Bori had strengthened the tattoo, a dragon being had been killed to do that.
It was sad and an uncomfortable knowledge for Belladonna but it was necessary. She still hadn't been able to find a way to get out of the castle to send a message to Alaris. The White King still wasn't back yet, neither was Jyris.
The Queen and the leader of the four Houses betraying the White King were happy to have her as a new acquisition to the weapons against their enemy.
Bori warned Belladonna that after this, the only thing that would keep Xinora away was her acquiring the Death Gem and she had agreed to it.
Tonight was, however, a very special night.
It was the night for them to kill the White King.
They had been planning it for a long time, poisoning him slowly and weakening him.
Weakening him?!
The White King Belladonna had encountered didn't look weak at all! If that was his weak state, she wondered what he really was like.
“Is there anything I must do?”
The Queen nodded. “Do not interfere.”
Well, that was easy to do, except that tonight, the White King climbed into her bed and laid right next to her to rest.
It was very uncomfortable.
Where was that done?!
What kind of disturbing relationship did Xinora have with her father?!
Belladonna stayed still in bed, deeply disturbed and alert, just in case he would do something intimately out of the ordinary.
He didn't.
He only asked her how she was feeling, if the placeholder was truly gone and wasn't just stuck in the body with her, to which she responded that she was fine, that she had missed him and that the placeholder was gone.
She requested for his permission to leave the Castle tomorrow to watch the sea, and he granted it only on the condition that Jyris would accompany her.
“You’ve always wanted to watch the sea. You may, my darling Xinora. You may, child.” He ended with that. Then he looked at her, as a father would look at his daughter, and then he embraced her.
“I have missed you so much, Xinora. Nothing has remained the same without you.” With that, he fell asleep.
He seemed to be drunk and maybe that was a good thing because his mind was too fogged to notice the presence of her Shadow warrior.
No, he lay there, sleeping next to her.
Something about this made tears stream down her cheeks. This was actually her father. She never thought she would meet him, never even knew who he was.
This was her father.
By Ignas, she hated him.
She hated him for what he did to her mother and for the purpose it was done for.
She hated this. Hated everything.
She wanted him dead just as everyone else, maybe even more.
She hated how she had to speak of herself like she wasn’t her and how she must constantly say that she was useless.
Nothing but a body.
She heard no great names from her mother's lips in her own realm, and here she was, her father’s bastard.
A poison, a poison, a poison.
An escape would be great. An escape would be perfect.
She hated him; she wanted him dead, and for what she was about to do, she might regret it, but it might be the wise thing to do after all.
____
____
Hours have passed into the dead of the night.
The door opened slightly. Despite the dim light and overwhelming darkness, Belladonna could see Bori step into the room.
Their gazes met, and he motioned for her to keep quiet and stay still; she did. Then with a dagger that glowed red, one she suspected to be the blood dagger, he readied himself to strike the White King.
Belladonna watched as the dagger went downwards to the King’s exposed chest; her heartbeat slamming against one another rapidly.
It was too fast.
The White King sprung up and directed the dagger to Bori’s stomach instead. The blade drained him of his blood and he fell back, dry and dead, like a tiny stink of bones overshadowed by his robes.
The door swung open immediately, and Dogori rushed in. He jammed the end of his staff into Bori’s chest and he vanished into ashes.
Then he pointed his staff at Belladonna.
“The human next for the third death. She is one of them.”
Belladonna felt dread and fear consume her from the depth of her very being.