The first person she had bumped into was Anok. It was as if the whole of Ignas was working against her at that moment, her mind racing as she pondered on what do to if he somehow made himself an obstacle in her plans.He had steadied her with his hand on her shoulders and snatched them away to his sides as if she was lava, moving from her the second he realized she was alright.Her grip on Seb's shirt tighten, as she held it closer to her face to hide it away from any trace of recognition. She had asked him for it while on their face here and although he looked at her with absolute confusion, he had handed her the shirt, whispering to her that he was a virgin and was saving himself. She ignored his words, making it clear that had no intention to be intimate with him before they had continued their journey here.Why would he have even thought about that?It was hard to hold her breath and not breathe in Seb's smelly sweat but she did it anyways, her gaze fixed on the ground, while A
She threw the door open to the emptiness of the Bride's roomOf course, she had taken off. She had seen the pesky bodyguard when he had shown her the mask. She didn't deserve Eli. If she loved him as much as Eli claimed, then she would be here sacrificing herself for him. He deserved someone better, someone, who would stay with him through his trying times as she had done with him, and not take off at the first sight of trouble. Coward. Stupid girl. She didn't love him. No one could ever love Eli as she do--Her thoughts screeched to a halt when she saw someone make it into the empty hallway. She frowned, surprised when she realized that the person had been the little pretty thing. Lady Bell.Well, it was good that she was here. Now she could just walk up to her and request for her to give up her soul for the ritual. There was nothing a little convincing couldn't do when it came to Belladonna. Just the right twist and she would be down with the idea, taking it hook, line, a
Raquel jumped to her feet, leaning quickly against the wall because there was no possible way she could last on those two feet without falling.Was she being stubborn right now?Anger raged inside of Kestra. She had no time for this. In fact, she had no time for this unnecessary bargaining or any sort of bargaining right now. If only the soul didn't have to laid down willing or with an exchange that importantly had consent to it, then she would have just taken it by now. "Collin says we have to wait." She was panting, huffing. Her hands were shaky as she rested on the wall. "If we rush. We fall. It bad. Very." She had decided to speak little words that would convey what she had to say, to conserve her strength. Lady Kestra frowned. Was her brain now getting affected too?Kestra remembered that there was once a time she used to be fond of her, a time when she had much enthusiam and she had at least an extent of life to her. Kestra remembered that back then, positive Raquel had do
Belladonna waved the torch in front of the dragon, fighting back with the only thing that she had with her. The dragon seemed to have smirked, as if questioning her sensibility. Like it was asking her questions that mocked her down to her very being.Fire? To threaten a dragon?Really?Her teeth clattered with fear along with the steps of the beast and she looked up as it towered over her, beastly in all its dangerous glory.Her heart twisted and she reminded herself not to stumble to the floor, to hold her ground, not to turn away from the beast, and not to give it a chase that every predator enjoyed, but her body was jumping to instinctive survival and she had no training for this.Her hands tightened around her torch and from the corners of her eyes, she could see take Eli was still motionless, the glimmering of the dragon's red and silver scales as a result of her torch, calling her attention back to the danger standing right in front of her, a danger that she never really forgo
Her arms tightened around her and tears spilled from underneath her shut eyelids, the salty liquid smearing her face and creating a mess of it.Her face was hot from the emotions she fought to hold within her.The hands were moving her out of her embrace but she clung to it, not wanting to let go, her sobs wreaking her body into hiccups."Why are you crying?" She asked, her voice now a little down, as the hands cupped her face, wiping away her tears. "Is it because of me? Do I make you sad, Mama?""Never. You have never made me sad.""Then why do you cry?""Tell me, is my Sunshine doing alright?""Open your eyes and see it for yourself." She said with a giggle and her heart sank. She wanted to, she really wanted to but she was scared, terrified that the moment she would open her eyes, her daughter would disappear into thin air and all this would be gone. She didn't want to lose this. This was her last chance to be with her before she would die and if she would spend it in darkness
At that moment, she was sure that she would die. She couldn't deduce how she felt towards it, the thunderous growl of the dragon sending everywhere quaking to the extent that she had been vibrating on the ground she had fallen to. Her heart was hammering, the racing of her chest painful to the point that she could feel it in her lungs, throat, everywhere. Her eyes were shut tight, her eyelids aching from how hard she was squeezing them, her lips trembling and even though she felt the need to cry from her fear, her tears had deserted her, her throat betrayed her and her tongue felt nailed down to the roof of her mouth. She couldn't say a word. There were small rocks falling from the top of the den on her, like it would collapse anytime soon.Maybe that was what the beast wanted. To watch her die from something else asides from her flames, crush this den on her, bury her alive, and give a 'befitting burial' to her master. At that moment, Belladonna's hatred for the beast was bound
