A boy was now by the tree, on that she could actually see, and he was staring at the unnaturally hovering heart with horror in his eyes.
"Have you lost your mind, Lex? You have killed Father's stallion."
"Heart collection." Came a childlike excited voice. "I want a heart collection!"
"Look at that, the maddening pride in his eyes." The Bride Thief's voice floated to her ears. "Don't you think it's lovely?"
Feigning interest, Belladonna stared ahead before she leaned backwards with a huff of defeat.
"The child is invisible."
Never had she felt so much like an hostage, not even when she had been brought to the Castle as a chosen Potential Bride.
"Oh." He said with a slight sound of disappointment."I didn't know he would be affected too. Must be because of the bond, I'll give him a form."
Around the heart that had been unnaturally moving in the air, a hand slowly formed, then the whole figure. Holding the heart was a white figure that almost look like a piece of incomplete art.
It had no face, no colors, no form of identity.
Just a concrete, white, humanoid figure of a young boy.
"...do you even know what you have done." The words of the boy who seemed older rushed over one another, as he walked around the figure with care and concern in his eyes.
Belladonna knew what the Bride Thief was playing at. He expected her to believe that this was the King and his brother, but Belladonna would be doomed if she believed a single act of this planned illusion.
He had played out her whole wedding day and changed everything, using the details she had come to conclude that she must have shared with him, during the time she had believed that was nothing but 'Dream Eli'.
He had made all her words into something that they weren't in reality.
A believable lie.
So whatever he was showing her right now, was simply the same thing.
Something unreal.
Something he wanted her to believe with the use of skillful trickery.
If only she wasn't so farmilar with his tactics, then maybe this one would have had her fooled from how realistic it looked.
His desperate measures were really starting to be pathetic.
She wanted to dwell on the reason why this was even possible, but the excited voice of the other boy snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Do you like it, Eli? It's a heart. Real!"
"No! Get that thing away from me." The other boy replied with a shriek of horror. "Father will kill you if the finds out."
Taking a step back, he clicked his fingers against his chin, before he started pacing. His eyes darting from the white figure to the horse that was lying lifeless on the floor, and again.
Abruptly, he stopped. Then he touched the figure's hands that were dripping with blood, before proceeding to smear his spotless green robe designed with blue patterns and his face with the red liquid.
The action made her body still. Eli had said he always took responsiblity for most of his brother's wrongs.
Belladonna knew that what the Bride Thief had said about being connected to the King's brother was a lie, but how was he able to come up with all these images?
Was he reading her mind, going through her brain for information and bringing these illusions out of them? Why was he showing her now that she had knowledge about it? Was that what he had been doing all along. Mind reading?!
But that wouldn't make sense.
If he had gone through her head, he would have gotten the correct color of Lytio's hair. Also there were many people at the fake wedding that she didn't know, and was certain she had never seen in her life.
Like the child who brought had ran from the crowd to give her a razor. That seemed like an image he had simply come up with.
So there was no way he was reading her mind.
As much as Belladonna knew that the Bride Thief made great use of what was told to him, she was sure that the past brides couldn't have told him anything about the King's past. Eli had said he never told any of them about it.
So what other way could there be?
Taking that he had used her words as a source to understand their behaviour and manipulate her, what about their images? How had he come up with that in the illusion before this one?
Belladonna was sure that she hadn't given some detailed physical description about them during their conversation.
It would have been a odd thing to talk about.
Also, it wasn't as if she had drawn them on a piece of paper for him to see each of them.
Except, if he had done just that.
Seen them.
It could be painting, a drawing.
Belladonna's eyes widened slightly as a idea crossed her mind like lightning.
There was someone else involved in this!
It just had to be.
But who could it be?
Belladonna's mind skimmed through only three people and her lack of knowledge about a lot of people in the Castle played the devil, crippling her list of suspects.
Belladonna's heart raced as she kept thinking.
All the people she had on her mind were Raquel, Colin and Lady Kestra. Each of them lacking anything she could hold unto as being suspicious.
Colin was a loyal servant that minded his business, Raquel was sick and passing through a trauma of being far away from her daughter, and Lady Kestra, as the King had said, was his most trustworthy Hand.
The rumbling of something above shifted her attention and she looked up at the sky. The trees were now swaying in the direction of the strong breeze, the sky that was once bright, darkening slightly above them.
She looked away.
The boys were saying something again, the voice of the figure rasing while the other remain calm as he talked sense into the white incomplete art.
Suspicious qualities.
Hmmm.
Now that she was thinking about it, Raquel had that. She was always somehow knowing anytime she came in contact with the Bride Thief. Could it be that it was because she was working for him?
Like that time when--when-- that time that--
She frowned.
She had forgotten.
It was only some months ago and she had forgotten. This was starting to make her worried, she was forgetting a lot of things recently. For someone with strong memory like hers, this was worrisome. The moment she was able to make it out of this dream, she had a lot of things to tell Eli, her failing memory including.
It might be stress. The Royal Physician should be able to help.
Regarding her suspicion, it didn't resonate strongly with her. Not because of the attachment she had now grown to have with Raquel, not the deep sympathy she had for her. It just didn't make sense for someone like the Bride Thief to do business with a sick person, entrust such a task to someone who had an unreliable memory.
So maybe she wasn't the one working for the Bride Thief, maybe she knew someone who was.
Her husband, perhaps.
Colin had a all too knowing aura around him. It made sense that he would be the one. He knew how to keep himself away from attention and he knew things. She could tell that he did. Lady Kestra and the King seem to have so much trust in him too. Who else would be in a better position to seamlessly betray them, except that one person that they didn't suspect.
Belladonna sucked in a shaky breath. That knowledge was unsettling.
Even if Raquel wanted to tell her about this, the tradition that she so much abide by wouldn't let her do anything against her husband.
The King would be livid to hear this and Belladonna couldn't even begin to imagine the punishment he would melt on him for this betrayal.
Having no real attachment to Colin, Belladonna felt no need to hold back the information from Eli or even try to discuss it with Colin first. What would that do? It would only arouse the Bride Thief's suspicion and Belladonna wanted him to be caught unawares.
The sky above them rumbled again and Belladonna jumped slightly, her eyes adjusting to the increasing darkness.
She had gotten so lost in thoughts that she had forgotten where she was.
"It will rain." The older boy said, reaching one hand to the white figure to hold his hand but pulling back with a grimace on is face at the sight of the blood. "Drop that."
"But my head collection, Eli." The boy pleaded, only that his voice sounded a little loud and threatening.
"Forget it. You don't want to be here when the rain comes."
As the older boy turned back and pulled the figure by the shoulder, the figure had no choice but to drop the heart.
With the disappearing sound of their footsteps, silence grew.
The more she thought about Colin, the more she doubted her theory.
What if he wasn't the one betraying the King? What if she was infact getting all this wrong?
Belladonna didn't want to ruin a man's life because of something she wasn't even sure about, but keeping this secret wouldn't help her.
She had to tell Eli but why was she feeling like she was about to do something wrong.