Chapter 93

The Horned King did not know what had possessed him to read to her. He just had. It was a story he had never heard of before, but he had found himself wondering as he read what would happen next, and to his surprise he found he was actually enjoying the story himself as he translated the language into English. Avalina's excitement grew with each page, and he felt himself catching onto it as well.

He had not expected the emperor to forget about the nightingale. Or for him to change his ways, all because of a bird. Or for the nightingale to return and save her thoughtless captor from Death itself. And yet, she had, although he had kept her prisoner.

'Death himself listened, and said in his heart, 'Sing on, little one. Sing on,' the Horned King remembered silently.

'He wanted to keep listening, even though it would cost him a soul. A prize that he craved. He knew what would happen if the bird continued to sing, and yet, he wanted her to. And then he let the nightingale win, and went to see all of the Life outside for himself.'

The Horned King drummed his fingers silently on his window sill in thought.

'I wonder what he thought of it all.'

The Horned King considered reading such fiction and fairy tales completely pointless. But now he wondered if any of the others had such a meaning to them.

'The nightingale loved the emperor,' he mused silently.

'Even after he had captured her, forgotten her, replaced her and then banished her from his kingdom, and yet she still returned to save him. It makes no sense. Except that she loved him.'

He gritted his fangs at thinking the wretched word.

'She was, as Avalina put it, a true friend. A true friend indeed.'

For a moment, he stood there, a tiny smirk crossing his features.

'Chicken scratchings. . .'

A soft, dark chuckle was the only sound to be heard in the silence.

The Horned King, at Avalina's request, stood reluctantly in the stable, watching her groom her horse.

They had done this for weeks. She had asked him to come to the stable more frequently of late, and he had come, always staying his distance from the animal.

Mitternacht had been wary and distrustful at first, but when the lich never offered to approach him he began to relax and almost reach the point of ignoring him.

Almost. Mitternacht always kept either an eye or an ear trained on the lich, and Avalina had tried to reassure the Horned King that Mitternacht did this to everyone, but the lich had privately remained unconvinced. He could not believe he had let her talk him into this.

They had started in the courtyard, the Horned King keeping his distance, and when the horse had shown no fear, they had tried it in the stable too. So far nothing had happened, but he was wary of drawing any closer to the animal than necessary.

Avalina cheerfully ran her brush over the sleek black haunches, murmuring something the Horned King could barely hear at his distance. He had no idea what she was saying, but apparently the horse did, if his ears and body movements were any indication.

Coming back around to the front, Avalina looked over at the Horned King and smiled.

"You can come closer, you know. He won't mind."

"I prefer it here," the Horned King stated, several stalls down on the opposite side of the hall.

"Why? You can't see that well down there."

The Horned King made no attempt to argue. He would not mind going closer, but unlike in the courtyard, Mitternacht was in an enclosed area, and coming to close could trigger a panic frenzy, and he did not want that.

He looked up slightly when he realized the horse was fixing him with a rather stern expression, his ears swiveled in his direction.

Avalina murmured something to the horse, who flicked his ears back to her and whickered softly, eyes never leaving the lich.

Avalina laughed softly.

"What is it?" The Horned King asked, projecting his voice a little harder in order to be heard from this distance.

Avalina smiled over at him, the horse's ears swiveling forward again.

"He wants to know why you're standing all the way over there by yourself."

The Horned King stared at her, wondering if she was making it up, as the horse nodded his head once, his mane bouncing slightly with the movement.

"He also said to come over. He wants to see you."

The Horned King faintly cocked a brow ridge at this, wondering how to answer as Avalina came out of the stall and walked down to him, getting an apple chunk from the feedroom and sliding it into her pocket.

"Please? You don't have to be afraid."

The Horned King bristled slightly at this.

"I fear nothing."

Avalina furrowed her brows, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"How can you not fear anything? Everyone's afraid of something."

"I know no such thing."

"Oh. Well, can you come over anyway?" She asked hopefully.

"We are in an enclosed area. . ." he began.

"He's not afraid."

The Horned King looked at the horse, who was regarding him steadily, without a single trace of fear.

"He isn't now, but if I get closer he may be."

"No he won't," Avalina countered.

"He's been a whole lot closer to you before this and wasn't scared."

The Horned King looked down at the girl by him, who was staring back with a pleading expression.

"Can you come over? Please?"

The Horned King glanced back over at the horse, before returning his gaze to Avalina, a faint sigh emanating.

"As you wish."

Avalina's eyes lit up at this, and she practically danced back over to the stall, the Horned King following at a more sedate pace.

About ten feet or so from the stall, the Horned King stopped, looking at the horse, who dipped his head briefly and shifted inside the stall.

Avalina's eyes widened as she realized what Mitternacht was doing.

"Come on," she encouraged the lich, "You can pet him."

The Horned King reluctantly came closer, the horse eyeing him through that thick forelock.

The lich stared back, and for the second time, felt almost intimidated. That horse stared at him like he was looking right through him, seeing his very thoughts, and the Horned King felt that same disarming feeling he had felt when the horse had looked at him that first day in the courtyard.

As he drew nearer, Avalina suddenly noticed something so surprising she nearly started.

She had became so accustomed to being able to feel the edge of the Horned King's aura to tell her when to stop, that she had not bothered to count the feet between them for quite some time.

