A King's Heart

8.

Chapter Eight: Injuries

Mara felt her muscles tense before she opened her eyes.

Her flight or fight instincts were quick to kick in as she opened her eyes and came face to face with a deer eating out of a bush in front of them. As quiet as she could be, Mara slowly sat up and glanced over to watch the prince sleeping peacefully.

Kai was sitting down against a tree, his mouth was slightly opened as he snored. Mara rolled her eyes at him as he had sworn to stay awake and keep a lookout through the night.

Glancing back to the deer, she reached over for her bag and began to searching for one of her potions. Never removing her gaze from it, she opened the bottle and began to mutter a spell under her breath but was interrupted by the loud yawning from Kai.

Mara snapped her head to the side to watch as Kai rubbed his sleepy eyes before they focused on the deer.

"Oh look a deer" Kai commented making Mara roll her eyes.

"Kai please stay where you are and keep quiet" Mara ordered as she turned her gaze back to the deer and started the murmur the spell once again.

"Why do you guys have to be so loud?" Prince Thomas stated loudly enough to make the deer snap his gaze on them.

Mara cursed under her breath as she watched the deer glanced between the three of them.

"Men. Can never keep quiet" Mara murmured under her breath as she followed every of the deers movement.

"Mara it's just a deer" Kai said, pointing to the deer with a 'duh' expression in his face".

"That isn't a deer Kai."

Kai wasn't able to ask his question when he heard the deer growl before it transformed in front of the their eyes. What once was a normal looking deer now stood a six foot tall monster.

"Well, what a funny looking deer" Kai said with a nervous chuckle.

The shape shifting deer roared before it ran straight towards Kai. Kai wasn't quick enough to react causing Mara to stand up and run over to him.

A cry left Mara's lips as she felt the deer pierce it's claw against her chest. Standing protectively in front of Kai, Mara tried her best to ignore the pain and finished the spell she was working on.

In the blink of an eye, the deer monster turned into stone.

Mara's chest heaved up and down as she tried to calm her breathing. Drained from using magic, she stumbled back almost crashing into Kai. Turning to face him, she gave him a small smirk, "I told you, you need me".

Prince Thomas looked at Mara with both a proud and fascinated look. That look molded quickly into one of worry as he noticed the blood searing through her shirt, "Mara, you're hurt".

Mara was quick to cover her injury and faced her body away from him and Kai. She didn't want them to see. They couldn't know.

Kai narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he watched Mara's movements. He didn't give time for Mara to react before he grabbed her hand and dropped it to her side, allowing them to see the wound across her chest.

There was a long, scratch against her collarbone but that wasn't what had caught their attention.

Instead, the black veins covering her chest made them stare at her in both suspicion and curiosity.

Prince Thomas felt his mouth go dry as Mara made eye contact with him, an apologetic expression in her eyes.

"Mara...why do you have the same black veins as me?".

Mara felt her eyes tear up before she gave them a defeated sigh. Trying her best to ignore their looks, Mara opened her shirt and exposed them to the poisonous veins that spread across her chest.

"The magic to steal ones heart isn't easy. It takes a lot of energy and well, lets just say that the spell I tried to do didn't go as planned and it had consequences."

Prince Thomas gaze was focused on the black veins.

Kai stood there and tried to make sense of things. He understood that those black veins meant the prince was slowly dying, without his heart he was becoming less alive.

"Are you dying?" Kai questioned.

"It doesn't matter if I am" Mara replied with a sad tone.

Prince Thomas looked at her, "Why?".

Mara couldn't control the tear that slipped passed her and rolled down her cheek. She gave them a mere shrug, "It doesn't matter because the spell that we are looking for can only heal one of us".

authors note: oh oh! what did you guys think about this chapter? please leave your thoughts!

thank you all to those who are sticking with me and this story! I love you all! leave your thoughts, predictions and votes!