She could hear Eli's voice but that was too far and distance. It didn't sound he was laying on the floor right next to her at all, nor did it sound like it was his hands that were was admiring right now, or rather the enticement on his hands. She couldn't even make out what he was saying, neither did it sound important enough for her to try and figure it out what it was. Her priorities switched and right now, this beautiful art in front of her held her undivided attention.A consuming urge to delve into this temptation took over her, it wrestled against her sense of control and gave it a lasting beating.To her, all that seemed to matter was exploring this new art.Exploration was holding his hand, touching him, tracing those webs with her fingers and finding out how exactly connected each of them was, finding out the beginning and the end of the longest of them.Her crave was allowing herself to fall into this spell, one that was quickly pulling her under.At last. A surrender.Co
Belladonna woke up a couple of times, saw Eli by her bedside a good number of times, sometimes, Lady Kestra would be by his side, other times he would be alone. She observed his mouth move but she was too tired and worn down that she couldn't process what his words were or even hear them.The pain was now gone but what gave her relief was seeing Eli alive and well. What an immense relief it was.____The King was alive, and the castle was back to normal, as normal as it could get after what had just happened.Everything was fine again in a couple of hours. The people who had left in an attempt to escape had returned, the beast was still in its den, passed out, and the King was fine. Everything was alright again, except for Collin. His wife was dead.He had lost everything, all in a couple of hours, a moment of distraction with good intentions in mind, and his world had crumbled down on him and left him with nothing but emptiness. He folded his arms behind him, waiting at the doo
“What is this?” Ny'ka asked, racing up to her feet.“The Stones of Prophecy. I already told you,” Ka'el replied, rising to his feet too. He groaned a little, his ribs hurting from the force that had tossed him aside.The stones had suddenly fallen to the ground, scattered; they were still glowing though. “I mean, what do they do?“I don't know!” There was a bit of panic in his voice, then he started to mumble to himself as he fell on his knees and started trying to collect the stones. “The King believes his daughter is in the Rebellion, and there are rumors of the Heir; he thinks they are working together.” He stopped and stared up at Ny'ka who watched him with a frown on her face. “That is why the Moon and the Sun came up in the sky because she is really here? But you said it didn't happen here, that it was from another Realm. It is from another realm, right? It isn’t true, Is it?”Ny'ka tried to grab one of the stones from Ka'el but it held it away from her. “Is his daughter truly
Then she felt like she was drowning and her words vanished from her lips. It felt like she was right in the lake and above it at the same time, hovering over the water and looking at the drowning child, while the drowning child looked back at her, struggling. Then she was finally in the baby and she could see Xinora floating over her as she felt herself dying in the baby — felt the baby dying. She saw Xinora stare right at her mother, who froze immediately like she had seen a ghost - it was what she looked like anyway, what she seemed to be. Then Belladonna felt the presence slam right into her immediately. Xinora had vanished and was now inside her as one being, the moment of her almost death creating the perfect space for Xinora to fit in. But just as Xinora had merged into her, she dissolved into the back of her mind like a mere pest fighting against a strong host. Her mother pulled her out of the water, her gaze blank and cold. Without a word, she wrapped her in a piece of clo
Trigger warning: Dealing with rape aftermath (from victim’s perspective) on page, and baby drowning on page. _________Belladonna paced the room. Two nights have passed since Alaris and her had discussed about Xinora. The Rebellion was healing, and she had sought out Ny'ka to help her with creating portals; although she knew that it might not work, just as it hadn't been working, but that was just how unpromising Channeling had been, and it had worked eventually. That wasn't the problem though. The thing was that Ny'ka was nowhere to be found. It didn't take long for her to figure out where she was.She was with Ka'el, most likely inquiring about their recent failure.Alaris had confirmed her suspicion, and here she was, in the room, trying not to drive herself mad with every single possibility that was crossing her mind.The Priest had drawn a tattoo on the top part of her chest, a little distance from her neck. He had smeared it with the blood of an animal, chanted some things th
