Almost as soon as they were gone, the white figure was running back, heading straight for her. This time around, Belladonna wasn't concerned about been seen or trampled upon in a way that would bring her pain.The figure passed through her like she was air, picking up the heart that had fallen to the floor. After that, the sky only darkened even more and the figure stilled from what seemed like shock."Brave one. You've killed the Black Stallion. What do you wish for in return for your peculiar bravery?" The voice was like thunder and it made Belladonna shiver. It sounded farmilar too and the next question the Bride Thief asked her explained why."Can you see me?"She shook her head."Of course. Another form."He said and the empty space in front of the figure, just like it had happened before, became a humanoid figure. Only that this one was taller and black, with golden line tracing it out. It felt so weird to watch but she allowed her gaze to linger, trying to make the height of
"She gives me the attitide." Colin's curt voice cut through the heavy silence, as he handed Raquel another empty basket. She knew this was going to happen but she had been avoiding it for days. His eyes seem to be heavy with the unspoken words that visibly weighed down his heart. Her usually composed husband seem to lack a little bit of composure in his demeanour when he had taken lifted the basket off the ground and taken them downstairs yesterday. Old age? No. He wasn't that old yet. The action or perhaps, omission, as it would be more fitting here, had been something so slight.Too slight that anyone that had not been married to him for more than ten years would not notice."What?""The Bride." He said with the same sharpness and leveled tone that he had called her Mistress and the ones before her. Colin had, a long time ago, done what she couldn't. He had mastered the act of detachment. She knew she should too, that she should be strong for her husband, that she should mind he
Belladonna felt beyound stressed. Any slight movement and her headache worsened. She was tired of begging the Bride Thief that she had seen enough and understood what he was trying to get at, even if up till now, she didn't understand a thing about why he had brought her her.What worried her even more was that she believed that by now, she must have slept for too long, too long that people might already think she was dead. Different imaginations about what might be happening right now crossed her mind as she tried to push them away, none was pleasant.Her eyes were blurry as she watched the sight in front of her. Overtime, with the many illusions that the Bride Thief had shown her, the white figure had grown bigger and taller. He was now, in fact, the King of a Kingdom, and for some reasons that she couldn't remember, he wanted to take a Queen but couldn't. When the Bride Thief was talking about it, they had all sounded like absolute garbage to her compared to her need to get out
She stared at her quzically, almost like she could see her. Although Belladonna was sure she couldn't. She had been in this nightmare long enough to know that the Bride Thief was making a deliberare effort to make this illusion different in order to fool her into believing what she had just witnessed was some form of past.As if.He wouldn't let such a thing as an illusion seeing her, slip pass him. That would make his whole efforts go to waste. Besides, he was the one controlling them. "Who are you?"Belladonna looked behind her, the door was only a few steps away from where she was standing and she wondered who had come in.But where she had expected to see a figure, there was an empty space. The door didn't even seem like one that had been touched.When she turned back again, the fake Kestra was still staring at her, now with anger in her eyes.Like she could see-- oh goodness, she could see her!"Bride Thief?" She whispered. "What is going on?""I-- it's a minor issue.""What?""
Trigger warning - Physical violence.__Belladonna slipped into the room and ducked behind the nearest shelf. Regret had never filled her heart so much but now, she could even taste the bitterness at the back of her throat. The floor was cold against her butt, and even colder against the exposed part of it, the wood of the shelf she was hiding behind, digging lightly into her back that was mostly bare. Now that she was thinking about it, the Bride Thief could see her, which meant he was seeing her in this scantily dressed version of herself.If she wasn't in a life threatening situation, she would have cared. Her chest was raising and falling as she tried to catch her breath, then a thought of something being behind her, crossed her mind.What if it was something worse.Like a wild animal, a mad beast or something? She looked forward, finally observing her surroundings for the first time.There were gems in this room, different kinds of gems, possessing different shapes and glowi
"Is that the last one?" Raquel asked, taking the basket away from the maid that had brought them up to her. It was just in the early hours of the cold afternoon and already she was back and the baskets were empty."Yes, ma." Her voice was a little deeper than her frame and anyone who was merely listening wouldn't picture such a tiny person with such vibrating voice. "Should we wait behind to take more?" Raquel shook her head, that was the last basket Colin had brought from her from the King and he had said that was the last one that was left. Even if her Mistress was already awake, which she probably wouldn't if she was sleeping heavily, then there was no need to wait. Raquel had a different belief about sleep. She believed that every night one refused it, a debt was counted. A debt one couldn't get away with. One would finally pay it by sleeping 'all the sleep' that they had been refusing to sleep back, filling all the gaps.Nature just couldn't be cheated. Although the debt wou
The keys in her hand dropped to the floor and clanked, her body trembling, her eyes glistering with tears of fear, as she moved backwards slowly in a way that seemed so unnatural. Her lips quivered as they tried to form the words that were rushing through her mind but her tongue felt nailed to the roof her mouth that she couldn't speak despite how hard she tried.Then her hands clamped upon her lips, words pushing out through the space of her fingers."Your Majesty."She staggered back, the horror in front of her making her heart beat wildly, so much that she forgot the fear that the King caused her naturally. "Your ma-- your majesty." Her breathing interrupted the words she was saying. She staggered bavk against, shaking her head. Then abruptly, she turned, opened the door with clumsy hands and ran. Her tearful mumblings increasing the further she went, tears running down her face, her voice shaky and her sight a blur. "My mistress...your Majesty."Raquel had seen many things whil
Trigger warning - Physical violence and blood.___Belladonna couldn't fight to save her life.Her bleeding face was a prove of that. The tiny pieces of glass that had dug into her skin, when she had been thrown against the glass shelf behind her and it had crashed on impact, was a prove of that. Combat just wasn't something she was any good at and even in her dreams she wasn't any better. A hand around her neck yanked her up so she could stare at the rage filled eyes that burnt down at hers. That could never be her Eli.She tapped her hand against the firm grip that held her neck, as she gasped for air. Her eyes widening as she struggled, not minding that the glass pricked into her skin even more with the frantic movement."Let's t-talk about this." Her voice came out muffled from how deeply cut and painfully busted her lips were, she could taste her blood drip down her tongue and despite her repulsion to spit it out, swallowing it just seemed more effortless."Who sent you?" The