Free Snow Heart by Arvalee Knight

with hatred. She was watching him like it was nothing at all. He hated her because she was perfectly healthy and un-cursed while he suffered from outlandish attacks of pain that left him unconscious for days—months and perhaps even years. He wanted to kill her with all his heart of hearts.
     
    †
    Alric took in his first breath for what felt like hours—he couldn’t recall how good air felt until that moment. It burned his lungs like acid but it felt soothing to know he was still alive. The sharp acidic pain melted along his lungs until there was nothing left. Death’s grip finally loosened its hold until he was no longer stranded in the damp darkness. It was the sound of a page turning that pried his eyes open.
    “Silly dragon,” Eliza whispered to Alric.
    He glowered at her from the corner of his eye. “What are you doing here?”
    “A servant heard Nieves scream for help and came running.” Eliza placed her head down onto her folded arms. Jacob, sitting next to her, was engrossed by his book. A book, Alric noted, was something he banned from the grounds of the Macter Land.
    “What is that?” Alric asked in monotone.
    Eliza beamed. “A book! Nieves had it in her room.”
    Alric narrowed his eyes. “Where is she?”
    “Who?” asked Eliza with a tilted head.
    “Nieves. The girl.”
    Eliza giggled. “Oh, yeah.” She got to her feet, revealing the sleeping Nieves on the floor. She had a thin blanket covering her frail figure. “We couldn’t find the key to let her go.”
    Alric sat up, letting the covers roll around his waist. “How did I get here?” He hadn’t expected to be lying in bed. Normally they left him where he fell. His death was their happiness. It would mean the curse would pass on to the next generation.
    “Nieves carried you.”
    Alric narrowed his eyes. “She? She carried me? That pathetic weak thing carried me to this bed by herself?”
    Eliza nodded her head. “Yep.”
    “Is she stupid?” asked Alric completely unaware of how cold he sounded.
    Eliza simply smiled and turned to Jacob. “Let’s go play in the garden, Jacob!”
    Jacob looked up from his book and placed it on the floor. Without any effort to make conversation, as usual in front of Alric or anyone else not Eliza, Jacob headed toward the Shoji doors.
    Alric gave a glance to Nieves with disgust. That girl, he thought, actually touched him. She had placed her hands on his skin and that action alone made him sick to his stomach. How dare she be so bold as to touch The Head of The Macter Family?
    He slid out of bed and padded across the floor to where her sleeping body laid. So many wicked ideas crossed his mind but he didn’t act upon them. He was not entirely in the mood for torture—perhaps later. His body felt drained from the cursed-attack and he’d need time to recover.
    “How long are you planning on staring at her?” asked a voice that even sent chills up Alric’s spine. A man more wicked than Alric could ever be—in fact, he was his teacher of the wicked arts in torture.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 10
     
     
    Zeit held a charming appearance that would lure any unsuspecting victim into his grasp. His empty black eyes had seen more death than any person alive—even more than God himself. Zeit, though he appeared normal on the outside, was something all together evil and demonic. It was why Alric had summoned him as a young teen to teach him the wicked ways of life. Alric wanted to know all the tricks of the trade.
    “I’m disappointed,” Zeit muttered under his breath.
    Alric sat across the table looking bored as he usually did. “How so?”
    Zeit gave his typical smirk and placed his back against the wall. He was never the one to leave his back open for attack. He liked being against a wall—facing the door. Of course, no soul could ever “sneak” up on him. It would just be damn near impossible.
    “You were always my favorite student,” Zeit said with a jeering smile. “The only one