Ny'ka went to Ka'el that night as the Heir had ordered, only to find out that he was with someone. Tsiri?What?What was she doing here? Why was she here? How long has she known about Ka'el? How did she get here?Why was she here?By Ina, what had she told him?!The White glow of the crescent moon above glimmered down on them through the shadows of the scanty leaves of the tall trees around them. The smile on Tsiri’s face was plain for Ny'ka to see, just as obvious as the doubt that dotted Ka’el’s eyes. What had she told him?!“Is it true?” Ka'el asked, his fist tightening around the small bag he had in his hand. She wondered what was in that bag but his next words made her aware of the greater problem she had before her. “Are you just fooling me?” He asked as his free hand anchored around Tsiri’s waist, making her smile widen. Disappointment flashed in Ny'ka's eyes and she frowned, blatantly ignoring Tsiri. “Fooling you? What nonsense are you talking about? And why are you with o
“Nightshade, do you have any memories of Jyris?”He was crouching in front of her. This room suddenly felt too small. Where was the air of ease?“No, except that he healed my ankle, gave me that gold ring that you tossed away and he was at the table with the King. Nothing else. I’m trying to but I don't remember anything else.” She wouldn't tell him about the strange feeling of familiarity she had when she had first seen him. That would be too dangerous. “You were in her dreams even when you weren't in captivity. So can you just go into people's dreams? Can you still do that?”“No. Her dream was the only one I could get into without being in captivity. But My freedom does come at a price. It was hard to lure the brides with my soul, and certainly, I prefer this freedom to that.”“Did killing her hurt you? Since the gems are supposed to be a pair.”“I struck her stomach.”“Why didn't you strike her in the heart or behead?”“I wanted to behead her and take her heart as my own; a litt
He heaved a sigh and sat next to her. “Well, it was after being King. I think the wars I had fought strengthened the connection with my gem; the lives I had taken fed it, and I dreamt of Xinora — well, she dreamt of me. It was the first time I would be in anyone's dreams.”Belladonna nodded, taking a mental note of that. “She was crying and lonely, and because the Gem perceived its master to be distressed, it sought a connection and found me. Xinora was terrified when we met; I was confused, too; it was strange. But then, I realized who she was and why I was there. At that time, I really wanted to come back here, to Vestros, but I knew it wasn’t time, I wasn't powerful enough back then.” He paused, before he continued. “The White King would kill me easily, but being in her dreams was like fate being on my side. She was the only weapon that could be used to kill me—”The only weapon?“Wait. Only a Bearer can kill a Bearer?”“Yes.” “So,” she turned to him squarely so she wouldn't mi
“And you didn't tell me? Why?”“It was over two centuries ago.” He stood up. “She stayed dead during those times, why would I think anything would come out of her now?”Belladonna said nothing and Alaris continued. “With you, I believed she had already been replaced. A new Master, her time was over, gone. The gems will always have their masters, I have discovered. At first, I was worried, but then you proved to be more than one with a mere link.”“I had visions of her. I told you everything.”He shrugged. “I thought it was just her lingering presence since she was the one who was connected to the gem before you. They are just mere visions, they don't suggest a powerful presence to get bothered about.”“You must be joking,” she stated, flabbergasted. “I had dreams of her every time and nothing ever really happened as a result,” he replied with a dismissive tone.“You know that is not true.”“Nothing “real” ever really happened.”With a realization, she stood up. “You are doing it aga
It felt compelling to desire more, it felt right… yet it didn't.Alaris pulled away being the first one to snap back from the spark pulling them together. “I’m sorry, I shouldn't have done that.” He was gone in a flash, leaving her flustered. She couldn't think; the foreign and overpowering feeling was a driving force that sent her out of the room to go after him. She did, reaching the surface, however, and feeling the warm glow of the moon on her skin. Something else seemed to have possessed her, and she went towards the lake instead, strangely seeking the comforting feeling of the water and the floating relief. The reflection of the full moon was cast over the still water and the trees seemed to create a path for her. She walked into the water as a shadow warrior emerged from behind her; the only one of Alaris' shadow warriors that wasn't killed. It swiftly moved into the water, reaching out to pull her back but she turned sharply to it. “Go Back!” She ordered, her voice a gr
Breathing heavily, he turned back to her. “I’m sorry— I just— I was afraid that you’ll shift—”“I have been terrified that this day would come but I thought I was stronger, as strong as I was in your Realm. I knew I would be lacking the moment I saw that annoying thing healing your ankle with his flames,” he laughed, the sound dry of humour as he swept his hand over his hair, pushing it back. “At that moment, I knew there were many things that I lacked, many skills, so many things. I might have been a King there but here, I am like a child. I’m not better than any of those dragon shifters. I’m useless.” “You are not.”With a huff, he sat down next to her, feeling exhausted. “My pretense to know what I am doing can no longer save me. I’m fighting a lost war, Nightshade and you can see it.”He turned to her, to find her shaking her head. “Don't lie to me.”“I’m not.”“Alaris—”“Don't try to inspire me, it won't work.” “I wasn't trying to inspire you, I just want to tell you how disap