"Ana!" She heard Ileus' panic filled voice and felt him holding her before she fell down. After that she slipped back in faint gray smoke, feeling weak and weary as hell.
"What happened to her?" she heard a woman's soft voice. It was comforting just like her mothers. She wanted to open her eyes, but she felt so weary that she couldn't.
"We got Iona's paintings from Silver Vales," she heard a deep cello voice of her husband.
"And?" the woman asked.
A moment of silence later, he said, "She touched one of them and just… fainted."
For a long time, heavy silence lingered in the air. She heard rustle of fabric and then perhaps the woman walked out.
She slipped back into time, into gray smoke and silvery bursts of stars. That was her vision. Maple was whipping her. A mellowed voice sang—
'Whip her Maple
Whip her
To the otherworld we will ship her
I will watch her bleed
And then eat.'
The voice belonged to a very small girl. Where was it coming from? She focused on the voice but it was difficult. The pain was mind numbing. "Maple, stop it," she said almost about to give up. Through her half open eyes, she tried to look at the girl who was singing, who was encouraging. Suddenly, the gray smoke swirled in front of her and a teenage girl appeared. Her silhouette was blurred with so much smoke around her. It was as if the smoke was peeling off her creamy skin. Her features were just as beautiful as Ileus' and her golden eyes flickered like an obsidian. "Iona?" Anastasia reached her hand to touch her. However, the girl stared at her and then the gray smoke swirled rapidly around her. It engulfed her before fading into the air.
"Take more you bitch!" said Maple.
Anastasia shrieked and opened her eyes. She felt hard muscles against her face. Sweat had broken out as tremors of horror raked her body. He was rocking her and had pressed her face in his chest. His other hand was stroking her hair, her back.
"Aly," she called him in a hoarse voice. Green orbs of lights were floating around her. They touched her skin every now and then.
"Ana!" he looked down and stopped rocking. "How are you baby?" he asked, his tone filled with anguish.
Someone pushed a glass of water in front of her. "How is she now?" asked Kaizan.
Anastasia gulped the water down her throat greedily. She sagged against her husband's chest once more and closed her eyes, happy to be out of the nightmares.
After a long quiet, Ileus set her on the bed and leaned on her. She saw Kaizan sitting on the other side. He held her other hand as he watched her with worry etched on his face.
"Do you want to eat something?" he asked.
Anastasia's eyes went to the window outside. "How long was I unconscious?" she asked in a weak voice.
"A few hours," he replied. "It's almost dawn now."
She took a deep breath. Her stomach rumbled and Kaizan immediately got up to fetch food for her. She turned her face to Ileus who was staring at her as if she was the only thing that mattered in his life.
"You were shouting Iona's name," he said.
"Where are the paintings, Ileus?"
"I have sent them back. And would never get them here." His chest heaved with anger.
"There is something about them, honey. I feel the paintings are connected to Iona's kidnapping. They contain some mystery that wants to get resolved. We should go back and see them."
"You are not touching them again!" he said with anger and frustration.
"Aly, we need to understand them. It is possible that Iona was trying to convey a message to you all and you people couldn't understand."
There was a long pause. "Whatever, but you are not going near them again."
Kaizan appeared with a tray of food. He placed it right in front of her and said, "Eat." He held a glass of pineapple juice near her lips. "We need you alive," he said with suppressed anger that Anastasia could feel his anger peeling off his demeanor. And he was restraining it. She didn't know why he was so angry, but she accepted the glass of juice and gulped it down. It soothed her parched throat. She had her food in complete silence and then Kaizan left.
"How come he knew about my condition?" she asked once he closed the door behind him.
"I called him," said Ileus as he helped her lie down. "Mother was also here."
Anastasia remembered that Ileus depended a lot on Kaizan for emotional support. He was promised to Ileus and emotions flowed through the bond.
At the crack of dawn, the maids came. "We have to get you ready for the temple, princess."
---
Kralj Palace
Vilinski
Maple's Bedchamber
Sitting on a couch, Etaya was looking at the girl kneeling in front of her. The dark witch was hanging upside down the ceiling. Her black hair was a tangled mess and moved as she rocked back and forth without falling. She was looking at the girl with her obsidian eyes.
"Please leave my father," Lilette begged her. "I have done my part of the deal and now you should fulfil your part of the deal. You must leave my father. You— you said that once I will—" Her mouth snapped close when she saw the witch walking on the walls. She leapt and exploded into darkness that circled around Lilette.
Lilette froze inside her, scared as hell. Her body started quivering. "Are you sure you completed your part of the deal?" a cold voice hissed and she felt shivers run down her spine. The witch slashed downwards and a black face appeared in front of her. Lilette closed her eyes in panic. All at once, she felt the witch's black claws into her flesh and warmth of blood trickling down her neck.
Iona lifted her chin up. "You didn't complete you deal, Lilette. You had to get Anastasia out of the kingdom. You had to goad her to get out of Draoidh but you couldn't even manage to sway Ileus on your side."
"At least I started the rumor," said Lilette as tears rolled out of her eyes. "I have partially completed the deal. Anastasia and Ileus are mates and are mated. Their bond has snapped in. It is impossible to separate them." She pleaded and tried to reason with the dark witch.
Two days back the dark witch had come to Óraid and captured her father. Even though Robert tried to fight her, she had easily captured him and made him unconscious. Now he was lying in a casket with blue shimmery lights flowing from his mouth to his ears and nose. His body was fully covered in the lights. She had tried to put her hand through the lights to wake her father, but she felt a burning sensation and had to immediately pull out.
"You didn't try hard," said the witch as she withdrew her claws from her flesh and tasted the blood. "Disgusting!" she said and spat it.
Lilette's eyes became wide. "I did whatever I could," she wailed. "Please at least wake him up."