Something flashed in his eyes, and he moved closer, his hands cupping her face, his thumb trailing the base of her bottom lip. After a moment of deep thought, his lips met hers in a hungry kiss, one she willingly submitted herself to.
As he took her lips, her hands wandered down to his pants, grabbing his hardened length through the fabric and giving it a little squeeze.
He moaned into their kiss, a groan resonating from his chest, and she took that as an encouragement to do it again.
He pulled away this time, burying his face into the crook of her neck, pressing his next moan into her skin, the sound muffled to her ears.
Her toes curled at the pleasure that brought her and once again she hated the fact that it had to be tonight.
"When does it end?"
She didn't need to think too much. She knew what he was talking about.
"Tonight or tomorrow morning."
He drew in a long breath and pulled away from her completely this time. She blinked in confusion.
What was he doing?
"You can come and work upstairs, you will have the piano room to yourself. There will be food too, that you can snack on, just in case you get hungry---"
His voice faded away into the distance when she saw what he now had in his hand.
How did that get there? What was the book she was trying to keep away from him doing in his hand?
"I can help with what you are working on."
Snap!
"It's a secret," she added quickly after her panicky action. "Design."
"Well, you might not know this but I am sort of an expert with a paintbrush. I can paint you the best designs."
She did not miss the hidden meaning behind his sly smile.
Now it was pissing her off.
Why was he making her feel hot and bothered when he knew there was nothing to be done about it? It wasn't like she was doing the same to him.
"That is true. I have no knowledge of that."
An exchange of heated gaze.
"You know, something just occurred to me. You once told me you had no artistic skill in that manner."
"You remember that? That is lovely." He blinked, then nodded. "Well, my art was a little inappropriate back th--"
"You are bleeding."
He took two steps away from her, quickly gulping down a small bottle of elixir, after he wiped away the blood with a handkerchief.
A couple of grunts and huffs later, he was breathing fine again.
Now that she was really looking at him, she observed something.
Eli looked sick, the color of his brown skin was a little lacking and his cheeks looked slimmer than usual. The blood that had dripped out of his nostrils, although now wiped away, made her worried too.
He had looked so prepared for that to happen.
Now, she remembered he had said something about him dying.
"Are you alright, Eli?"
"Just a little sick because I didn't share the bed with you for three nights." Then he carried her in his arms, and her hands quickly slipped around his neck for a firm grip as they headed out of the room. "Just a nightlong cuddle and I will be alright."
Well, Belladonna got something from that.
Well, two things.
Her plan to dream of Alaris had just been officially ruined.
Two, Eli was lying, a cuddle wouldn't fix his sickness.
He must have forgotten he had told her about this before.
That this was part of the Bride Thief's curse on him.
That he was dying.
He had said that their marriage on the Red Moon would end the Bride Thief's curse on him.
But the Red Moon was about five months away.
Could he last till then?
Or was there something she could do to end his curse now?
____
It was quite unexpected the next day when Lady Kestra had told Belladonna that she would have to go on her little trip once again.
Eli said she was going to search for more elixirs for him and Lady Kestra had pulled her aside to give her a heartfelt goodbye.
She had told her about how she would miss her but most especially wanted her to ensure not to be intimate with the King for the time being.
"I'm finding out some things about him. You should be on high alert. Try to stay as far away from him as possible and here," she gave her a tiny bottle. "Slip it into his drink if he becomes too persistent. That should keep him asleep for a while."
Belladonna nodded, collecting the bottle, then words of gratitude followed and Lady Kestra's grin was sincere.
She must think she was a fool.
The content of this bottle could be incriminating.
A problem she would come back to solve and win good favour for.
How stupid.
It was quite disappointing to see her eat up her tricks, hook, line, and snicker like this. She must have been gullible during the times her memory was tampered with, for Lady Kestra to do this.
If only she knew she was standing on high alert around both of them. She took her time to access the red symbol on Lady Kestra's head, the close range they were standing at to discuss their secret helping.
It was a slightly red crescent moon, turning upwards and wait--- the triskelion on top and a small dot below.
Wait, why did she have the triskelion on her head?
Was she being controlled too?
This didn't make any sense, but she tried to suppress her confusion, till Lady Kestra would leave, that was successful, till the last moment.
"Oh, it almost skipped my mind. By the time I'm back, you'll have no problems with the Eye again."
"I don't understand."
"The aura found around the chains used for the witch is connected with the White Aura. I can trace this and destroy their leader as soon as possible."
Belladonna's heart skipped a beat.
Impossible.
There was no way she was the sick leader of the Eye that was trying to kill her and Alaris couldn't leave where he was "trapped" in except by using her to shift.
He didn't know so many things about stepping out of her subconscious mind because he had not done it before.
Even though she didn't trust the Bride thief, it just wasn't possible for either of them to be the culprit.
There was one possibility that she was just thinking about though. If the Aura and Alaris' aura were alike, assuming using her subconscious mind hadn't already tinted it, that just meant that there was someone like Alaris.
A creature like him playing this sick game.
Alaris was going to be so pissed when realizes that he wasn't the only one of his kind anymore.
Asides from that, this creature had to have a reason for doing what it was doing.
What was it?
"You will have no troubles once I return, pretty little thing." She pressed a kiss on her forehead and Belladonna shivered, the feeling around Lady Kestra excessively calming.
She used to like how comforting it was.
Now, it felt deceptive.
"Farewell, Lady Kestra."
"And farewell to you too, Bride."
((I keep forgetting this appreciation post. I'm so sorry, I wanted to post this in the 200th chapter.
It's been 200 chapters and 1.7k collections! Yayyyyyyy!
Thank you so much for your support, you are the best! We couldn't have made it this far without you. Cheers!))