It was all that filled her mind. All day while Lady Kestra braided her hair and tried to chat with me, while also thanking her for covering up for her to the King some days ago, while she had gone down to the maids for her lunch and they had tried to have a conversation with her, it was all she thought about. She had even gone to the bathroom a couple of times to check all where he had held her tightly in her dreams, just to see if she could feel a little strain or pain but her bias mind wasn't allowing her to get a straight answer. She remembered all those times she had thought she saw something from her dream that always turned out not to be true. Like her dampened hair and rainbow water stained nightgown a few mornings ago.Right now, she was questioning everything.Had it been true? All of it?He had once asked her in her dream if she wanted all these to be true and she had answered in affirmative. So, had he fulfilled her request without her knowing it?Yet that wouldn't mak

She had to wake up!She had to do that right now. Now would be a good time, Raquel! But it looked like Raquel wouldn't be coming to her rescue anytime soon.Then she remembered.The blindfold!She yanked it off immediately.Then she dropped to her kneels, the terrible ache that had crossed her head the first time she had attempted to see his face, taking total control over her.Pain. It was all she could feel.Crashing images.It was all she could see.When she opened her eyes once again, it was to daylight.She had never been so delighted to see that almost blinding sunlight that creeped in through the window in her life.She threw the covers aside, then rushed to the mirror.There was a cut on her bottom lip, at the same spot that had happened in the dream, the ceramic was still in her hand too, blood at the tip and edges.Her blood... his blood?She dropped it on the table, pulling on a gown before dashing to the bathroom to wash her face and brushing her teeth, so quickly that

Had he read her thoughts?Was that possible? Could he even do that?He had magic, although she had only ever seen him use it on his dragon, there was still a lot she didn't know about him. "In your dreams, had he been intimate with you in any way?" The King asked again, this time his voice angrier.She didn't know what things would await her if she admitted it, told him the truth, but from the looks of how he was clenching and unclenching his fists and how he had stated that this Bride Thief was an enemy that had to be fought against, she knew it would be nothing good."N-no, your Majesty," then she added quickly, "Not that all."He seem to have retrained into himself with relief, because suddenly he didn't look like a mighty beast of a man towering over her anymore.He looked straight at her and for the first time in a long time, she wished he wasn't wearing any mask. He was trying to see if she was lying and the fact that he had a mask on couldn't allow her to read his emotions to

A week had passed but the palace was still filled with tension, one that held Belladonna in a tight grip.Although Lady Kestra had been coming as usual to style her hair while chit-chatting with her, like as if nothing had happened a week ago, the King wasn't keeping the same ignorant energy.He had not invited her for any breakfast, lunch or dinner as he used to, even though what he would have normally done during those times was to pay attention to his scrolls while he kept a mindless and dull conversation with her.In fact, not once had she come across him in the hallway, that could be owing to the suspicion that he might be avoiding her, but for the fact that she, herself, had been spending a lot of time in her room, she couldn't be so sure.Either ways, Lady Kestra had told her not to worry about it, but she couldn't help but worry.What if the fate that had befallen the other Brides, causing them to be replaced wasn't from the hands of the Bride Thief, but from the hands of the

She had expected him continue, to go down into full details of his woes because that one statement he made, sparked the flame of a long aged question.She was shocked truly, even sympathized with him despite her herself. Although she didn't know the relationship he had with his family, whether good or bad, she knew that a family was a family no matter what. If something were to happen and she lost her own family, as much as she hated them for how terribly they had acted to her, it would still hurt.Because she had loved them once.But he hadn't, instead he continued to look out through the window and a silence settled between them."How did it happen?" She found herself asking once again.Belladonna, have you no patience!If he threw her into the dungeon for being such a talkative right now, she would understand.Actually, no. She wouldn't."I can't---" he paused. "I was too young to know and I just can't remember."A memory flashed in her mind.The framed pictures she had seen in th