"You know my name?"
She shrugged and Eli frowned beneath his mask.
Kestra must have told her. Kestra had appeared concerned about her earlier. They must be close. She must have been the one to have given her those keys too.
How had he condoned that, such intrusion of privacy?
He would deal with this later.
"Well, I will need you to erase your presence from my chamber and never step foot here again.
"What? You don't like this kind of ambush." Belladonna feigned a shocked gasp, burying her pain beneath it. Crying right now would not help her. She had to continue no matter what. She just felt this intense drive in her veins to keep trying, like if he stepped out through that door, it would be over for both of them.
"That's strange." She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "You begged me to let this happen."
He blinked, taken aback.
"I beg your pardon?"
Belladonna nodded.
"You were very convincing too." Her smirk was suggestive.
What nonsense was she rambling on about?
He wanted to be done with this but she irked him and made him feel something else that made him want to stay just a little longer.
His emotions were conflicting, like a raging war was going on inside him, his head was aching slightly. He needed to get this female out of here, and go to Kestra immediately. It must be the result of him starving himself so much, that was why he was feeling overwhelmed. He refused to believe that this female was affecting him, or had any effect on him.
"I beg of you to quit this insanity and leave." He replied, exhausted.
If she remained persistent, he would have his guards come in here and throw her out, drag her to the dungeon for overstepping.
What he was confused about was why he hadn't done that already.
"I beg of you to remember me!" She snapped, firing her words back at him. The anger in her eyes was something he couldn't understand, the way his stomach knitted in displeasure at the recognition of the pain that existed in her voice.
His fists curled by his sides, fear crawling at one small part of his mind, his breathing picking up the pace.
Was she trying to play with him?
Had she found out that he had forgotten some things and now she was trying to manipulate his brain into making him think that she was of much importance to him?
He could still remember his relationship with his past brides, no one had really made it into his priority list so what was this one talking about?
He was angry.
He was confused.
He would have to ask Kestra about this Bride. He trusted that she would tell him the truth. He couldn't trust the person in front of him, even though the other part of him was filled with guilt and uneasiness for something he just couldn't understand.
Why was he feeling this way?
He took a step closer to her, his legs walking like they had a mind of their own, like a force was pulling him to be closer to her... to comfort her.
He stopped dead in his tracks, balling his fists by his sides.
His emotions were conflicting.
He would have to speak to Kestra, this was a matter of urgency, till he figured out his real relationship with this female, his feeding would just have to wait.
Too many coincidences were colliding against one another, blending together to form a giant headache for him. She had been in his study, he made his General her bodyguard, he was the only one with could do such a thing and he was sure that the only reason Anok was protecting her would be because he appointed him to do so. Also, this Bride had his keys!
He had never given anyone his keys!
Not even Kestra.
And her words.
Ah.
His head.
By Ignas, her words were the most confusing.
"I remember you." When he spoke this time, his voice was gentle. That raised hope in Belladonna until he continued, and her hope crashed like broken glass.
"You are my bride. I crowned you Belladonna Drayzika."
Belladonna shook her head.
That was something, but he wasn't quite there yet.
"I want you to remember me as your Donna. I want you to remember more." She paused and with her gaze connecting with his, she said, "I am your Donna."
A moment of silence passed in-between them and he broke off the gaze, turning away from her. He fiddled with his sleeves, trying to remain as calm as possible.
"Let us talk about this in the morning. I will listen to whatever you have to say in the morning."
He needed to get her out of here fast or his head would explode.
Belladonna chuckled, a dry humourless laugh.
"Listen? No." She shook her head, walking deeper into the room, heading for him. "You only have to see."
His heart skipped a beat the closer she got, he felt vulnerable for some reasons and he charged toward an outburst to protect himself.
"This disobedience is something I will not condone. I am your King, you will obey me. I will not tolerate this madness any longer."
The sound of the scrolls being dropped on his table echoed softly through the room as she relieved herself of that burden.
"Madness. Exactly what I said." She nodded, looking up at him with a ghost of a smile on her face.
Don't cry.
Do not cry.
"I thought it was absolute madness that someone who took his time to paint every part of me like this could just forget everything."
"Excuse me?"
The paintings did the talking. She rolled them open with ease, showing them to him.
Being closer to him now, she could see the shock that flashed through his eyes from how intimate the images were. He was in one of them.
Her hands became shaky and the scroll slipped from her hand but he reached for it right on time.
When the painting slipped to the floor, she realized what he had headed for wasn't the scroll but her hand.
He stared down at her with a blankness she couldn't understand.
"Eli." She whispered, searching his eyes and finding nothing.
Her brows furrowed when he remained rigid, not looking away from her.
He was staring at her like he was lost. Like his reasoning had departed from him.
Had she made a mistake?
Had she just led him straight to arms of insanity just because she didn't want to be patient?
Oh, no.
She should have listened to C---
Her thoughts screeched to a halt when she felt smooth leather brush lightly over her left cheek as he wiped away her tears.
"Eli?"
She was still searching.
"Donna." It was a mere whisper but that might be the loudest word she had heard that day.
So clear.
So full of everything that she needed.
Next thing she knew, his embrace held her captive, warm and tight. She heard his mask clank against the floor behind her, and felt his nose rub against her neck, those scales of his pinching her skin as warm liquid dropped on her shoulder.
"My Donna."