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2024-10-29 19:42:56"Did it... work?" Although she'd felt it in her magic, she had to hear it from him, hear that he finally believed in her. That he dared to dream of a future.
His answer was a cryptic one, the tone muffled. "You will know when you open your eyes."So she did. She opened her eyes to see... the darkness of the night. No, that was even darker than any night could get, like a black curtain or fire wavering around her shining self. It started from her chest area and grew upwards, almost solid in its impenetrability, but moving and alive at the same time. Then she saw that the origin of it all were Nathaniel's arms, strongly coiled around her. His dark magic rose in big waves from them, and, liquid-like, formed a dome of pure darkness above their heads, only to fall again into Nathaniel's head and shoulders.Almost reverently, Katherine raised her hands, which she couldn't even see, and pulled them closer to her face. Soon, the black flames parted in front of her to let theRelated chapters
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In the evening, they made a campfire in the wild, acting like any other insignificant noble family on a journey. Even the crest of the carriage was changed, presenting two crossed white lances. Small tents were erected to shelter against the cold and the king, still in a bad mood from being called a 'mascot', demanded to be brought to his right after supper. Lady Orchid sighed as she stared after his retreating figure. Strongly supported by a guard on either side, the king gave a miserable picture, despite the remaining stiffness in his back and the head that was held high. The low sound of his feet dragging over the ground was luckily swallowed by the eating sounds of the guards."His voice is still strong enough", Aston whispered next to his mother. "He will just navigate everyone to fulfill his needs, like before. He'll have it covered in no time, you'll see.""You're right, probably." Lady Orchid smiled, but the sadness in her eyes remained as she stretched her h
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Angry and hurt, Katherine grinded her teeth. "Why? Why do you have to bring that up now? Do you want me to put you on that list? As long as you didn't say it, I could still hope that you didn't know back then, that you were careless for once. Why? Do you want me to hate you so much? Because I don't see another reason why we need to discuss this right now!"Despite the need to tell her, the guilt inside Nathaniel accumulated with her words. Adding to it was the gnawing pain he felt by hurting what was dearest to him. From the beginning, he was reluctant to bring up a topic that could endanger their relationship, but he had to. It had to be discussed. If not now, it would only grow worse with time.Not knowing how to cope with all these contradicting feelings raining down on him, Nathaniel decided to cling to his logical side. By burying his emotions, his face turned back into the stony mask Katherine thought she'd never see again. She'd hoped he'd never feel the need to dir
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It was obvious that Katherine was still unsure, reluctance lingering in the distance between them. Yet the hand on his told bounds about her heart. Despite everything she heard and the outbreak she had before, she wanted to soothe his pain.A thin smile tugged on Nathaniel's lips, caused to same degrees by gratefulness and self-irony. His white lashes lowered as he wallowed in the warmth of her hand but didn't dare to take it firmly in fright she would pull away.With a sigh, he continued his story. "Another reason why Princess Bellatrix was alive to the day of her assassination, was a considerably strong recovery ability. Not as strong as yours and she couldn't use it on others, but she could not be killed instantly either. As long as she'd have had some seconds of life left in her, she could have destroyed everything in a wide radius around her.""So, what did you do? Sacrifice the assassin?" There was some sorrow for the unknown Princess in Katherine's voice, but m
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Katherine's dreams were bad, and she tossed and turned several times, making it hard for Nathaniel to remain asleep. Around five in the morning, he decided that he'd had enough. Besides, he didn't know what Katherine would think when waking in his arms after all he told her yesterday. It was unavoidable that one would recall the bad news when seeing the messenger who brought them. Though it seemed like she didn't hate him, that didn't mean she was as comfortable around him as she used to.So, he sought out poor Aston to have a refreshening morning duel - or "torture him to death" how his grumpy younger brother called it. The rest of the camp slowly awoke to their clinking of swords from afar.Katherine was not better than anyone else in this aspect. But despite being awake, she laid quietly and unmoving like a corpse. Her violet eyes gazed at the fabric of the tent above, but their lively glitter was gone.What seemed like hours later, she slowly crawled outside and s
