, before holding the tip of his blade to her throat.

“Heavens, you just look exquisite like this.” His voice turned rough as he said it, making Noora blanch.

Her foot shot out and kicked against his kneecap, making him grunt and drop down in front of her. With a tortured breath shegot up, her limbs aching as she pushed him down on his back, bracketing his ribs with her thighs and retrieving his sword.

With a triumphant grin, she held it against his throat.

“Well, I think I like this position just as much,” Nikolai’s breath hit her cheek and Noora drew back when she realised why he was behaving this oddly.

“Are you drunk?” she said under her breath.

Nikolai grinned, holding up his thumb and pointer finger, the tips almost touching. “Just a tiny bit.”

Noora scoffed. “You are disgusting.”

Before she could get up and stride away, Nikolai’s thigh hooked around her hip and her head started to spin before she was the one back on the ground, with Nikolai hovering over her.

“I find your annoyance blissfully delightful, I could bathe in the fire of your eyes, Noora,“ his voice rasped and for a moment the breath got knocked out of her lungs as she met his gaze.

His eyes looked so earnest that she almost pitied him. Almost.

“Get off of me, you brute.” She pushed at his chest and apparently, the adrenaline finally left his body and he tumbled to the side. Noora sat up, a sharp pain exploding under her chest.

A rib might’ve been broken when she fell over that stupid vase.

“You’re pathetic, you know that?” She turned to glare at Nikolai who was strangely still, lying on his back.

“Nikolai.” She nudged him but his eyes stayed closed, his chest rising slowly.

“Heavens, Kai!” She gripped his shoulders and started to shake him.

“What happened?” Pika’s voice appeared as he rounded the corner, Kekoa and Koa-Ailani hot on his trail.

“I don’t know he just passed out!” She bit her tongue before it could slip out that he was properly smashed with an alcoholic beverage.

“He needs to get to the healers.” Goosebumps covered Noora’s skin in an instant as the Sosye chief spoke up.

She flinched as he squatted down beside her and slipped his hands beneath the king’s body, lifting him.

Noora watched him, her mouth dropping open as Koa-Ailani casually carried Nikolai like he weighed 10 kilograms and not 80.

Her brain was all dazzled as she watched the witch hunter carry an unconscious Nikolai away.

Chapter 32

Noora

“What did you do?” Raphael came storming into the healer’s wing, his armour clicking painfully loud. Noora winced at the sound as she sat up on the bed, trying not to inhale too deeply and irritate her broken ribs.

“What didIdo?” she snapped as Raphael came to a halt in front of her, his gaze blazing, fingers twitching.

“I have two broken ribs and a concussion, thank you for asking.” She swung her legs over to get up but Raphael stopped her from doing so by blocking her way.

“You might think you can do what you want but you will carry the consequences for this. He is the king and I swear if something happens to him again, because of you, I will make sure to be the last thing you see before you take your last breath on this world.”

Noora shot up from the bed with a narrowed gaze. Apparently, her concussion was worse than the healer told her. She tipped to the side. Her hand shot out to grip the wood frame of the cot.

“Raphael, don’t be an asshole,” a lazy voice spoke up and both Noora and Raphael turned to the brittle beside Noora’s, where the king was lying, now awake.