Free Snow Heart by Arvalee Knight Page A

who was able to take his torture beyond its limits.”
    Alric did not give any gesture of reply—his face remained dim and unlighted.
    Zeit gave a sigh, leaning back and turning his head to the side. “I guess this is the part where I say, ‘I’ll miss you’ but I’ve never been the type for sappy good-byes. I will admit that I enjoyed laughing at your pain.”
    Alric’s lips twitched at the corner just a fraction—a strange sign of a smile arriving. “Is that so?”
    Zeit nodded and looked at his accomplished pupil. “Do you feel pain now, Alric? Does your body ache at the thought of advent death that so lurks deeply beside you? Or has this woman in your room taken that feeling away?”
    Woman, Alric thought briefly. “Don’t be absurd. She’s my last victim.”
    Zeit gave a smile that showed off a row of white teeth. “Good. I want to join you in this adventure of yours. I wish to help you inflict her with sorrow.”
    “With all due respect, Zeit, I do not want your help with anything.” Alric rose to his feet, performing the ultimate show of rudeness to Zeit. To think that the Head of The Macter Family left his guest to sit alone was downright disagreeable. That alone was a sign to show he was displeased. It was then the guest’s job to make up for whatever it was that unsettled Alric.
    “Leaving,” whispered Zeit, who didn’t care too much for customs.
    Alric couldn’t care less about his teacher’s cold wonderings—in fact there wasn’t a bone in his body that felt any emotion at all. Alric was numb to the marrow. “Yes. I am leaving.”
    Zeit tried not to laugh—it was too humorous to watch Alric play silent. He said softly, “You were always an entertaining subject. You always try to hide what you feel but I see everything quite clear.”
    Alric turned his head. “Then you must know that I wish to kill you.”
    “Because I can see the pain in your eyes?” asked Zeit.
    He gave a lovely smile—one that was smothered in hate but appeared kind and gentle. “No dear, teacher, I do not know what pain is. I believe you are the one who is really afraid.”
    Zeit lost his smile and glittering eyes. “What?”
    “Your wife died,” Alric replied. Then, in that moment of silence, he left without another word. The shoji door slid shut behind him as he smirked with the pleasurable thought of Zeit’s inner pain.
     
    †
    Alric opened the doors of his room and leaned against the door’s framing. He felt drained by the attack and the visit from his teacher. On top of it all, the snow was coming quite soon and so too was his twenty-first birthday.
    “Alric,” Nieves muttered—strangely with relief. She walked to the door as far as the chain would let her go. “I was so worried. Are you feeling alright?”
    He narrowed his eyes at her, completely revolted by her “considerate concern”. Alric huffed, walking past her to the shoji doors adjacent to where he had stood. Sleep ached inside his bones but Alric would never give in. There wasn’t a chance he’d let someone think of him as weak. Cold-hearted, yes, but never weak.
    Nieves stood awkwardly in the room. It wasn’t until Alric commanded her to close the front door that she found herself useful. She wanted to ask questions about what had occurred but she feared it might have upset Alric.
    “Do you know what day it is?” asked Alric in monotone.
    Nieves had to think deeply about it. She tried to remember the day she moved to the Macter Land and how long she’d been there. “I think… it’s Monday the twenty-fifth.”
    Monday, Alric considered it for a while. And only the twenty-fifth. His birthday was in a matter of days meaning he had a short time to live. Unless the snow didn’t come which would be fairly unlikely.
    “We should have a party for your birthday,” Nieves declared—almost as if reading Alric’s thoughts.
    Alric slid open the shoji doors and stepped outside. “No.”
    “But,” Nieves began to protest, “You said