It was now that she noticed that the Horned King's aura had shrank, and was now around the seven foot mark, and she had not noticed until now.

She had probably been going inside the ten foot mark for quite some time and never bothered to notice, simply because it wasn't there anymore.

'It must have shrunk,' she mused. 'But how? How could it happen?'

Thinking back, she remembered she had definitely been getting closer to the lich than usual, especially the first day the Horned King had read to her. How long ago had that been?

Trying to remember, she watched Mitternacht flare his nostrils right outside the Horned King's aura as it brushed against him, blowing excitedly, watching the lich with an almost fierce intensity.

The Horned King stood there in front of the stall, unmoving, until at Avalina urging he slowly extended his hand to the horse, palm down, coming forward carefully, watching for any negative response from the animal.

Mitternacht snorted hard and cautiously sniffed him, his breath hitting the Horned King's skin and seeming to warm the very bones underneath.

"That's it, boy," Avalina said softly, trying to ignore the Horned King's deathly aura as it slowly came over her, filling her lungs with every breath no matter how hard she tried to prevent it. She silently tried to breathe, determined to hide her discomfort as long as possible. She was on the verge of something great, she could just feel it.

Mitternacht fixed the Horned King with a very stern look, sniffing over the lich as carefully as he wished.

After several minutes, Avalina murmured, "You can pet him now."

The Horned King slowly laid a hand on the horse's neck, feeling the shudder that went through the animal at the action. Mitternacht fixed him with a softer look, staring back right into the lich's face, studying him.

The Horned King had not laid a hand on an animal of any type for centuries, and truth be told, he had forgotten how it felt. If he had ever known in the first place, that is. And touching a horse was something almost. . .unworldly.

The Horned King slowly rubbed the animal's neck, feeling the warmth and power the creature held. It was like touching hot thunder itself, capable of such raw, unmanageable power, and yet such gentle docility.

The horse breathed softly in his face, fixing the lich with those deep regal eyes that held more wisdom than any man.

The Horned King looked back, feeling that same sensation of humble disarmament he had felt that first day in the courtyard. It was almost frightening, this feeling.

The muscles under the horse's skin flexed, and the Horned King's eyes widened at feeling it, looking down.

That sleek black coat shifted under his hand, and the lich slowly ran a hand over the horse's shoulder with a look on his face that Avalina could only describe as something akin to wonder.

Mitternacht turned his head around, watching the Horned King warily with an eye faintly rimmed in white, but did nothing more.

Avalina watched in joy as the Horned King slowly ran his fingers through that wavy, lacquer-black mane that fell down to past the horse's thick chest, running his hands over Mitternacht's neck and shoulder like he was touching something completely invaluable.

'Somehow, he must like horses,' Avalina thought quietly to herself.

'Mitternacht would never accept him that easily if he disliked them.'

Mitternacht switched his tail and then turned his attention to Avalina, ignoring the Horned King for the time being.

Avalina chuckled softly, fighting to keep her gasps under control as she fished the apple chunk out of her pocket and gave it to Mitternacht, who crunched it happily. She fumbled weakly with the latch on the stall door, trying to open it.

The Horned King looked up as she bolted it behind her and stepped away, gasping out loud now as the fresh stable air entered her lungs.

His brows furrowed as he came back to himself, looking at her.

"Are you alright?"

Gasping, Avalina nodded.

The Horned King fixed her with a glare.

"Do not linger in my presence if it becomes difficult for you."

"Yes sir," Avalina gasped, feeling that prickle of fear run up her spine at the look.

Mittenracht sniffed her anxiously over the door.

"I'm alright, boy," she answered softly, before snagging the bristles of the curry brush in his mane. When Mitternacht turned back to the Horned King, he worked the brush loose and fixed Avalina with a questioning look.

"Brush him, he likes it."

Carefully, the Horned King did as she said, slowly running the brush over the horse's coat.

Mitternacht flicked one ear back to pay attention to him, the other one pricked forward to watch Avalina sitting on a bucket outside the stall, catching her breath.

"I'll be in there in a second, boy," she murmured, her lungs finally starting to work properly.

After she had more or less recovered, the Horned King exited the stall, laying the brush on top of the door.

"Are you certain you have recovered?" He rumbled to her.

Avalina nodded.

"Are you sure you don't want to brush him some more?" She asked.

"He wants you," the Horned King answered, "And for that to happen I must vacate the stall."

He glared at her harder.

"Do not ever do that again."

Avalina trembled slightly and nodded.

"Yes sir."

"What?" Creeper asked in shock, his eyes huge.

"Yes!" Avalina said joyfully.

"Isn't it wonderful!"

The Horned King had already left the library that night, and Creeper had come in, and Avalina was currently recalling to him the events of the day.

Creeper stared at her in shock, sitting in his chair.

"You mean. . .Master was actually. . .touching a horse?"

"Not just touching!" Avalina laughed happily.

"He was brushing him!"

". . .What have those Invisibles done to Master?" He cried.

"They've poisoned him somehow!"

Suddenly remembering something, he looked over at Avalina.

"And the horse didn't do anything?"

Avalina shook her head.

"Nope! And the Horned King loved it! He couldn't believe it!"

". . .I can't either."

"Well, you better, cause it just happened!" Avalina laughed.

"But I know the feeling. I can hardly believe it myself!"

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