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His hands let go of her and she inhaled a much-needed breath as he got up and towered over her. She forgot how tall he was as she tipped her head slightly and looked at him.

His hand raised and slowly drove into her hair and the cool leather soothed the constant thumping in her head.

“How is your head?” He asked gently. His fingers massaged her scalp and she felt her knees turn wobbly.

“I don’t know,“ she mumbled, trying to get a grip on herself.

“Does it hurt?”

“Like a bitch.”

Nikolai laughed softly at that and Noora’s lips twitched. “The next time you want to do something reckless, keep me out of it.”

His gaze turned worried again. “I am genuinely sorry, it was irresponsible of me and I behaved like an absolute idiot.”

“At least we agree on that.”

He let go of her head and she almost grumbled in dissatisfaction but instead, she clamped her mouth shut as he continued to watch her.

“I am so—“

“Kai, if you apologise again I might reconsider that thought of strangling you.”

His lips turned into a sheepish grin, his cheeks turning red again. “That concussion mustn’t be so bad if you can still insult and threaten me.”

Noora shrugged. “What can I say, it comes naturally to me.”

Nikolai’s smile deepened and Noora furrowed her brows at him. She had to realise, with great horror, that Nikolai was beautiful.

Even now, after a sword fight, he passed out and lay smushed against a pillow, he looked ethereal. The way his hair curled so stubbornly into golden locks, falling around his sharply molded face. Rosy lips, high cheekbones like the one gods rumored to have, and soft kind eyes.

His eyes were one of his best features, so light and hopeful so different to Lukas. While Nikolai did glare at her in anger,sadness, or happiness he never looked at her like Lukas did when he was disgusted or berating her.

Noora halted. Why was she even comparing the two?

“What?” Nikolai asked, tilting his head to the side.

“You look awful.” It was the only thing she could say and Nikolai raised both his brows.

“I am incapable of looking awful, Noora.”

Despite his words, he drove his hand through his hair, trying to fix it self-consciously. They dove back into tense silence—or maybe it just felt that way for Noora— now that she realised he was beautiful it felt strange.

As if the gods had heard her cry for help they sent her a way out of her misery.

“Kai!”

Nikolai

His sister rushed into the room, her cheeks flushed in worry as she slipped between him and Noora to make sure that he was all right.

“Heavens, they said you passed out but that has been a lie. What happened?” she asked, her eyes scanning him for any visible injuries and just now he noticed the second person standing in the doorframe. Marid Winter, his mother’s oldest friend, was eyeing him with concern. Hovering in the doorframe, she looked like she did not know if she should step into the chamber or not.

“Everything is fine, I overestimated my fighting skills. It was entirely my fault,“ he spoke to both women, wishing that they would just leave.

He could not stop his eyes from flicking over to Noora every few seconds. She suddenly looked very uncomfortable to be present in the room, even if she had every right to be there.