"Who are you?" asked Bianca, looking with fear at the grey skinned woman.

The woman was tall with bony hands. She was wearing a long yellow tunic and white breeches. Og'drath," said the woman. She placed the tray and the doll on the floor and removed the shackles from her hands. "Eat your food," she said after settling near her and picking up her doll back.

​​

When Bianca brought her hands, she saw that they had become tiny. She was again so small.

The little Bianca looked at the tray of food. Hungry as hell, she ate the fruits in it. "I want to go out. Can you help me?"

The woman's yellow eyes made her shudder. Her frail pale arms were holding a small baby. No, a doll, which she rocked back and forth. She stared with a vacant expression in the distance. A sob caught her in her throat and she pressed her mouth to block the sound.

"Og'drath…" Little Bianca's breath caught in her throat as she felt the agony of the woman. Her eyes strayed to the little doll that was sitting and staring at the doll in Og'drath's lap tucked carefully as she stroked the wiry hair of the doll.

Was she seeing a memory?

Her body was shivering so violently.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Bianca started to walk back, out of the darkness… and her feet stepped on blood once again. She stumbled back and fell on the sticky puddle near something… someone. A body was lying there with its neck severed and barely hanging.

She woke up with a loud scream. She screamed so loud that for a moment she didn't recognize her surroundings. She felt she was being dragged inside a pool of blood, hauled to its depths. She couldn't breathe. Her lungs burnt with the want of air.

It took sometime for her to decipher her surroundings. A soothing voice came from somewhere.

"Bianca!"

"There is blood here!" she said as she threw her arms around to clutch anyone who would save her.

"There isn't!" Someone offered her a glass of water.

She blinked several times before the face came into full view. "Brantley!" she said and hugged him tightly.

Brantley too embraced her in his arms and caressed her back. "Hush Bia, hush."

She was drenched with sweat and was shivering.

"Did you see a bad dream?"

"Yeah," she said and buried her head in his chest.

"Here, have water."

Bianca gulped it down in one go to soothe her parched throat. When she settled, she looked around. It was already morning and the muffled sound of water was coming through the glass walls. This was the second time in a row that she woke up with a nightmare.

"I think we need a visit to your home," he said. "Maybe you want to meet a doctor?"

"What for?" she snapped at him. "It's just a dream, which I am sure would go." How could she let a dream affect her? She wasn't so timid!

He searched her eyes and tightened his lips. "Are you sure?"

She covered herself with the quilt and nodded vehemently. "I am pretty sure!"

But Brantley wasn't satisfied. He brushed his knuckles on her cheeks. "I want you safe and healthy and happy by my side Bia. I don't want a shred of misery to affect you. I would rather take the sorrow than get you affected by it. So please tell me how I can help you with it?"

She softened and gazed at him. A smile tugged her lips. The man really affected her deeply. "I think I am fine. Maybe it's the stress of staying away from mummy and Daddy and… Darius." Darius was her twin brother and the two had a lot of understanding… something deeper than they ever tried to emulate.

He pressed a kiss against her forehead. "I will have a lot of work today since I have to go to the neighboring cities and inspect their condition. It is going to take me the whole day. Is that okay with you?"

Bianca didn't like the idea of him going so far, but she had enough understanding that it would be foolish of her to stop him from his duties. So she nodded. "I'll be fine."

"Holly will be there at all times. If you like you can take a tour of the palace," he suggested.

"I'll see…" she said, not exactly interested in taking the tour of the palace. She looked on the outside and it was cloudy. "I think it is going to rain heavily. How will you go?"

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he said, "Rirsyr will take me around and the rest of the soldiers along with Arnik are going to use the portals." He didn't want to leave her at all, but it was important that he assess the situation of the neighboring cities. After that only he would decide when he would allow Bianca to sit on her throne the next. The girl needed to recuperate completely before going back over there. Also, he needed to revise the taxes of the lands, now that nature had begun to restore.

"Why aren't you using the portal?" she asked with a frown.

"Because Rirsyr is going to fly in the sky and I will get a bird's eye view of the lands." He looked at her lips and then brought his thumb to press her lower lip. His cock jerked and he leaned in to kiss her. He just didn't want to go and leave her even for a minute. When he had kissed her lightly, he pulled away reluctantly and said, "I would love to take you for a round with me on Rirsyr but you have to rest and you need it badly. Once you are well, I will take you with me."

She looked into the depth of his eyes and heat pooled in her stomach. The man was inhumanly handsome and eerily sexy. Her heartbeat increased to a level that she thought it must have been echoing in the room. "I look forward to it," she croaked somehow.

In the next two hours, after Brantley had left, Bianca had taken a bath, had her breakfast and was now with Holly. She had ultimately decided to take a tour of the palace. So Holly was dressing her up. She stared at the woman in the mirror of her dressing room. Holly had made her wear a long strand of white pearl necklace, wrapped three times around neck for it to fall just below her breasts. She brushed her hair and pinned the front half on the back with pearl clips and left the remaining ones fall naturally. Her dress was cut from fine silk deep blue, the color of midnight. She looked into her eyes and found dark circles beneath them. She sighed as she remembered her sleepless morning. "Who was that woman?" she murmured to remembering the grey skinned woman.

"Here," said Holly breaking her trance. "This tiara would look lovely on your head." The delicate tiara with gilded clover leaves settled atop her head. "You look beautiful, m'lady," said Holly with a sigh.

Bianca smiled and thanked her.

"The guards are eagerly awaiting to take you on a tour."