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They spend a few hours just lazing about, chatting, kissing, and cuddling to their heart's content. When the waterfall like a grant prism fractured the rays of the setting sun, they unwillingly packed up the pillows and blanket, and started their decent back to camp. Like a young couple that could never get close enough, their fingers remained intervened, and occasionally grins flashed over their faces when their eyes met. At other times, they would gaze fondly at the other talking, as if in a daze.In the middle of a conversation about sight-seeing spots in Dragsa, Nathaniel suddenly tensed up, pulled Katherine behind him, and warily surveyed the surrounding trees. As his ears picked up the rustle of leaves, his sharp eyes focused on the bushes left of the path."Come on out", he ordered coldly, and his right wandered to the hilt of his sword. Katherine behind him reacted swiftly as well. She drew her dagger and turned to the bushes behind them. With narrowed eyes, she se
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Twenty minutes later, Katherine sat by the roadside dejectedly. Despite the assurance that she was needed for patch up later, she felt useless, and that was not only because she was worse at fighting compared to everyone else. No, what worried her most, was her reaction to the corpses. Even though she'd never seen the aftermath of a battle, she'd seen plenty of wounds, illnesses, and heavy burns. Damn, she'd even seen her parents die with the same eyes that were now pressed shut in anxiety confronted with a few unknown bodies! From her self-reflection, her reaction shouldn't have been this exaggerated. But what came up in her mind again and again were not the corpses actually, but the bloody muzzles of wolfs, and the sight of her own disfigured body. Once, she'd been way worse off than these soldiers. And though she wanted to suppress it, the memory of those few minutes before unconsciousness engulfed her, terrified her ever since. After a while, Dorian lit up a lamp
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Five years later"Your Holiness - Uh, ah, Majesty, I mean!"Leaning on the newly-built rails atop the dome of the palace, with the view of the Capital in the background, Katherine scolded lightly: "Shht, Hazel, she just fell asleep."In her arms rested a baby, maybe a few months old, with a tuft of black hair and fair white skin. If she opened her lids, angelic blue eyes would blink up innocently at the viewer.Hazel's head appeared at the end of the staircase leading to the roof. Apologetically, she bit her lip and whispered. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. A letter arrived from Dragsa, and Prince Patrick hurt his knee while playing. He's on his way here.""Dragsa...," Katherine muttered and stretched out a hand to take it. "I wonder what they want. They were very quiet in the latter years."Lowering her head, she took a glance at the paper. Instantly, her brows furrowed, later followed by a deep sigh. "I almost expected it. What a shame."Her gaze wandered to the west, in the direction of
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It was Ethan. He stood just outside the rift, his usual harmless smile on his face, and the hands hidden in the pockets of his dark trousers. "Kitty. Fancy meeting you here."If Katherine had been raised in any lower class than aristocracy, she would've spit in front of his feet. Even so, her face soured as if she'd bitten into a raw lemon. "I don't... fancy it at all."Stepping aside to give the rest of the dark stream free access to the rift, she noticed that Ethan'd brought two helpers who lingered in the back nervously. The white lab coats outed them as researchers. She glanced them up and down and decided not to ask where Ve was. After all that happened today and with her magic nearly depleted, she wanted nothing more than walk away from this whole mess.So, she did just that. Turned around and walked along the canyon that was now almost free of the dark substance.After a second of surprise, Ethan called after her: "Hey, don't you want to know what I'll do with this? Aren't
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"Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts! You're tearing me apart!" Nathaniel felt the unusual urge to roll his eyes. He never knew that his magic was such a sissy. First, it asked for his help, and now it screamed like a pig on the slaughter bench because of a little pain. And why could it even feel pain? Its body was nothing but insidious black smoke that appeared like a black liquid in its compressed form. There were no tendons, no bones, no flesh, and no nerves - in short, nothing that could hurt. "Shall I stop pulling then?", Nathaniel asked sarcastically in his mind. Well, if that magic of his wanted to go by itself, all the better for him. "No, no, no! Please don't let go! Don't let goo-oo-ouuuuuuch!" It felt like mentally pulling on an elastic band, Nathaniel decided. Somewhere where he couldn't see, something else was pulling the other end, turning the band longer and longer. It got harder for him to hold on with each passing second. Then, with a last loud howl fr
