Belladonna woke up to Jyris pulling her from the floor.
They were still in the lair. She hadn't been out for too long.
“Are you alright, child?” The White King’s voice sounded like it came from a distance, but it didn't because he was right here in front of her.
She nodded because that was the only thing she could manage to do.
Belladonna could still feel the sting in her hand from where the blade had cut her palm but it was no longer bleeding. It took her some moments to recollect herself, and when she finally did, there was a strange creature in front of her made of small red glowing lights tattered to each other in darkness; it was the shape of a giant man.
Then it was gone, collected into a small bottle by Dogori.
With her father touching her hair and looking amused about the glow it lacked, he explained to her that the army of the undead would multiply on the battlefield into a hundred, but for now, they would remain in the bottle and wouldn't be able to receive any command until the gems were merged.
“The Death Gem Bearer is powerful. I cannot fight him as I am. I need something more besides the Blood dagger.”
Dogori handed a bottle at the White King’s command. It was filled with three small balls of herbs mashed together. He urged her to take one so she could learn how to use its powers, while he told her that it was the only one they had as many sacrifices had been made to create it.
Belladonna ate a ball of the mashed herbs as she tried not to think of the amount of lives that had been sacrificed to make this.
It tasted bitter and awful. She forced it down her throat, her eyes watering from how it burned her tongue and then her throat.
Was she being poisoned right now?
No, Jyris wouldn't allow it.
He absolutely believed that she was Xinora and he wouldn't let them hurt her… while he still retained his belief.
The smile on his face was bright and reassuring, which was a strange thing considering the fact that he had just killed his father.
“It was made for you,” the White King said, holding her hand while she felt a strange hotness in her heart and the depth of her belly, as if a furnace had been lit in it. “It will give you the ability to manipulate; you just have to think about it; he won't see it coming.” Then he paused before he spoke again. “He doesn't know, does he? He doesn't know that you are not his ally.”
“He doesn't.”
“Good. It must remain that way. Now think it, use my flames against me.”
Before she could give pretentious protests of caring about him, the White King stepped back, and in a flash, flames poured through his lips without him shifting. Instead of the flames raining on her, they forged into a blade and slashed deeply right across the White’s King chest, setting his top attire ablaze.
He chuckled with pride. “Is she not perfect, Dogori?”
Belladonna blinked. She could do that with the herbs and now she could only do that two more times.
What a waste this one had been.
“Indeed, your Majesty.”
“Is she not just the best one to exist, Jyris?”
He agreed.
Belladonna wanted to ask how long this power would last. But even as she thought of the question.
She asked and he responded that it would expire after one attack. “So you must be wise with what your mind demands. Only once can it.”
“I will be wise to be the best sacrifice.”
Then the White King pulled her into an embrace. Then he pulled away and grabbed her head with his hands, making her look right up at him. “You are perfect, child.”
He knew.
“Thank you, Father, for bringing me closer to fulfilling my purpose.” The pretentious words flowed through her lips as a thought slashed across her mind once again.
He knew!
She wasn't certain about it before but now she was.
Why hadn't he killed her then? It must be beyond just mere amusement, right?
Maybe because this way he wouldn't actually be killing his daughter; he didn't consider her as one anyway.
There was no doubt that he wanted all the power for himself. With how everyone had turned against him, he certainly wouldn't let the command of the Undead Army fall into the hands of anyone but him.
Not after he had been massively betrayed.
Maybe in the beginning, he had no plans of killing his daughter, but now that the situation had changed, her presence had made it all too convenient.
Maybe he was even surprised at how much she could summon on her own without actually being Xinora.
Maybe it would make him feel less guilty when he kills her because he would know that wasn't his Xinora after all. Maybe that was why he was keeping her alive.
It must be amusing to him how far he could go with this - how far she could go.
This must bring his sick mind some peace.
Her hand clutched around the Blood Dagger and the bottle of meshed herbs.
Rage simmered under her skin, running hot in her veins.
If he knew, why had he given her these weapons then?
Was it to see if she would try to kill him if granted the opportunity?
Sick bastard!
She wanted him dead!
How could this even be her father?
Perfect?
He called her perfect even after knowing everything.
He was mocking her. Mocking her effort, her irrelevance. He must be laughing at her in his head whenever she was forced to refer to herself in the third person and called herself a mere Vessel Holder who had fulfilled her purpose.
Sick twisted bastard.
SHE WANTED HIM DEAD!
But that was what he was waiting for; for her to lose it.
So she smiled instead and slipped into his embrace. Falling back into the logical thinking that guided her previous action.
Losing her rage here was wise, she was outnumbered. She must stay alive to send messages to Alaris through her Shadow warrior.
She must continue to pretend till she would escape. She must make a fool out of the White King by manipulating his flaw of underestimation.
When the White King pulled away, Belladonna asked to be taught how to create portals, and just as she had thought, the White King didn't allow it.
“Father will always be next to you,” he said.
Of course, he wouldn't allow it. That would ruin his plan but she must pretend not to know that.
After everything was done, the White King told her that she may return back to bed. “I will join you later, Child. My perfect Xinora.”
He also allowed Jyris to escort her.
He had willingly agreed and just at the darkest part of the hallway, he had pressed her to a wall and kissed her. He told her that he knew about the Lake watching that was to happen in the later hours of the day and that he had something else planned.
The minute Belladonna's door was shut behind her and she heard Jyris leave, she heaved a sigh of relief and summoned her shadow warrior.
After confirming that it was well, she commanded it to remain hidden and it did.
Her legs were aching from having stayed up for a very long time. She pressed her hand on the wooden frame, trying to make herself get up.
She wished the chair was a living creature that could bring her to her
bed.
Just at that moment, she wished for it, with her bloody hand pressed against the chair, something strange happened.
It moved.