Clio was Colin's daughter and it wasn't just the Black Book that had confirmed that. Collin had done it too, unintentionally of course. He had confirmed it when he came to her to return all the coins her business had saved with him. His desperate denial when she had asked him about it was obvious, he didn't look as put together as he used to, but he kept calm and collected as much as he could.Why had he lied about their daughter? They told her two different versions of their daughter's story and for each, she had been deeply emotionally attached and affected. It just didn't make sense for them to have lied. Did they think she would be jealous?It made no sense!Belladonna tried to find out more about Clio but Collin insisted that she died on a ship during the storm. When she asked about the letter she had sent to him, he claimed his daughter wasn't Clio and that letter had contained gibberish. It was a lie. She could tell and that was all she needed, so she didn't stop him when h
"Someone of my kind? In this mortal realm?"Just as she had thought, Alaris was pissed.She didn't need to see his face to know it. His pride must have been so hurt it would have been satisfying to watch. She loved the feeling of having knocked his ego down a few notches."Yes, just like you." She said, looking around the market they had shifted to. "You are mistaken, Nightshade. In the Realm and in the other realms, known or yet to be discovered, you can never find someone just like me. Part of my breed, yes, but just like me?" his voice trailed off and the next time she heard it, it was a whisper by her ear. "Impossible.""Stop moving close to me unnecessarily.""Unnecessarily? Hmm. Then I'll create situations that demand it.""Desperate for my attention now, are you? Sorry to burst your bubble, but this bride is already taken.""Desperate?" He scoffed. "Oh please, get over yourself."It was her turn to scoff, while adjusting the scarf she used to cover a part of her face. She was
Rain poured down from the sky as Belladonna's shoes hit the muddy puddles on the road. Somewhere along the line, it had started raining. First, it began with a drizzle, then it turned into a downpour.Her pants were ragged and at this point, she was close to being drenched.The door the witch had slipped through slammed shut in her face and she tried to open the wooden frame, her hands running across it and pushing desperately. There was no knob and a force from the door seemed to be repealing her but it could just be her mind playing tricks on her, her thoughts scattering around in her head. Finally, her hands slipped on the smooth surface of the wooden door, causing her to fall and that was when it happened.Everything suddenly went quiet in her mind. Her thundering heart in fear seem to just blend into the background, the sound of the rain hitting against the ground becoming insignificant along with it, silence taking over as she, for the first time, observed the surroundings s
Nahiri?Who was that?Belladonna had been called by a couple of names.Product of r..ape.The Bride. Bell.My Donna. Nightshade.But never saviour.This witch must have gotten her mixed up with someone else. "Some of us are already dead." She said, raising slowly to her feet, her body trembling slightly. "Many of us are already dead.""I don't know who you are talking about."Despite her need to just play along, she couldn't resist the urge to state that."One day the saviour will come bearing the mark of the Alterer but not on her body." The witch said, moving closer to her, her steps bringing forth no feeling of attack as she recounted this like she was reading it from a book in front of her. "She shall remain hidden till the time is right and she comes forth herself."She finally stopped in front of her. "The time is right now." The tears finally rolled down her cheeks. "Why did it have to take so long? My family is already dead."Belladonna felt the grief in her words descend
Belladonna curled her hands into fists by her sides, the chill from the iced carriage seat, couldn't reach her anymore from the state of mind that piece of information had just forced her into. They seemed to have come across a bump on the road. The force threw her forward and the Witch held her back to steady her, but moving back and forth wasn't enough to snap her out of the shock her body had just succumbed to, from the mess of puzzlement, the abyss of confusion.This couldn't be happening.Maybe Alaris was messing with her mind again. She really wanted to believe that, but she had a reason to believe other we, one that was practically staring her right in the face and creating doubt. The Bride Thief was trapped in the body of a baby and rendered somewhat useless at the moment.The coldness from the carriage seat was once again starting to get to her, this time it was seepimg through the fabric of her gown and causing small pebbles of goosebumps to raise on the expose parts of he
Trigger warning. (It will get a little violent.))Suddenly, it felt like the carriage had been lifted off the ground with a strong force, then it was flung to a side, Belladonna and the now crying baby tumbling in the carriage.It landed with a thud, the landing certainly hadn't been smooth. Belladonna pulled the baby closer to her, his cries filling her ears, assuring her that he was alive. She had to protect this baby. He was her responsibility now. The carriage got flung around a couple more times, each landing worse than the last. The baby's cries increasing as Belladonna tried to use her body to shield him no matter what side they were thrown to.Her entire body was aching and in some parts, it felt like she was bleeding. She could smell the blood but she couldn't really feel the pain, so she hoped with everything in her heart, that the blood was hers. This time when the carriage landed, her head slammed against something that sent her sight blurry. Her hold on the baby wa
Tick. Something exploded in Belladonna at that. Rage. Swoosh!She blindly sent her dagger that had been tucked away in her dress, flying behind her, making the witch stumble back a little, the dagger missing her as ice formed around the weapon and it squashed into broken pieces of ice in the air, then rained on the floor behind them like snow. "Foolish child." The Soul Witch gritted but before anything could be done, Belladonna staggered to her feet and swiped the wet twig she had grabbed from the mud puddle in front of her, across the Witch's face. What was a wet piece of twig going to do?But she was desperate to fight and was using just anything she could grab on.Her sight was blurry, her calculations might have been off, but something had happened at that moment.She felt the pull and finally, she was in her unconscious mind.The crashing waves.The calm breeze.The beach."You need to wake up." Alaris' voice slashed into her thoughts, the screams of the Witch from her attac
It was as if Belladonna could see Lady Kestra in a different light.Everything she would have ignored before, she observed. She observed how Lady Kestra walked, every uncertain step she took, observed her so much that she had once caught her absentmindedly almost freezing up a goblet when she drank from it. Her body must be fighting to accommodate all that power. Keres and the child's.Anger filled Belladonna up, not because of how Eli rushed around Kestra, his guilt making him want to do everything to please her, nor the fact that he had carried her in his arms and taken her to her room, settling her in bed as the poor witch held back her tears, but because she now knew who she really was and what she did. Belladonna's hands twitched with the need to strangle her, take her breath away from her forever. She must have killed that child. Belladonna just knew it. Many royal physicians had come to her room, checking her eyes and coming back with the same sad news."We will try our b