Had anything strange happened that night?
Well...
Despite Raquel mumblings and jitterings on their way back from the room like something terrible had befallen them, nothing strange had happened that night.
At least none that she knew of.
"You didn't touch anything, the King doesn't have to know of this. N-no one saw, no one can say they saw. If he... if h-he doesn't ask and you don't tell, that is not lying."
"Silence, Raquel. Your incessant mumbling is scaring the Lady." Colin had cautioned and for once Belladonna was grateful for that.
Immediately she got back to the King's chambers, they bade her goodnight and she shut the door.
She had fallen asleep in fear that something might cease her in her sleep and kill her.
Earlier, she had tried to tell them that she had indeed touched a couple of things in the room and even admired a gem, but Raquel had been too wrapped up in her worries and Colin had been too focused on his own questions getting answered, to care about any other answer to faintly asked or unasked questions.
She had tried to stay awake but she had eventually fallen asleep in fear. But here she was this morning, raising, shinning and alive!
What a dramatic woman Raquel was or maybe... she was a mentally unstable one! Or traumatized with something completely unrelated to the whole situation for her to be acting the way she was!
Poor woman.
Belladonna sat up in bed, her hair all over the place. She combed her fingers through her hair, regretting that she had forgotten to twist it out the night before.
But right now she was more worried about Raquel. She would have to convince Colin to help Raquel get help.
She really needed it and watching her suffer from whatever trauma she had was an absolutely devastating sight.
At that moment, she heard a distant flapping in the air. She stumbled hurriedly out of bed, dashed to a window and pulled the red curtain aside. She looked up quickly to see if her guess was right. Although it was still early in the morning and she could smell the dew in the air, the peeking sun of the daybreak stung her eyes and she blinked a couple of times before her eyes could finally adjust to the light.
Her lips parted in awe as she watched the dragon above, fly over the castle's high walls, till it disappeared into the sky.
Once, when she had been chatting with one of the servants over a week ago, he had told Belladonna it wasn't a forest outside the walls but a place filled with people.
The castle wasn't in the middle of nowhere after all.
At that moment, there was a knock on her door. Belladonna breathed into the closed palm of her hand to check if her breath was awful.
Satisfied with the result, she answered.
"Enter, please."
She had spent so much time here, yet she wasn't used to all these.
The door swung open and a guard came in, pulling along with him a medium-sized trolley of books.
He closed the door behind him, and stopped only when the trolley was safely some distance by her bedside.
"From his Majesty."
He said some things after that but she didn't hear him. She was too much in awe of the books that she hadn't even noticed when he took his leave.
Belladonna slowly stepped away from the window side and came to the trolley.
There was an envelope right on top of the stack of books.
It was a handwritten letter, probably the best handwriting she had ever seen.
It read:
'To my Bride,
I have observed you like books but sadly, I haven't paid close enough attention to know precisely the type you like. I hope, at least, one of these would be it, and would serve the purpose of my peace offering to you.
Please, forgive my unjustified outburst at the dinner. For that, I am deeply apologetic.
I would have loved to present my peace offering to you myself, as I am, myself, a lover of books, and I have also handpicked them specially for you, but important matters of the kingdom struck at the middle of the night and I must leave to attend to those first.
However, don't let this put any doubt in your heart about your importance to me, for it is more than you could ever imagine.
Yours Truly,
Your Dragon King.'
Belladonna sat down on the edge of her bed, her face creased up in confusion, the letter still in her hand.
Were any of the people in this castle normal at all? One moment, he was sending her out in blind rage and the next, he was sending gifts, accompanied by a letter where he was subtly insinuating that they belonged to each other.
Angry and confused, she dropped the letter on the dressing table, pushed the trolley aside, while she walk off to the bathroom, determined to never touch those books.
Like as if that wasn't enough, hours later, Lady Kestra was at her door.
"I heard what happened." She said as she hurried in, once again in one of her numerous red stunning gowns. Didn't she ever get tired of that color? She always looked great in it anyways, maybe that was why she loved it so much.
Belladonna was pretty used to her eyes now, although they still appeared to be compelling.
"Good afternoon, Lady--"
"I know it isn't your fault." She took her hand and they walked to the bed, the clicking of Lady Kestra's heels muffled by the red rug. They got to the bed, then sat down at the bottom edge of the bed. "None of it is. The King can be a lot to handle sometimes."
Belladonna arched her a questioning eyebrow.
Well that was an entirely different reaction to the last time she got kicked out of the dinning hall by the King.
Was she not the same one that had denied her servants Plead on her behalf?
Once again, was anyone in this castle normal at all?
What exactly was their ulterior motive, because it was obvious they indeed had one.
"You are wondering how I know about it?" Lady Kestra flashed her a blinding smile. "The King tells me everything. I'm his right-hand woman, after all."
Then after that, she pulled her to the dressing chair and started doing what she usually did - beautifying her while talking about all the great things that the King was.
Belladonna didn't bother to ask the real questions that were bothering her, she knew that of all people, Lady Kestra would be the very one to keep it all from her.
She would be on the King's side, after all, she was his Right hand woman.
When Lady Kestra was done, Belladonna didn't even bother looking into the mirror. She just stood up, mumbled a 'thank you' and sat down on her bed.
She was already fed up with all the people in these castle.
"Is there anything you need? Want? To go out to the market, perhaps? Or--"
"Out?!"
"My sweet, Bell." She paused by the door, turning back to her. "You are no prisoner here. You are the Bride," she said, like as if being the Bride meant the best thing anyone could ever be. "...and the king wants you to know that."
Belladonna's eyebrows furrowed, the words sinking in, along with the effect they carried.
After that, Lady Kestra left, closing the door behind her.
Belladonna's eyes swayed back to the trolley of books by the bedside. She found herself walking to it, running her hands over the book, sniffing in the smell of old and new paper.
Then she finally picked one - Heart of Fire.
Then settled down on the bed, glad that she had already eaten lunch before flipping open the book.
In the first page were neat penciled words written in the same beautiful handwriting she had seen in the letter.
'Heart of Fire? Must be because of your feisty nature.'
She frowned subconsciously at the words but kept reading anyways.
'Honestly, I had wished that you would picked this one first. I loved it too and I have taken all night to read it, leaving my thoughts here and there. Now let us read together, I hope you don't mind an expressive reading partner or one at all."
Somehow, that made her face lit up with a smile and she laid back in bed, reading the first words of the book.
"I don't." She whispered mindlessly.