Her stomach growled again. It was the third time since they left the mountain. Nathaniel didn't seem to care. He was sitting opposite her in the carriage, reading a strategy-book."Ummm...", Katherine made, wanting him to notice and at the same time not wanting to disturb him. Sometimes, the temper of the earl was strange and she just couldn't be sure what would anger him."Yes?", he responded without looking up. He didn't sound displeased, Katherine decided, and forwarded her question."Do you not want to eat?" She was sure that he had a lunch pack, too, but though she was with him the whole day she hadn't seen him touch it. Was he some inhuman creature that didn't need to eat?"I'm not hungry.", came the quiet answer. Oh, alright, forget it. When had he ever been human? However, she'd hoped for this."Then...", she started slowly, "Can I have it perhaps?"A sharp glance hit her and she wanted to hide in a corner of the carriage. But with t

The study looked like a battlefield. Books were thrown on the ground, shelves crushed and where once the table stood, was now a black pool on the cold stone ground.The earl took a sip from the wine bottle in his hand, his eyes dark. The backrest of the chair behind him was slowly melting away and wisps of black magic power coiled around his body. He couldn't care less."I'm a fucking idiot.", he mumbled to himself. Why did he have to torture himself? He knew clearly that it would only make matters worse. Those damn bodily desires had clouded his judgement. See where it led him! He nearly killed her. He nearly killed her so many times already!  Cause touching was akin to killing..."I'm really a selfish bastard." Another sip, another accusation. He looked down at the bottle. There was not enough wine to tell them all. With a shrug, he downed the rest.When he moved, his white hair fell back, revealing his ravishing features. The fearsome eyes under t

"Criminal? I don't see a criminal. Just a girl that sneaks out at night.", Nathaniel responded in a displeased tone. "And it is still the same girl that told me it wouldn't run away.""I wasn't running away!", Katherine retorted instantly, forgetting about the criminal to save her freedom. "I was just..." At first she searched for an excuse, but realized that none seemed plausible enough to deceive the earl. So she reluctantly told the truth. Or half of it. "I... I like thrillers very much. So I was just curious what a real dungeon would look like."Nathaniel's face was like a mask, cold and unreadable. She couldn't tell if he believed her or not. "Is that so... ask the dungeon master for a tour next time. I'm sure she will be very happy to show you, right, Christine?"He looked over at the slim, wax-faced person, who nodded with a creepy grin. Katherine was flabbergasted. The combination of his words and actions was just too unbelievable. This... this creepy pe

More or less all soldiers were on the fields now. That was the moment Nathaniel had waited for. He steeled his heart, making his face look like a sinister, ice-cold mask. They were enemies. They were trying to kill his people. It didn't matter that they wouldn't succeed or even less that they were only following orders. It didn't matter at all.On the far end of the field, where the last rows of the army stood, the darkness contained in about a hundred clay pots - each buried in the ground, deep enough that the opening was on the same level as the earth - started to boil. They were buried at a regular distance, one every few dozen meters. When the tiny wisps of darkness escaped their residence, black patches slowly spread on the fields. With every wheat plant the darkness ate, it grew bigger. At first, it was unnoticed by everyone. A wisp grew into palm-size, grew into a meter in diameter, grew bigger and bigger.Suddenly, one of the soldiers felt that it was hard to m

His fists loosened as his hands started hurting so much that he couldn't hold them anymore. Arms, torso, up to the neck, everything except the heart-region was filling up with the darkness. His breath got labored. The lungs didn't want to work properly. Every breath hit off a new wave of pain. But there was still so much darkness. He wasn't sure if he could pull it all in or the dead particle would fill up and kill him first. It was the worth of several fields after all. From the beginning, he had been playing with fire. Yet, if he made it, it would be worth it all. He was sure the rumor of the darkness and an whole army vanishing was enough that that old man couldn't ignore him anymore. So he had started his crazy plan despite risking his life.Slowly, the darkness crept onto his face. His sight got blurry, before everything drowned in pain and darkness. He wasn't unconsciousness, though. The darkness only robbed him of every sense: hearing, seeing, smell, and touch. Only pa