"We must leave as soon as we can, your Majesty," Kestra said, moving away from the Bride who was still laying weakly in the bed.
Kestra was curious as to what had happened in that den. The girl didn't seem to have any major injury, she had checked her body for any foreign presence too but there was nothing. So why was this weak? Or could it be that she was just suffering from mental stress or some sort of trauma from being in contact with the dragon?
If it was something physical, the Physician would have found out.
Kestra could remember how he was sweating profusely to say the news. When he had been told to leave, he had scrambled out, saying the Bride was a strange being. He had been lucky Eli was much too concerned with other things than to confront him on what he had said.
It was a good thing that the Bride was bedridden, Eli was talking to her more, seeking her opinion more and it would have been great if he wasn't doing all this by her bedside, but somewhere else.
A different scenery would have been great.
At the same time, she was pissed at Belladonna.
Eli was stressing over her so much, he wasn't doing that thing that was necessary for him.
"How perilous will the situation get if we linger just a little longer?"
That was it again.
Worrying over this girl was making him pay less attention to himself! She didn't go through all that stress of saving him, just to lose him again.
"Very. I advise we leave as soon as possible."
"Can it not wait?" He looked up at her from the person whose gaze of his had been fixed on since forever.
Finally, he was looking at her.
She took in a quick deep breath to savour the moment, while making it as unnoticeable as possible.
"It cannot. You are weak, your Majesty."
His next step towards the dressing chair, which he had now claimed as his, proved his destructive fatigue. He leaned quickly against the wall, being too weak to go all the way, he slumped into the bed instead, sitting next to the sleeping Belladonna.
His cuts underneath his mask, hurt, and his new leather gloves felt uncomfortably tight.
He looked at the cracked gem of his ring that was still around his finger, the way it buzzed and dimmed almost immediately, with a faint red glow, showing the cracks that cut beyond the surface, even more.
He let out a tired sigh.
"We will leave when she wakes up."
"We might as well all be dead by then." She snapped and the glare he sent her way, made a quick apology jump out through her lips.
"I'm sorry, your Majesty. It is just that, we should have last night. Your ring is broken and if the dragon should awake anytime soon, there is no way you can fight her. You are powerless in this state, your Majesty, we must leave. Remember that you gave the people an order to return home. If anything should happen to them, it will be all your fault."
He gulped and the way his eyes which were the color of desert sand, darkened under the sunlight that peeked its way into the room through the window, showed that she had struck the right chord.
Eli was obsessed with doing what was right. It was this obsession that had brought them to where they were today.
Him on the throne, and her by his side.
That was how it was, the way it had always been, and that was how things would remain.
Soon, she would send the girl out of their painting frame and it would only be them in it.
Her and her Eli.
"Are you sure she will be alright?"
"The herbs will work perfectly. Collin will ensure to take care of her and Anok will safeguard. Collin owes me a lot and Anok, well,---"
She had never really understood why Eli had so much trust in the man. Yes, he was a skilled warrior and won some fights for the King in the past but that was as far as she knew.
"I trust him. He will do."
Kestra nodded, in lack of what to say next.
"How long will this journey be for?"
Kestra hid a smile.
He still couldn't remember?
To transfer the power of the King's broken ring to another gem, he had to go together with her to the cave that contained different gems, and he had to touch as many as he could till they could find one that would match his energy. The gems that were locked upstairs had been tried before but they all proved to be useless in that situation. In fact, Kestra was convinced that those gems were only useful as colorful, glowing balls.
No other use could be found of them.
Finding these gems that the King could use though, was always difficult. They would drain him of strength with each one he placed his hand on, trying to settle into him during the test of compatibility, and yanking out of him immediately it was settled that they weren't a match.
He would continue doing this till he would finally find the one.
The first time and only time, they had to go, the gems had drained him so much that he lost some part of his memory.
The missing memory had included the things that had happened some months before they had come to seek the gem, and a few hours after he got the gem.
The gem picking had also left him hungry that he had fed from her. She still remembered the way he had explored her body. Devoured everything she had to give.
He had left her weak.
She hoped that it would happen again.
It had been so long since he had even as much as looked at her in that way.
It was high time things went back to normal anyways.
Although, along the line, he seemed to have recovered most of his memories, knowing that it wasn't complete up till now, lit the wick of hope in her.
If he would forget Belladonna, he would still remember her and how close they were, he would once again be the most important person to him and she would have the chance to remould his relationship with the Bride.
When he would eventually remember, the girl would have been long gone to have any importance to him.
"If we leave now, we will be back by tomorrow night."
He took in her words with a nod and pressed a kiss to his Donna's forehead.
"Alright then. Get Anok and Collin for me. We leave immediately."
Kestra suppressed a sequel of happiness.
No more wonderful words had ever been said.