Chapter 35

Nikolai

His knee bounced nervously to the roaring of the crowd, the noise tumbled into a chaos of nothingness. A buzzing grew louder, annoying him like a fly trapped in a chamber, unable to find the godsdamned opened window. His fingers curled into his palms as he stared at the line of trees, hiding the tress of danger behind them. Was she already through the forest? She had to be, taking into consideration that her body weight was the lightest one of the three contestants meant she was the fastest. She knew the grounds of his kingdom, the forest was second nature to her. Did that mean she was at the lake? Or already in the cave.

His knee bounced harder and he started to bite his bottom lip as he stared intently at the tree line as if that would make her form appear out of thin air. Iron spread in his mouth and he realised he had bitten his lip bloody.

“You are driving me mad with your fidgeting,” his mother barked from his side and his knee stopped bouncing.

“I am not fidgeting,” he snapped, leaning back in his chair and crossing his feet in front of him. His mother threw him a sharp look and he had to resist staring back at her in defiance, though his gaze stayed focused on the trees.

“A king is not to show his emotions, especially not if he favours a contestant.”

Nikolai ignored his mother as he felt a hand on his knee. It had started to bounce again, he turned to look at Marid who gave him a kind smile, her eyes shining with slight amusement. She leaned in, her words quiet enough for his mother not to hear. “She is going to be fine.”

“I know. I am not worried,” Nikolai said, his eyes searching the forest.

“Honey, even the squirrels residing in that forest can smell the anxiety waves wafting off your body.”

He sighed, turning to look at her. “Why are they not here yet? It’s been hours, soon the sun is going to sink, how are they going to find their way to the sleighs that will escort them here?”

“Kai, you sent them out to run through a forest, skate over a lake, dive through that lake to get into an underwater cave to find a way to the treasure cave. I believe that that takes a lot of time,” Marid said gently.

She was right. Of course it would take them a while to reappear, he was being impatient and frankly; annoying.

“You are right. I am being ridiculous.”

Marid let out a melodious laugh. “Everyone in love is.”

His head snapped back to look at her before he shook it vehemently. “I am not in love.”

She smiled as if she was in on a secret he wasn’t. “Not yet.”

Before he could protest that absolute nonsense, cries for help erupted in the air. The jury in the tower shifted in their seats as Nikolai leaned closer, his eyes zeroing in on a distant figure emerging from the tree line. It was hard to see from the distance but whatever emerged from the forest, it was moving fast, approaching with inhumane speed. Nikolai got up from his seat and walked toward the railing until his vision focused and he could make out Pika, his hair thrown around, dirt marking his full cheeks. His great form was carrying a person in his arms that seemed to be unconscious and Nikolai suddenly felt all his insides draw in.

“What is going on?” the high chief asked his mother but Nikolai could barely register their words as he moved for the ladder that would bring him down to the ground.

“Nikolai. Stay .” His mother’s voice was harsh, but he barely threw a glance at her as his gloved hands wrapped around the bars of the ladder until he descended to earth.

“He needs help! I think he has been poisoned,” Pika’s voice sounded again, pure panic painting the octaves of it. He. He said he, not her. When Nikolai reached the ground a group of guards surrounded him in a blink of an eye as a devastated Pika made his way over to him. Now that he was closer Nikolai’s breathing slowed down, his lungs slowly relaxing and finally letting the air flow in properly as he recognised who was in Pika’s arms.

It was Kekoa.

Nonetheless, Nikolai strode over to the Sosye his guards following him. “What happened?” he demanded to know, Pika’s panicked gaze flying from Kekoa’s unconscious form to the king.

“I am not sure. I was being chased by something strange in the forest, which is why my time was so delayed. I never made it to the lake. I met Kekoa by accident he was lying on the ground surrounded by roots and dirt, he was already unconscious when I reached him.”

Nikolai put his hands against the side of Kekoa’s face feeling for a pulse. It was barely there but still going. White foam was forming at his lips, his skin turning alarmingly pale like the skin of the moon. He carefully drew the man’s lids back to come up with white space.

Nodding, Nikolai turned, Raphael already at his side. “We need to take him back to the palace and the infirmary wing. Tell the healers it is Aconitum.”

Raphael nodded and with the help of three more guards they carefully took the unconscious contestant out of Pika’s big arms, who looked like it was the last thing he wanted to do. “What are you talking about? What is Aconitum?” Red spots grew on his cheeks as he wiped the sweat from his temples.

“A poisonous plant, very dangerous indeed, but they will get Kekoa to the palace and he will be fine.” Nikolai turned to look up at the tower, the sharp gaze of his mother burning in his neck. He could see her raise a black brow.

Everything under control?

He nodded. Everything is being handled.

“But what is wrong with him?” Pika stressed and Nikolai turned to one of the guards asking for a bottle of water. Poor Pika looked like he saw a Moor ghost or something worse.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Pika? You look a little green in the face.” He helped him and Pika let him push him down to sit on the bench the palace provided for the contestants. He offered him the bottle of water and Pika drank it greedily, his throat bobbing with every passing swallow.

“Aconitum is a very poisonous plant, often known under the name aconite, wolfsbane, or monkshood. The consummation of it can lead to intense nausea and vomiting, though Kekoa is in good hands, I promise.”

Pika looked even more spooked. Small red spots started to cover his skin again.

“The more important matter is, how do you feel? Have you consumed the plant as well? Any symptoms?” Nikolai’s eyes swiped over him analytically but besides the red splotches on his cheeks and a decent amount of sweat, regarding that he just carried a 95-kilo man through the forest, he looked fine.

“I did not consume anything and I doubt that Kekoa would. He grew up in a Sosye clan and as tough as they seem, they learn a lot about herbs and their effects. Wolfsbane is not hard to miss by its colour. And why would he even stop in the forest to consume it? During the tournament.”

Nikolai already had been at that point, though he could not explain why Kekoa was unconscious. He knew the symptoms too well to be wrong in his assumptions.

“You said something chased you.”

Pika looked up, his eyes hollow as he nodded. He hesitated before his lips parted, a pearl of sweat dripping from his blushed lips. “It was a shadow singer.”

Nikolai furrowed his brows as he squatted down to look at him more clearly. Maybe Pika did consume something as well but he could not recall.

“They are–”

“I know what they are.” Nikolai interrupted him. Shadow singers were a myth, a bedtime story for little witch hunters who did not behave well, conjured by their chiefs to make them fear stillness and weakness.

Pika laughed. It was a crazed laugh, the sound screeching in Nikolai’s ears. “You do not believe me.”

“This is not a question of belief, Pika. My men searched the forest days before this task. It might not seem like it but we want the contestants to be safe.”

The Sosye laughed again. “Safe.” He nodded to himself as if he was telling a witty joke.

“Something was chasing me, Your Majesty, and whatever it was, it did not sound like it was there to play.”

Something cold spread in Nikolai’s chest, slowly invading his senses, and squeezing around his thumping heart. Pika looked up at him, his face blank. “This task is cursed. There is no way that Kekoa would consummate Wolfsbane and it might not have been a shadow singer that chased me but it was out for blood. I do not want to know what Soren and Noora have to go through at this moment.”

All colour drained from the king’s face, leaving his skin pale like the petals of a snowdrop.