"Are you done?"
"Seriously?" A light scoff. "That was the softest I have ever spoken."
She shrugged.
Honestly, it almost had her.
Almost.
"I don't know. It sounded a little rough around the edges. Wasn't as hypnotizing as you thought it would be."
A light chuckle echoed around her, one that sounded a little distant from her now. She relaxed her hold on her dagger, relieved that she might not have to use it eventually, besides the fact that she would be fighting against the invisible, she didn't even know how to wield the weapon.
So, it was good this way.
"A little bit of practice and I'll have you wrapped around my fingers."
"In your dreams."
"Your dreams, of course. Where else?"
She gritted her teeth, walking away.
His cocky attitude was starting to get on her nerves and if she wasn't in a dire situation right now, she would have plenty to say to that.
"I don't have time for this foolery."
He chuckled. "You've become difficult but when were you never?"
Her feet dipped into the cold beach sand as she thought of what to do, how to go about what she had to find first. He didn't sound like he was following her and she was happy he was maintaining the distance between them.
"You speak like we are jolly good friends."
"Are we not?"
She took in a deep breath, mentally counting all the problems she had and telling herself he was the least of them. "No."
"Good that you know your place human. Mortals like you are far below me."
"But still, here you are, in need of me."
He had said something to that, but she paid it no mind. As she had said before, she had no time for this foolery. Instead, she was focused on what she was drawing on the beach sand. It was the tattoo on the paper, the same one she had seen on Raquel.
"Have you ever seen this before?"
"My powers become less and less as the Blood Moon approaches, looks like you will have to find out whatever that it is by yourself."
She hummed lightly, not entirely satisfied with his response. She had seen this somewhere before, if she thought harder, she would remember.
"How long have you been trapped here?"
"About two centuries?"
Well, the magic Eli's parents had used must have made him a sort of immortal then, or maybe it just gave him a longer lifespan and really slow aging, but what about Kestra, maybe magic was also keeping her going.
As for the Bride Thief, he was of course he was a different thing entirely.
Her gaze was intense on her drawing, even as goosebumps raised on her skin from the cold, she couldn't feel it.
She had seen this before, at the back of a book, she just couldn't remember where.
Think, Belladonna. Think!
But she had to keep talking, she didn't want the Bride Thief to find her helpless in any way so he wouldn't take advantage of it in the guise of granting a "favor".
"That is long enough for anyone to give up."
He sighed, sounding a little sincere. His voice was closer now, but she didn't feel the need to move away.
"I wanted to wait it out but you see, the King is dying and if he dies, while I share the bond, I die with him. There is so much to explore. Why should I die? Let him die alone."
He had said that too, last time.
Well, he was consistent with his story.
The thought of Eli dying made her stomach twist in different knots. There might be a huge problem between them right now, but that hasn't suddenly changed the fact that he was the man she loved.
This whole situation was complicated and so were her feelings.
She was overwhelmed mostly.
"And do you know how to break this bond? How to be saved?"
There was excitement in his voice, one he couldn't hide. She imagined his eyes twinkling with it, but her brows furrowed when she remembered that even he couldn't be trusted.
All of them were shady.
"I need you to destroy the King's ring. It holds his brother in captivity, it holds me in captivity."
She remembered Eli's ring, the one which he recently got the gem changed. When there had been problems with that ring, Pamela had gone crazy, always attacking Eli. He was most likely telling her that so that his dragon would finally kill him this time.
She wondered what Eli's family did to him for him to want his whole family dead. She knew the dream had told her a different story but she couldn't help but subconsciously hold Eli's story above his. That was something she had to work on, if she wanted the truth, her mind had to be a blank slate, where she will continuously add only the things that had been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
"Do you know how?"
"Is there supposed to be a special procedure? Destroy means destroy."
"The brides." She felt her throat, tightened as she remembered the coffins she had been made to come across some hours ago. "Did you do anything to them?"
"No. I just realize that one day, I can't get into their dreams. This mostly happens when I'm starting to convince them, or they've already agreed to help me. You are special, Nightshade, you are not dead yet."
She suddenly felt the cold now. A chill down her spine.
"They are dead?"
"Well, dead people don't dream. So, they are most likely dead."
She gritted her teeth, blinking away the images of the Brides that she had seen when she moved next to the coffins.
Some had asked her to free them.
She would rather believe that they were in bondage somewhere than believe that they were dead. That was just too much.
They were a hundred and ninety-nine of them!
There! Right there!
She remembered!
She remembered where she had seen the drawing.
Her lips dipped at the corners. It felt like she had achieved something already. It felt so good to finally be able to remember things as she used to. As she raised to her feet, her toes curled in the slightly damp, cold, sand from how rewarding the feeling felt.
"I need you to take me somewhere in the castle."
"Exploiting me already." He didn't sound one bit offended, instead, he sounded excited, like he had been waiting for this moment. "Alright then, here are the rules."
"Of course," she rolled her eyes. "There will be limitations."
"I can only shift us one place per night. This beach is your subconscious mind and for every shift back and forth, we must come here first. The further we go from your body, the less time we have to explore. Also, everything is real out of your subconscious mind. If you die here, you actually die."
Well, she could work with that.
"And you?"
"Yes. If I die there, I actually die. But don't fret, Nightshade." He was leaning close to her again and she could feel that presence around her, like it was engulfing her in an embrace.
Was that him?
"I'm really hard to kill."
Her heart skipped a beat.
From fear? From nervousness? Or what, she couldn't tell.
"Are you hugging me right now?"
"Enjoy it while you can. Many mortals have died longing for my embrace."
Belladonna rolled her eyes.
It was confirmed.
He was certainly unattractive, he was too egoistic to be otherwise.