Belladonna sprung awake, sweat running down her forehead, an unpleasant feeling spreading through her veins, tightening her stomach.Eli. Something bad had happened to him. It wasn't something she had seen or something she had heard, it was something she could just feel in the depths of her stomach. It was a knot that twisted unpleasantly there and made her hands tremble as she flung her quilt aside and pulled her robe around her. She quickly headed out of the room, forgetting to bring the gem with her.Panic coursed through her veins and she jumped in her skin when she came across a man in the darkness of the hallway. Raindrops hung to the strands of his silver, his black leather glistering with it. The storm outside raged on. Thunder clapped and lightning flashed, then she saw his face, dripping with raindrops, his wet hair tucked behind his ears, a few strands falling over his forehead.Relief eased the stiffness in her shoulders."Alaris, I think something---" she started to s

Meeting with the witches that Seb had brought to the Capital had been unproductive for Belladonna. None of them could help her get rid of the magic. She had dabbled into the idea of them teaching her how to control it, but they couldn't do that either. Her powers were strange to them, and restless within her. The spirits of the ghost brides that came with this "curse", didn't make it easy at all. She could still hear their voices becoming louder and louder if there was too much distance between her and Alaris's gem or him. This curse kept her movement limited to the castle, and all her plans of visiting those villages with those stupid customs had to be delayed. She had submitted some scrolls regarding the matter to Alaris though, and although they weren't talking, she hoped he would look through them and do what was necessary to be done. While she was stuck in the castle, she had received a letter from Lytio telling her about her Father's death and Aniya's condition. He said she

That woman who had been crying for help in the forest was the King's Right-hand woman. Didn't they say she was dead? That her body was set ablaze with the dragon's flames?She had seen a ghost!"Are you alright, Nadia?" Her Granny had asked and she had lied. "Yes, Granny. I just got a little distracted in the woods. I'm sorry for coming back so late, it won't happen again."How was she supposed to tell her Granny that she had gone past the boundary, and straight into that part of the forest she had warned her never to go to? Not just that, she had also seen exactly what she had told her she would see if she crossed the boundary. A troubled spirit. The words the ghost had said still haunted her. It was almost as if she could still feel those cold fingertips, the dread, and the chill that ran down her spine at the unwanted touch. She had sprinted away from her, and the ghost had followed, claiming that she was her daughter. Nadia had barely been able to escape. Even now, she could

Granny continued her narration.A witch had been in labour and she had brought her to her cottage to help her birth her child, but her touch had killed the baby seconds after she had been born. So, the witch had left. That child was Nadia. After the witch had gone though, the child woke up, but instead of seeking out the witch, Granny had been consumed with love for the baby, she couldn't let her go. So, she took the child as her own. "You kept me from my mother." Nadia was angry now, and she didn't try to hide it from her voice.This woman wasn't the Granny she knew. This woman in front of her was a stranger."I kept you from a life of pain and suffering." She said, her eyes filled with desperation. "I gave you everything.""Except what I really wanted."She knew she had always wanted to meet her real parents, it wasn't a secret she hid from her."I did what I thought was best for you."The room suddenly felt so small. So suffocating."Why would you think keeping a child from her

The three witches began their chanting and Belladonna tried to imagine a link from her to another. It was hard to do so though. Since she had to take off Alaris' bracelet to perform this ritual, the voices in her head wouldn't let her be. Also, although Alaris was in the room with her, that didn't seem to ease anything. Right now, with the constant distraction, all she could see with her eyes closed was darkness - not links. Whatever that was supposed to look like. The ghost brides mumbled in her ears, moving from one ear to the other. Alaris's grip around her hands remained warm, she was too aware of it. "See the connection..." The words of one of the witches filtered into her ears. "Feel it.""Let us relieve you of it."The chanting of their incoherent words then continued.They started clanking metals against one another and a force went through her, like she had been yanked from her body and dropped into the sea. She could see the Bearer again, a blurry image as usual. Sh