Meeting with the witches that Seb had brought to the Capital had been unproductive for Belladonna.
None of them could help her get rid of the magic. She had dabbled into the idea of them teaching her how to control it, but they couldn't do that either.
Her powers were strange to them, and restless within her. The spirits of the ghost brides that came with this "curse", didn't make it easy at all.
She could still hear their voices becoming louder and louder if there was too much distance between her and Alaris's gem or him.
This curse kept her movement limited to the castle, and all her plans of visiting those villages with those stupid customs had to be delayed. She had submitted some scrolls regarding the matter to Alaris though, and although they weren't talking, she hoped he would look through them and do what was necessary to be done.
While she was stuck in the castle, she had received a letter from Lytio telling her about her Father's death and Aniya's condition. He said she was getting better and there was nothing to worry about.
The handwriting had been really terrible, but Lytio's handwriting was never spectacular to begin with.
Belladonna didn't feel anything regarding her father's death. He was never really her real father anyway. There was no lost connection for her to weep about, the ties were formed in the first place.
For her sister though, she was glad she was alright and worried at the same time. She didn't even know why she felt that way. The letter had said Aniya was alright, but still, she felt this bugging feeling creeping beneath her skin.
It was a good thing Aniya had survived that fire. She didn't deserve to die because of her crazy father, or the deeds of her manipulative mother. She had to pay for some things that she did but she deserved another chance at life, one that was free from their mother's control and manipulation.
Once she could leave this castle, she would go and see her. Maybe that would make her own life hold some meaning.
Belladonna sighed, moving the wet towel on her head as she leaned back on the sofa's headrest.
This place was driving her insane and she would have ran out of the Castle, if only that wouldn't put people's lives in danger.
Then there was that thing she had been trying to ignore that hit at her heart the most.
There was...
"So this is where you have been hiding?" Alaris stepped into the study.
...there was Eli. Alaris's presence made her infuriated.
"Yes, hiding from you."
After what he had done, Belladonna didn't want to talk to him, but she forced herself to talk about the scrolls and he did her one better. A committee for that had already been created and he had sent them out as his representative to each of the village. He had witnessed most of these horrible things with her, and he knew what her worry was about.
"There will be a meeting with the Village Heads soon. I need to know which one of them is the most responsible and which one of them deserves to be changed." He added.
He had been working a lot and it felt strange for Belladonna to see him effortlessly fill in Eli's spot.
She felt a pang in her chest, and tossed the towel on the table as she frowned.
She was glad he was doing something about the villages, it just made her feel so sad at the same time.
She couldn't explain it.
"You talk like you will be leaving soon. Do you have a new portal?"
"No," he shrugged.
"Finding a way around it then." She studied his face but it gave nothing away, so she added. "How did you make your first one?"
He looked away then, pushing his fingers through his hair. As if her questions were starting to get to him. "My mother created it. The one that," he paused, "died here."
"Sorry," she said, for a loss of something better to say.
Alaris was someone she couldn't figure out, it put her on a kind of edge to be around him. His words of having no ulterior motive weren't convincing to her either.
Alaris always had a reason for doing something, a reason that benefitted him. He had said it himself.
'Never help someone unless it benefits you.'
She already suspected that he wanted her to help him find the Life Gem, she knew he wasn't making any moves yet because there was no portal.
She knew.
He was a fool if he thought that after everything she had been through, she would just believe him, believe anyone.
"You are quiet. Are you still mad at me?" He threw the question right at her, walking closer to the table that stood between them.
This study was one of those rooms that Eli kept locked. When the lock for this room had been broken, Belladonna had been scared they would see more coffins, but no, they had just found books.
Lots of books.
"Nightshade?"
Belladonna sighed.
That was it. That was the thing that had been worrying her most even though she wanted to pretend that it wasn't.
"Eli still hasn't recovered from the tossing off the cliff you gave him." Her eyes shot daggers at him.
Alaris planted his hands flat against the surface of the small table.
"He breathes," he stated with a deadly voice.
Belladonna sat up, looking right at him. Sometimes he scared her, then she would remember how transactional their relationship was, and that he was allowing her to be a parasite on his gem because he needed her alive - even though he obviously didn't want her thinking that way- then she would stop being afraid.
Times like this when she wasn't so vulnerable, she could think straight.
She could see through his kindness, see through everything.
She knew these games. Hadn't Eli played them on her in the beginning too?
Pathetic.
"He hasn't woken up yet."
"He breathes, doesn't he?"
"Alaris," she gritted. "It's been two days.
"And the physicians haven't declared him dead, yet. I see no problem." He clapped. "I was merciful to leave him alive."
Belladonna chuckled bitterly. "You didn't even know he was alive till you went back for him. Till I made you go back for him."
Alaris sighed, standing upright and going around the table so he could sink into the sofa right by her side. She became rigid beside him.
"Why do you care so much, uh, Nightshade? I didn't expect you'd still harbour all these feelings for a being that played you--"
"I loved that man for---"
"How long? Nine months or less?" He chuckled, throwing his head back against the headrest of the sofa.
How dare he be comfortable when she wasn't?
"Are you even sure that you love him? Or did he just make you?"
She stood up, walking some distance away from the sofa, from him.
"Do you really want to kill him?"
Alaris looked to the side and smiled.
"What do you think?" Something dangerous glinted in his mismatched eyes.
She didn't even know why she was asking.
"I know how boring, staying in all day can be. So, you can leave the castle with the gem."
Her gaze shifted to the gem on the table, and she turned to him with a frown.
Was this a joke? Why would he allow her to carry his soul around? She didn't even know how to wield a sword or control her powers.
"Don't be ridiculous." She rolled her eyes.
"Not that one. The one around your wrist."
It was at that moment she realized that he had slipped a bracelet around her wrist when he had taken a seat next to her on the sofa.
Shocked, her mouth parted slightly.
Did he just make her a bracelet carved from his soul?