"Well, thank you for the gift."
His gaze moved to her necklace.
"I can not wait for you to finally be able to wear it."
"Thanks for that too, but I was talking about the sewing machine."
"Oh, that." He moved his hand a little, trailing a side of her neck, then he withdraw his touch slowly. "Anything for you. Will you like to learn a little swordsmanship, my Lady?"
That just sounded like another opportunity to get closer to him.
An opportunity she definitely wouldn't miss.
Just as she had said yes, he was giving the order for everyone to leave the training room, the next thing she knew, they were alone, the room was locked and he was behind her, his heat engulfing her, while his hand guided hers as he taught her the basic techniques. The way his voice filled her ears was pure heaven.
With how today had started, it was all going so well.
Strike.
Attack.
She giggled and he laughed at some of her individual defenses and attacks.
Her moves were really sloppy, uncalculated and either too quick or too late.
After a while, Belladonna spoke up.
"I'm terrible at this."
"This is your first time," he trailed his fingers along her cheek, his rough leather grazing her skin, while he caressed it tenderly. "You'll do better next time."
"My wrists hurt like hell."
"You can give up then." He took the sword from her, tossing it to the ground, then he pulled her into an embrace from behind, his chin resting a little on her shoulder. "I will always be there to protect you anyways."
She turned around in his embrace, looking straight at him. "I'm glad I have you, but it is good to be able to defend myself still."
"Of course." He pinched her nose with a playful force, when he spoke again his voice sounded a little serious. "I apologize for missing out on breakfast. I heard you have been busy though."
"Just making warm clothes with my gifts."
"Hmmm. A nice way to earn."
Trying to distract herself from how her heart had picked up the pace from his compliment, her fingers trailed the collar of his shirt, up to his neck, then stopped before her hand actually touched his skin.
She frowned, pulling away a little.
"You have a cut."
"What?"
"That doesn't look like a normal scratch." Her voice slowly filled with doubt and worry. "Should I be worried, Eli? Is your dragon attacking you?"
"Things got a little messy with Pamela." His hands around her came loose, and she missed his touch instantly, before he even started pacing a little back and forth, in front of her. "You know how females are.
They can get a little wild sometimes."
She arched an eyebrow at him, imagining his face as serious as ever beneath that mask.
"So, I am wild?"
"Yes. When you came." His voice became light with humor. "It definitely takes some amount of wildness to wear the wrong color to a Choosing Ceremony."
She couldn't even remember what color it was that she had worn that night.
He took her hand in his, and she found herself once again, distracted.
"How did you even get her?"
"Pamela?"
"Yes, your dragon. How did you get her?"
"Well, you see, My Father was a collector of treatures, a dragon egg happened to be one of his most valuable collected treasures. He found and took it from beyond the walls many years ago, and apparently a dragon egg only hatches once it senses a worthy master. When it came into my possession, I had it for a while, and with Kestra's little help, it finally hatched and now we have Pamela."
"That is so wonderful."
He nodded, moving closer to her, his fingers playing with her hair again.
"My brother would have loved her."
"Pamela?"
He noddeed. "He would have loved how increasingly wild she is becoming. You see, he was a bit of a wild one himself. Crazy," he gestured with one hand he had made free by letting go of her, "...and had a dangerous nature."
"Wow. That sounds very scary." Belladonna laughed nervously.
That was scary for many reasons, the top one being the fact that it was the King who was describing someone as dangerous and crazy.
How dangerous and crazy could he had been?
"Do you think we would gotten along?"
The King paused, looking at her squarely, after a few seconds of thinking, he answered.
"No."
She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. That didn't feel good for some reason.
It shouldn't even matter but somehow it did.
"If he was here, him not liking you would been a huge problem."
"Because of family issues, I get it. My own family don't even like me." She said underneath her breath but he had caught that.
His hand brushed against her knuckles with affection.
"Believe me, that is not the problem I was taking about. My brother used to kill anything he did not like."
"Ahhhh." She said lowly for the lack of anything better to say.
Didn't the King do the same thing? Like those villagers at the market that threatened her.
Eli's chuckle brought her out of her train of thoughts.
"I'll explain. He had his first kill when he was just five. It was one of the minister's pet dog."
"Why?"
"He said he did it because the dog bit me." Eli answered with a shrug.
Belladonna looked on with horror and the King couldn't decide who she was horrified for and of. The dog? Him? Or his brother?
"Did it?"
"Yes, but it had been a month ago." He let out a sigh, refusing to go down memory lane or too much telling. "He was so young back then, hunted animals. A lot of animals."
"So if he had been older, he would have hunted people...too?" She asked with reluctance, the answer feeling like something she wouldn't like even before she heard it.
"Hmmm, I do not think age had anything to do with it. You see, I am four years older and yet I was the peaceful sibling. Fights, blood, violence, I detest. The only reason I am who I am today is because I must be who I am to be who the people needs. I have no choice, I am King and sometimes violence is just it."
Belladonna nodded.
"Is your brother the same as you? Born with scales too?"
The King laughed again. "No. In appearance, he was relatively norma--" then he paused, and watched her with a glint in his eyes.
"Will you like to see them?"
"Your family, Eli?" She asked quietly, trying to contain her excitement.
"Yes," something glimmered in her eyes. "I want to show them to you. I have paintings."
She nodded and he pulled her out of the training room, heading up stairs, right to the hallway that Colin and Raquel had dragged her out from some mouths ago.
That very hallway they called forbidden.