"I'm surprised we are not riding your dragon, your Majesty. You still have haven't taken me on that ride you promised yet." She said, seemingly more relaxed now than when they had started this journey.She heard her stomach rumble quietly and she instinctively placed her hand on it, rubbing it absentmindly. If only this meeting could just postpone itself. As much as she was happy to be outside the castle, the excitement she would have completely felt was killed by the fact that they would be going out to work. Now, now she understood a little about royalty and the responsibilities accorded to the crown and those associated with it. She also understood the implied promise of the whole situation of him bringing her along with him, but her need for food was overpowering. She was starving.She didn't know when she would be able to set her eyes on a plate tonight, but she knew that when that would eventually happen, she would feast on it like a hungry beast.Why was she so hungry?She b

"The more I got to know you, the more I was caught in between two battles. On one hand," he raised a hand in the air in front of him to desmostrate, his gaze passing over her lightly. "I felt that things would turn out differently this time and on the other, " he raised the other, "I couldn't help but think that it was going to be the same."His gaze moved to the wall behind her and he reached for whatever it was that was holding his interest. She heard a gentle snap and the swaying of a flower pot before she felt him tucking something in her hair, the light weight resting in her corner of her left ear. It was a flower. He pulled back after that. "So I immersed myself in my work to take the thoughts away. It was a moment of self doubt that I regret the most. My actions had pushed you right into his arms. If I had been better, you would have told me the very first time you started having strange dreams about him."Belladonna blushed.Now how easy would it be to tell a King, or even

Belladonna gasped silently. She had never seen anything like that in her life before, oh wait, except for that stone in the Forbidden Room but still, this was different. "I am alright now." The King's whisper snapped her out of her train of thoughts and she blinked. "What was that?" She asked, her voice a little breathy from the shocked state she was still in. "Nothing important," the King replied with his casual dismissiveness and she frowned. Not again. "Your blood..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to look for the right words. "It withered my lily. Like it was some sought of poison---" "It's my sickness." He finally let out with a grunt but she wasn't done. There had to be more to it. "Your hand." She looked down at his hand again but he was no longer bleeding and the contaminated water had now washed away, along with her lily, leaving now in it's place, clean rushing water. "It was bleeding. Why?" "It does that every once in a while." Then he chuckled, his eyes twink

"I made a promise a long time ago to myself. That I won't be intimate with someone till I'm married to him. For the sake of the child that I might bring to this world." The King gaze was set on her. Brown smoldering eyes. They made her feel at ease. Then she looked down at her knuckles that she was rubbing against the inside of her left palm. "I want the child to have protection and love, and a marriage guarantees that. I don't want the child to end up not being wanted and loved... like me." That was why nothing had happened between her and Lytio. She was waiting. That was a move she had no regret on. But with the King, it felt different. The dreams she had of the Bride Thief weren't helping too. Why hadn't she thought about her long-standing rule in all those dreams? Why had she not thought about it when she woke up? Was he that powerful that he made logicality so far from her? Was his lure on her that strong? It made her worried. Made her want to tell the King about h

"Lavender oil, Milady." Another said, eagerly pushing a carefully wrapped gift into her hands. The face that looked back at hers had wrinkles by the corners of her eyes that seemed to twinkled with abundant happiness, her grin wide. Which only got wider when she realized that she had Belladonna's attention fully to herself. Her hands became a little shaky in Belladonna's own."You'll certainly love it, Milady.""Thank you." Belladonna smiled back in appreciation, taking the gift, as she looked down at the package. Something caught her attention at that moment though. Right on the woman's wrinkly left wrist, was a tattoo. Moderately small, but artistically and beautifully drawn. She couldn't make out what exactly it was, or where she had seen it before but it did hold a sense of familiarity.A scream snapped Belladonna's attention.Something was heading right for her.Swooshing in the air like---Her eyes went wide and she froze.FIRE.She staggered back in a quick response to avert