His hand went slack around her neck, and she slipped to the ground, coughing as he took a couple of steps back, watching her gasp for air on the floor, trying to regain what she had been deprived of."E--li--" "Silence!"The words snapped something in her and she looked up at the man she loved. What happened?"I do not want to hear my name on your lips."Bewildered, she stood up slowly, his cold gaze weighing heavily on her. When he spoke again, his voice was like a deadly whisper. "I do not want to hear you repeat to me the poisonous dictates of the Bride Thief."Her heartbeat was slamming loudly in her ears now. "I don't understand," the words slipped through her lips, the shakiness of her voice failing the firmness she was trying to hold onto. Something told her she did understand what was going on, but she was hanging on to this denial. Maybe if she held on to this ignorance long enough, everything would fade away. She was losing him.She could feel him slipping from her f
Eli had been puzzled when he had found Belladonna this morning, sleeping in her study and her gown damp, slightly ripped at some parts, with the hem of her dress, burnt a little.Suspicion had hit him like a swinging brick, but he hung onto denial.She couldn't possibly be dreaming of the Bride Thief. That was impossible. He would have known way before now if she was. He had tried to convince himself that the dampness was from sweat. He had even deluded himself into thinking she was pregnant and excessive sweating was a sign of pregnancy.As for the burnt hem, maybe she had read overnight again and caused a fire, which she had already put out. It wouldn't be the first time his Donna was causing a fire from her nightly readings. As for the ripped parts of her dress, he had told himself that her dress had suffered that, while she had managed to put out the fire all on her own.With half his mind believing that she was sick and hiding it from him so he wouldn't have more to be worried
Eli wasn't supposed to be asking her. Her words were corrupted, her mind had already been swayed by the Bride Thief's manipulation for too long a time, yet he couldn't help but ask. She didn't say a word, Why speak anyways? It wasn't like he would believe her. Besides, the memory of what had happened earlier when she had tried to explain herself, was still fresh in her memory. If she were to speak, what would he do next? Kill her?By Ignas, the horror! She told herself it was because of Kestra's manipulation that had gotten to him, and when she would finally kill Kestra, this would finally all be over. Belladonna's focus was on how she would be able to get Thanatou's Sunflower tonight.The Blood Moon was still a problem but she would worry about that later.When Belladonna felt his finger slide underneath her chin, she froze, till she was looking right at him. The dim light of the room giving an illusion of his scales glowing, the sadness swindling in his brown eyes, along with t
Belladonna had prepared herself for anything but a boat ride on musky waters, the crickets of the night, the fog, the dark starless sky, and the eerie movement of the boat as Alaris paddled it quietly on the surface of the open dark river.The water rippled gently as the paddle move through it again and Belladonna rubbed her arms from the cold, looking in all directions, searching for something, anything.There was nothing, only darkness, and the fog. They were alone. Sometimes, it even felt like she was the only one. "Going to a realm is different from going to another village." Alaris had said when she had asked why they were taking a boat there, instead of just shifting there. "The rules here are different." He had concluded. When she had countered him with the "How do you know about that? Didn't you say you haven't gone out through anyone's dreams before?"He had replied that realms were different, and he knew the realm Thantou stayed in, because he had once been there. He di
By Ignas, it was from the dream Alaris had shown her. Eli's brother had been the one to say it in that dream, after killing their father's Black stallion and holding the creature's heart in his tiny hands.She could still remember the little white humanoid creature Alaris had created in the child's place because he had been invisible too in that dream. She could remember him jumping around excitedly and talking about a heart Collection. They had both been invisible in that dream. Was it really because of the connection he claimed they shared or something else? Something stronger. A shiver ran down her spine, goosebumps laced her arms and this wasn't from the cold. Maybe Alaris was Eli's dead brother and he had just been lying to her to hide his real identity because he didn't trust her not to tell Eli or Lady Kestra about it.After all, despite Kestra being the reason why the brides disappeared, Alaris was still in the Brides' dreams and Kestra had pinned her crimes on him. So
"I can't see," Belladonna mumbled before she started crying out frantically, blinking as fast as she could. "I can't see! Alaris, I can't see.""I know. I'm right here." She felt him hold her hands and she relaxed a little. "You'll be fine. The light is blinding for mortals. It skipped my mind to tell you, sorry about that." There was no teasing in his voice. This must really be happening. She asked him if her hands were still bleeding and he assured her that she was fine. She wasn't feeling the pain anymore or hearing those deafening voices, so she believed him. It was strange to see nothing, and have to completely trust Alaris. At the same time, it didn't feel too strange to trust him. He helped her off the boat and she felt cold beach sand kissing her feet. Did they just go back to her subconscious mind?"We are here.""Where is here?""Me'k, the In-Between."Belladonna let out a shaky breath. The in-between of what?"We just crossed over into Thanatou's Realm. Listen careful
A trade was made.A fair exchange. Belladonna in place of what Alaris desired the most, his freedom.After all the time they had spent together, his desires never changed, no compassion ever made its way to his determined heart, he never swayed. Belladonna had watched chains snap to the ground, heavy metals clanking against the red glowing floor. She still couldn't see him, which meant that whatever freedom he had received from Thanatou wasn't complete. There was only so much that Thanatou could do then, after all, he wasn't the one that caged him here in the first place. This meant that Alaris had been a spirit all along, his body must be somewhere else, and the strength of her mind had never been the problem. Also, this had better be a plan to get the sunflower!Alaris would never leave her here? There was a Bloodoath between them, she was his true freedom and that was why he always came back for her.She held onto that though and spoke. "You made to me a Bloodoath."If this wa
They suddenly stood up, and pulled her to her feet. Then the door to the room pushed open and Thanatou came in. He was just as scary as he had been in the hall."I have made a trade with your Gifter," his voice made her skin crawl with fear. She shouldn't be here. His words reminded her of Alaris and hatred made her throat hurt, fogged her sight with angry tears. She heard Thanatou taking in a deep breath. Maybe they could really smell feelings after all. Weird. She hated all of them. "And now, I shall make a trade with you, for fairness."Something was off, his words didn't align with the movement of his lips. It looked like he was making clicking sounds, something similar to what she had heard before they had been pulled down here through the red water. It was strange that they sounded like words to her. Strange that she could understand them. There was certainly some magic here doing that work. In a second, her necklace was ripped away from her, the loosened grip around