“And you didn't tell me? Why?”
“It was over two centuries ago.” He stood up. “She stayed dead during those times, why would I think anything would come out of her now?”
Belladonna said nothing and Alaris continued.
“With you, I believed she had already been replaced. A new Master, her time was over, gone. The gems will always have their masters, I have discovered. At first, I was worried, but then you proved to be more than one with a mere link.”
“I had visions of her. I told you everything.”
He shrugged. “I thought it was just her lingering presence since she was the one who was connected to the gem before you. They are just mere visions, they don't suggest a powerful presence to get bothered about.”
“You must be joking,” she stated, flabbergasted.
“I had dreams of her every time and nothing ever really happened as a result,” he replied with a dismissive tone.
“You know that is not true.”
“Nothing “real” ever really happened.”
With a realization, she stood up. “You are doing it again. You are stuck in denial. Just like when I told you about Kestra.”
“This is different,” he stated pointedly, raising a finger in the air for emphasis. “Xinora was a fool!” He snapped.
Xinora.
The name of the original Bearer was Xinora.
“She didn't even know how to use her gem. She was obedient to her father and willing to trade her life for his cause.” Alaris paused immediately, but he said nothing.
His silence made Belladonna restless. “What? Explain things to me already.”
“Xinora couldn't be the one doing this because she is too stupid to come up with vengeful plans. She would do anything for her father though. She willingly allowed herself to be locked away by him, even severed her ties with her lover so that she would live in her father’s prison as a pure sacrificial lamb; all to please him. She has no thoughts of her own.”
“The White King is her father, right?” Belladonna asked, wanting to confirm that. Although she had seen the stone coffin in the Castle and seen the Queen weeping close to it, she just needed to be sure of everything.
“Yes,” Alaris nodded, then he continued. “She had a one-track mind, with a powerful magic that she made dormant because she made no attempt to use it; all in wait for her father’s command. She was weak and stupid. Not cunning like Kestra. I had no reason to worry. She had no strings, nothing! I killed her and she died.”
“Well, I think two centuries made her strong and vengeful?”
He stopped in front of Belladonna, cupping her shoulders in his hands, his voice low. “You don't understand, she is dead. She has been dead for a long time. None dead can escape Thanatou for two centuries.” He let go of her shoulder and turned away as he ran his finger through his loose, long hair. “It’s impossible.”
“Then maybe she didn't die?”
He stopped, thinking it over before shaking his head. “I killed her, she is dead.”
“Then how will you explain what is going on? It seems like she is trying to kill me.”
“Xinora can't kill you; she can't kill anything except her father asks her to.” Then he stopped abruptly as if he was trying hard to remember something. “She made an oath upon her soul for him to summon her at will. She told me.”
“She told you?” Belladonna asked, stunned. He had said their relationship was minimal and unimportant, but somehow, he seemed to know a lot about her?
“Such an oath will not let her pass.”
Belladonna followed him as he paced around slowly. “So she is dead but tattered to this realm because of an oath.”
“An incomplete mission!” He turned back to her and she stopped.
“So, I am being haunted by a ghost.”
“Because her father is summoning her! Her father is calling upon her to fulfill what she believed was her purpose and she is determined to obey him.”
Belladonna chuckled, the sound dry. “I keep getting haunted by ghosts that are not even from my own past. It is an absolute delight to add your ghost to the list of those who have traumatized me.” She said as she patted his cheek, then she went back to sit on the back feeling exhausted physically and mentally.
“Well, The White King certainly knows about your existence now. He is desperate and he wants his weapon.”
“His weapon?” She was too exhausted to start thinking. She would demand explanations for everything.
“Bearers cannot be killed except by each other. That is why I keep coming back. A specific dagger made in a special way and used by a Bearer is the only thing that can deliver death to the other. That is why I keep coming back, that is why I can't be killed because she is not the one killing me with the Blood dagger .”
“Blood dagger ,” Belladonna laughed in confusion.
“The White King is trying to eliminate me, he is playing all his cards! An oath made over two centuries ago, I had totally forgotten about it.”
“The Blood dagger is the one I always see stuck in her,” Belladonna said with more clarity and realization.
“Yes.”
She blinked, her voice holding absolute seriousness when next she spoke. “Alaris, you must tell me everything right from the beginning.”
“I will just start with the important part.”
“I will decide what is important. Start. Now.”