The door slammed shut as Kestra stumped into her room. She yelled out her pain and Collin wasn't at her beck and call to receive the aftermath of her defeat. She had already been told about the state of his health and right now he was useless to her. What had he been doing in the woods, anyway? Looking for the Bride, she presumed. Coming to that conclusion due to her knowledge of the pretty little thing's stupid disappearance last night.That was so stupid of him. He had probably slipped and hit his head badly in the dark, the rain must have worsened things. She would have tried to pull up some magic tricks for his sake, but honestly, it looked like nature had kindly helped her get rid of Collin. After everything she had taken from him and all the secrets he knew, this was for the best. The Physicians had said he was most likely not going to survive and he had lost a lot of blood when he had been found. Soon enough, he would be dead. She wouldn't interfere to hasten it, she would
Life as a Tower woman had been hard on Taria. Night and day she was flogged for dishonoring her womanhood and bringing shame to her family. Her punishment was even worse than the others, because she attempted to escape on the night she was to be taken to the tower.She didn't even remember much of that night, all she could remember was that at a point she had found herself in the cave with a strange woman and skeletons running towards them, all around them. It had felt so real but the more she had thought about it, the more she convinced herself that her sadness had made her delusional, and she had imagined the whole thing. But the Cave of Badura had been breached that night and this made everything really confusing. Her mother came every day as she had promised. That was why when her mother came to see her yesterday, crying excessively, she had thought nothing of it.Her mother was always crying during her visits. But no. The Right-Hand woman of the King had come with her, and s
Taria's father wouldn't let her out of his sight after that, not even after they had gotten to the guest chambers in the Village Head's house. He showered her with so much care and attention that no one would be able to see through his actions and sense the evil motive that laid at the center of it. Her reception of her father's care was cold, and some of the physicians that had come to take care of her, silently judged her for being spoilt, ungrateful, and rude. Zeppus apologized profusely for the incident but she needed no apology from him, but from that nosy warrior that had saved her. Everyone left but her father. Why wasn't he going to his room yet?It was getting harder and harder to breathe. Her heart was racing and fear claimed her chest as its abode. He paced back and forth and she watched, her body tensed, praying with all her heart that he wouldn't turn to her with his usual demand, while at another corner of her heart, she pitied her mother for ending up with a snake
An hour after Kestra left the Castle, Eli found his dragon frozen in stone. His first suspect had been no other than Kestra, of course. He was foolish to think that she wouldn't put up a fight or try to make him take back his order of not wanting her in the Castle. But that wasn't all. He found black zig-zag lines on his Donna's hands, blood dripping from the lines as she groaned from pain, in her sleep. His rage collided with worry, he was a catastrophic combination of emotions. The physicians didn't know what to do, of course, this wasn't their specialty. With bitterness thick in his throat, he ordered for Kestra to be found and brought back to him urgently. This shouldn't have happened, the dragon ring should have been able to protect her, but the dragon herself had obviously been affected. By Ignas, he should have seen this coming!So stupid!Kestra hadn't gone far, so she was found quickly. That infuriated him. She had been so confident her evil magic would work. Eli di
((Trigger warning - violence, physical and sexual abuse))It had been two days since they arrived at Tikivah, and one night since Taria's suicide attempt.Last night, her father had been busy discussing a proposal with Head Zeppus, that he hadn't come to check on her. She hoped that tonight would be the same. She had spent the whole day alone in this guest room that had been allocated to her, and she wished to spend her night the same way. Except that she had never really been alone, not after that night with the nosy warrior. She had even forgotten what his name was, but she remembered his words clearly.In fact, they had been haunting her ever since she had heard them, and the more she thought about it, the more her mind entertained the possibility of her killing her father.Maybe it was because of how he had looked at her when he had said it, like he considered her capable of erasing her troubles if she wanted to. Like all she had to do was snap and it would all be gone. He loo
She had killed her father, and she was a witch. Two life-changing things happened to her at once! Taria didn't know how she was supposed to feel but what she knew was that she felt so excited and happy. A giggle slipped past her lips as she watched the blood run down her father's neck and soak into the bed. The splutter of his blood on her white night robe was something she was proud of. His lifeless eyes gave her so much joy that she almost forgot the consequences of what she had done. Even when she remembered, all she could think about was how there was magic at her fingertips, of how she was a woman that had saved herself. Her smile dropped at the corners and she stood up. They would be looking for her soon. She could already hear the gongs in the distance, and some distant screams about a witch being around. They were already looking for her?! Wow, they didn't even give her time to bask in her victory. Quickly, she slipped out through the window and started running. She
Belladonna pulled away from him to look up at his face, her gaze fixing upon his mask instead, the image of the expectant look that would be in his eyes, taking form in her head."That you will not take any more brides after me."He stared back at her, studying those eyes that held a sought of fire in them when she had said out her demand firmly.Was it selfish that she wanted to be his last bride so much, that she wanted him to give her his word on it? Maybe. But she certainly didn't want any other woman to have to suffer an unsure fate, also she had every intention to end this curse, as soon as possible, with whatever it was that it would cost her.Promising to do as she had requested right now, would mean that he had as much trust in her as she had in him. With no response still given, she shifted uncomfortably in her seat under his smoldering gaze.Her gaze was fixed on the floor of the carriage, the sound of the carriage's wheels on the rocky road filling her ears, while she w
The dungeon was never quiet. It was always filled with the voices of people in agony, the cry of people that were starving, or the relentless pleading of those who yelled out their proclaimed innocence. The dungeon was never bright too, it was always too dim to see anything. The darkness was torture and the noise wasn't helping. If they could all just be quiet!He needed silence to plot the death of his brother when he would finally make it out of here. Kenji sucked in a deep breath and the stench of the place, stuck to the roof of his nose.For how nosy he was, this wasn't the first time he would be trapped in a place like this, but this was the first time his brother would be the one tossing him in and locking the bars. He hadn't had a bath ever since he had been thrown here, he stank so much. His hair needed to be washed, and combed, the curls were starting to tangle and he was terrified of how much hair he would lose when this was finally over. Also, the food here was terr