Tick.
Something exploded in Belladonna at that.
Rage.
Swoosh!
She blindly sent her dagger that had been tucked away in her dress, flying behind her, making the witch stumble back a little, the dagger missing her as ice formed around the weapon and it squashed into broken pieces of ice in the air, then rained on the floor behind them like snow.
"Foolish child." The Soul Witch gritted but before anything could be done, Belladonna staggered to her feet and swiped the wet twig she had grabbed from the mud puddle in front of her, across the Witch's face.
What was a wet piece of twig going to do?
But she was desperate to fight and was using just anything she could grab on.
Her sight was blurry, her calculations might have been off, but something had happened at that moment.
She felt the pull and finally, she was in her unconscious mind.
The crashing waves.
The calm breeze.
The beach.
"You need to wake up." Alaris' voice slashed into her thoughts, the screams of the Witch from her attack echoing in her ears.
Her breathing was fast and she had to blink a couple of times as she placed a hand on her chest to steady her breathing.
Click.
"The baby---" she looked around, realizing she hadn't come here with the child. "We have to go back for him."
"You have to wake up." He fired and he could imagine him with a stern look as he did that.
Who did he think he was?
She turned to the direction she had heard Alaris' voice from.
"We have to save him! I have to save him." She looked down at her shaky hands, the bloodied twig in it. "He is just a child. I promised to save him."
"You need to wake up."
"He's going to die if I don't go back, you selfish bastard!"
Why wasn't he helping her already? The life of a child was on the line!
"And you will die if you do go back! Can you even hear yourself? You will both die if you go back!"
"That is a lie."
"You couldn't even protect yourself. How will you be able to protect someone else if you can't even protect yourself?"
Belladonna blinked, the words slamming into her in waves.
How dare he?!
"If you go back, we'll all die and you know it." There was a pause, the words sinking in, it made her stagger, and her helplessness made her drop to the ground.
"She is too powerful. I wouldn't have been able to help you, if your attack hadn't shifted her strength. Her aura overpowered mine. You have no idea how much I was trying to get you out of there once I made it out of the baby. It didn't work until that moment."
Belladonna sensed fear in his voice.
That was terrifying.
"She will be prepared for you if you go back now and you are not prepared yet, I will not be able to help you either. In this state," there was a pause, long enough to a point that it felt like he would never continue, "In this trapped state, I am too weak."
Belladonna pulled her hands around her, feeling a need to shelter herself.
This was wreaking.
"Did you know about her before today?"
"No." He sounded like he was crouching right by her side, giving her only sincere words.
She didn't want to feel at ease from his presence, he was someone she couldn't trust, yet it calmed her that she wasn't alone.
"Do you know what will happen to the baby?"
"The child has magic in his veins and the witch appears to be very greedy. The voices of those she consumed, had babies in it." He sounded cold, his emotions restrained.
The Soul Witch would kill him, just like she killed his aunt.
This loss was too much.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she bit her lower lip to distract herself from the pain in her heart.
"This is all your fault." The words slipped through her lips.
"Don't do that." There was a crack in his voice that she really wanted to ignore. "Please, don't do that."
Her body shook with tears, the banging headache increasing.
"Wake up now, Nightshade." He sounded closer, this time, she didn't pull away. She stayed for the comfort that she instinctively sought.
"Alaris." She said his name because she didn't know what other thing to say.
"There is nothing you can do right now."
"Please."
"Wake up, Nightshade."
It was a lot of tears when she finally woke up.
This type of vulnerability wasn't what she had ever experienced in her life. Someone's life was placed in her hands and she couldn't protect.
She was too weak.
Alaris was right. If she couldn't protect herself, then she would never be able to protect someone else.
Nahiri or not, she had to find a way to destroy that Soul Witch. She was so full of rage and grief, she couldn't think of anything else to comfort her except that.
This was the study Eli had arranged for her, and she was glad that up till now, he was still too occupied to check on her. Seeing her in this state would let him dig with questions till he got answers.
She was covered in mud and blood. It was a good thing that this study had a bathroom.
Quickly she freshened up, changed her clothes, and took care of her injuries.
She had her mother to thank for what an expert she was at taking care of and hiding cuts like this.
She was giving it the finishing touch when Eli came in enthusiastically to tell her about the preparations for the wedding, how smoothly he was going, and how he wished she would come with him to pick out some colors tomorrow.
"I just really want to know if you will like them too. I want us to pick what you will like."
He tried to pull away to see her face, but she hugged him tighter.
It was so good to have someone to hold.
Soon enough, he could hear her crying, feel them dampening his shirt.
That gave him a scare.
"Donna? Is everything alright?"
"Just hold me, please."
He had so many questions, but he saves them for later and help her to him instead.
It was a long moment of seeking peace in his arms till a guard had knocked on the door and urgently requested that the King should come downstairs.
Belladonna had hurried after him, the sound of the thunder clapping outside the castle and the rain beating down heavily outside reminding her of her dream.
There was a little crowd downstairs, a woman in heels, a long red dress, dripping with rainwater as she tried to make her way up the stairs.
The tattoo on her forehead, glowed and dimmed from time to time, but what drew Belladonna's attention the most was a cut that seemed to have been drawn across her eyes, leaving her eyeballs stained with blood.
Belladonna stopped in her tracks, her hands right around the railings, as she observed Lady Kestra more than she had ever done in her life.
The Soul Witch must have gotten to her too. She must have only escaped because she was really powerful. She would tell her about who that Witch really was, maybe they could find something to do about it.
Her heart ached with pain for Lady Kestra.
"Kestra." Eli moved closer to her, his hand holding the Witch's, after he had sent an order for everyone to go back to their chambers immediately.
They were the only ones here, still walls had ears, didn't they?
"What happened?"
Lady Kestra stared blankly in front of her.
"I was trying to get more elixir and I ran into this witch." For once, there were tears in her voice. "I can't see anything Eli," she pulled her hands around Eli, crying into his chest.
"I can't see."
Belladonna moved to comfort her, till she saw something and everything changed.
Lady Kestra was holding a piece of cloth in her hand, bloodied and stained with mud.
It look exactly like it had ripped away from the gown she had worn in her dream.
Belladonna pressed her lips together, rage boiling inside of her as she put two and two together.
Lady Kestra was the Soul Witch.
Nahiri or not, she would kill this woman.
Everyone would be free if this woman was dead.