Page 111 of The Ruins of the Heartless Fae

She paused, feeling the contrasting mana in her hands. She had never manipulated human life, and it felt wrong. She felt like if she did this, she would never be the same again and something within her would tarnish.She could hear Katla’s voice in her ears. “It’ll twist your soul.You must never do that again!”

She hesitated. What if it did twist her soul like Katla had said it would?

But then she remembered how kind Eyfura had been to her. How she was the only Royal Guard who made her feel welcome. She thought back to Nollar, Eyfura’s younger brother, who was waiting for her to return.

She had to do it.

Kolfinna pulled at Mímir’s mana and dug through it, trying to find the sliver of life force beneath it. She was so new to it that she couldn’t distinguish between the mana and life force. She would have to drain the mana from him before tapping into his life force, she decided.

His body resisted, his mana refusing to meld in her hands, but she pulled harder, unspooling his mana until it dripped into her hands like a thread. A rush of exhilaration pumped through her veins when his mana poured into her. It was surprisingly warm, and that warmth spread over her body and curled her toes. But she didn’t allow the feeling to remain, and instead poured it into Eyfura. Bit by bit, she poured Mímir’s mana into her, until she feltit.

Whereas mana was warm, life force washot.

It nearly burned her own mana as she wove it through her body and into Eyfura’s. Despite the scorching feel of it, the rush of energy made her want to stealallof his life force. It was like a drug to her system, opening every pore in her body with bubbling heat. She wanted more, and a part of her didn’t want to pour it into Eyfura’s body, and instead wanted to keep it all for herself.

Blár touched her shoulder, and a jolt of cold snapped her from those thoughts.

“Is he … dead?”

Mímir had stopped thrashing and his body had grown weak, but he still had about a quarter of his life force in his body. She withdrew her hand from his forehead immediately.

“Um, no,” she murmured.

She dripped the last dregs of the life force still on her hands into Eyfura’s body and removed her hand from Eyfura as well. Horror filled her mind at the thoughts she had, but she quickly cast them aside as a rosy, healthy hue colored Eyfura’s cheeks.

Kolfinna fell back onto her butt and released a shuddered breath. It was done. “She should wake up … I think.”

“Youthink? Is she alive or—” Magni started, but the words came out warbled to her ears. She rubbed her drooping eyelids; the weight of Mímir’s life force leaving her body and going to Eyfura’s felt like all her body’s warmth had been snatched away.

“I’m going to sleep,” she mumbled. “Take care of her, okay?”

Someone’s calloused hands caught her shoulders, but she could barely keep her eyes open to see who it was.

“Hey—”

But sleep took her away without another second.

27

It had beentwo weeks since Kolfinna and the others left the Eventyrslot ruins, and she had remained in the Royal Guards’ headquarters the past week, but now it was finally time to meet the king and hear his verdict.

Kolfinna fidgeted with the sleeve of her pink silk dress. It didn’t fit her properly, as it should’ve been expected by now, but it was better than facing the king in any of the clothes she had. A Royal Guard had given it to her and she didn’t know who it had belonged to, but it clung to her in all the wrong places. Her stomach looked frumpy and bulging, the sleeves were bunched together and made her shoulders look broad, and it was a few inches too long.She swore that once she had the money, she would invest in some proper clothes that didn’t make her look like a fool.

Magni stood a few feet away from her, his pristine white and silver Royal Guard uniform cutting elegantly across his form. He ran a hand over his slicked back hair and inspected the large portrait that sat in the middle of the hallway leading to the throne room. Truda stared at her reflection on a metal vase and patted her hair, which curled at the ends and was tied together with a blue ribbon to match her military uniform.Both of them sported faded bruises and semi-healed cuts on their faces, and Truda even wore an arm sling.

Kolfinna felt out of place among them.

“Where’s Blár?” Kolfinna asked quietly.The hallway of the royal palace felt like it had too many prying ears and eyes, even though only the three of them were there.

“Hmph. Who cares? He’ll be here,” Magni said.

“He’s usually late to things like this.” Truda fluffed her curls once more. “But—Oh, would you look that. He’s here.”

Kolfinna noticed his sharp, wintery eyes before anything else, and they were pinned on her, but the tightness around his mouth eased when he drew closer. Up close, she could see that his fur-lined military uniform was thicker and fancier than Truda’s, and over it he wore a heavy fur-lined charcoal cloak.

Kolfinna tried not to look at the muscles rippling beneath his uniform. “You’re here,” she said when he came to stand in front of her. “I thought you wouldn’t make it.”

“And miss all those nobles ready to jump down your throat? I think not.” He crossed his muscular arms over his broad chest. His icy gaze flicked over the hallway and then landed on her again. “You’ve never met the king, have you?”

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