The hand that clamped tightly over her mouth was sweaty and a little shaky, yet too firm under her quick attempt to yank it away. The saltiness of sweat that jammed on her tongue as her teeth locked on the flesh, was disgusting, but she was ready to withstand anything to ensure she wasn't taken away from the palace or harmed right here. The threat of the villager rang in her mind over and over again, making her struggles increasingly frantic and rough, before a strained voice cut through her thoughts, and seeped into her ears though her struggles."...Raquel!" Came a painful squeak. "Pl..please stop! It is yo--ur ma--id, My Lady!"Raquel?She loosened her teeth's grip around her flesh, as she stepped back quickly, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her gown. She could still taste Raquel's sweat and nothing about that did she find pleasant. Panting from her earlier struggles and still feeling very on edge with the dark, Belladonna's hands moved on the surface of her dressing table
It was spiral line, that extended to three different angles, curled at each end. It was small, black. She had never seen it before until tonight."You have it too." She looked up at Raquel, but when the oblivious look in her eyes didn't change, she added, "the tattoo.""Oh, that." Raquel chuckled. "Everyone has it." She squinted her eyes, looking at Belladonna as if searching for something that should be there, before she relented and looked back at her quizzically. "You don't?"Belladonna dropped her hand from Raquel's shoulder, shaking her head. "No.""B-but everyone has it." A grin stretched across her lips, one too wide "Once a child is born, he gets the tattoo. It is a sign that you are one of us.""One of you. You mean the people?""Yes, people of Ignas. I thought everyone had it." Raquel moved closer, her eyes searching desperately this time, the urge to find so immerse that she held Belladonna's wrists in her shaky hands before dropping them. "You don't have it in Inaymi?"B
Her search was futile, although she should have known right from the start that it would lead to a dead end. It was an absolute wishful thinking to believe that the ceremic she had used on the Bride Thief many months ago could be retrieved or even found to begin with.She couldn't even remember where she had put it that morning, she couldn't remember if she had seen it after coming back to the room that very day. It was like the broke piece had just faded into, like the stains of the rainbow river on her dress, but that was impossible.His blood couldn't have been an illusion. It was real, she had felt that it was. So the only explanation for why the ceremic piece was missing, was if Raquel had thrown it away when she was cleaning her room. Belladonna huffed. Stepping away from the mess she had made as a result of her fruitless search. Her clothes had all been pulled down from the hangers and searched thoroughly, her drawers were in no better shape. She had indeed made a mess an
The sound of birds singing from a distance away sipped into the room. The cold of the early morning, the aftermath of the dew, the raising of the morning sun... and those birds again! Must be because of the field that was just below her window. The only sound disturbing the morning wasn't just the birds though, but the musical instruments from a distance away, most likely the Temple.The four walls of that worshipping place had known no rest since it had been declared that the King was yet again in need of a Bride and it was Inaymi's turn to provide one. The Choosing Ritual was in a week, the weddings would be unending till the last moment they had to match to the village center. Belladonna forced her eyes opened, but all she could see was darkness, the smell of old and dusty book filled her lungs.Ah!She had slept with a book on her face. Her bed frame creaked as she sat up slowly, feeling exhausted, as of she had slammed herself into a wall before dropping on her bed. The boo
There was something she was trying to remember but just couldn't, like a memory she couldn't quite reach into. She smiled, her smile shaky, giving away how nervous she was."His whole family will soon be at the Temple." Aniya continued in a sing song voice. "You'll be the wife of the next village Head! Fortune for all of us.""Stop being so materialistic. Just be happy for your sister.""I am!" Aniya words were jumbled with her giggles.At that moment, they heard someone rushed into the room, the door creaking before it was slammed shut."There you are, Jasper." Her mother declared, her voice light with care."Bell's dress." He smiled, holding the box in her direction.Belladonna stepped forward, opening the box, and reaching for the white dress in it."With all the correction you said you wanted." Jasper added. Her hand grasp a piece of paper along with the gown, and she took that out instead, reading what was written on it in a jammed handwriting.'For my Electric Blue Eyed Bride.
Belladonna staggered away from his grip, leaving him at the podium, while she looked around at the guests and families that had gone unbelievably still around them, their faces no longer held happy smiles, neither did shocked gasps slip out of their mouths and fill the temple at what the lovely bride had done to the unsuspecting groom.They just suddenly froze.All of them.Her gaze snapped back to Lytio, who was brushing his finger lightly over the cut on his face, blood trickling down his neck and dissolving into the collar of his white wedding robe. His demeanour, unmoved.Seeing the blood, he looked up at her, an unreadable expression in his blank eyes. He should be groaning in complete agony but he wasn't. For someone with that huge, fresh, bleeding cut, he was too calm.Slowly, his brows knitted together, his forehead creased into a frown. Then, it happened.A force exploded in-between them, pushing them both back, like some invisible entity made to rip them apart. The people
Although she already had his blood, Kestra wasn't back yet to be able to do her witchy thing on it, and she felt that being able to describe how he looked like might help the King in his findings. This would be the last time she would allow herself to dream of him and she was trying to get everything she could from this one time risk."I can't. I am--""Weak." She said, her voice laced with mockery and he hissed, almost sounding like a snake.Wasn't that what he was anyways?A snake."What even can you do?"The Bride Thief did not miss her belittling tone in her voice but he was too weak to fight it.Good. At least now he could feel how it was to be consumed by a feeling he had no control over, something he was forced to feel."I can show you the truth. Let's make a blood oath." He rose his head, looking at her and blood dripped from beneath the mask, unto the sand.Belladonna scoffed, staring at him through slanted eyes, to see if he was weak enough to at least show the slightest fea
A knock. Finally out of the bathroom and dressed in her plain, silk, A shape, gold dress with blue designed lace, tapped around the neckline, Belladonna swung the door open, expecting Raquel as usual but instead there were guards at the door, with different boxes in their hands, stacked on top one another, tall enough to cover some of their faces.As if the helmets they had to wear weren't already enough trouble for them to begin with.What was going on?"My Lady. You are up already. Good."Raquel flashed her a smile. "What is going on?""Gifts from the people, from last night. Please, can we come in?""Of course," she stood aside so that they could come in and the guards rushed in, putting the gifts at one side of the room, till they finally put down the last box, then finally left."This is all so much." Belladonna said with a gasp.She had never received so much gifts in her life, it made her temporarily forget her sadness on her earlier wasted efforts.Raquel squealed with excite