You know the feeling when you come home and realize that the house is empty, that you're all alone? The great feeling that you could do anything you desire without anyone judging you or stopping you?
That exact feeling was something Bonnie has felt many times, but now, when she's all alone and away from her family and the few friends she had, it wasn't as great anymore.

But the gigantic problem with her situation is one thing: she's actually not completely alone.

An unwanted marriage, a heavyhearted bride and an unknown groom.
The perfect ingredients for a catastrophe.

Her husband is at the moment no where to be found, and Bonnie tries to breathe in and out to calm her heart. Her palms are sweaty and traces of blood is still left on her smooth skin.

People are walking past her in a blur of colors; the words they say are nothing but a background noise. She still has her wedding dress on, the hem dragging in the dirt, as she walks toward her new home.

Her feet are heavy, making her walk slowly, and her eyes are seeing but she can't take it in; she sees but she's still blind. The sound of her dress dragging the leaves with her is the only thing keeping her together; the simple sound of leaves are the only thing not making her go insane.
'Cause insanity is the next step isn't? When you have lost everything and are married to someone you don't even know; sold as if you were an animal. Does she not have the right to go insane?

People have congratulated her, praised her, for her marriage. Their fake smiles painted on their faces, voices singing words without tone, and cold and distant hugs attacking her.
Are they happy she's married him? "Yes, of course we are" was their answer. The truth? No.
But why wouldn't they be happy? Why would they be so distant?

It becomes dark before Bonnie notices that she is not where she should be. The small napkin with directions she got from her father is simple, a few lines showing her the crooks and turns, but she was too absentminded to give it a thought.


The white and red cake is standing right in front of her on the big table. She has her fork in her wounded hand, but she's careful not to make the wound worse, just enough to give her a little bit of pain so she can feel alive.

"Bonnie?" A voice asks her; his authority clearly heard in his deep voice made for a leader.

She turns around, facing her father, and nods without a word. Her father grabs her small hand in his; he's grabbing it with force, taking the fork out of her hand, which makes small drops of blood beginning to trail down her palm and the back of her hand.

Her father opens his mouth before closing it, swallowing what ever he actually wanted to say, before he speaks to her again: "Have a great life", and hands her the little napkin, the ink still fresh and wet.

No tears fall down Bonnie's cheeks. No pain in the chest. Simply four words playing in her mind.

Have a great life.

Her mother doesn't speak to her nor does she give her any kind of farewell. The only thing, something that Bonnie will remember forever, her mother gives her is a cold gaze and a back walking away from her.


The forest is too dark for Bonnie to notice the tall shadow following her, standing behind a big tree, watching her every move.
How her hands are shaking, the little napkin scrunching in her fist, and how her dress caresses her legs when the wind blows.

The shadow doesn't move, afraid to make a movement that she will see, and continues to stare at her.

Her heart is pounding like a hammer in her chest, a little more force and it would break her ribs, and she feels dizzy. The forest floor is spinning around; the leaves are transforming into a blur of colors. She tries to stumble forward but her legs won't move the way she wants them to; no body part is in her control anymore, like her own body isn't hers. The air around her is cold in her lungs, making a trail of pain down her throat and chest, and leaves her chipping for air. Her eyes are lying

to her; nothing she sees makes sense. Bonnie can't hear a sound besides her own tortured breathing and her mind repeating four words:

Have a great life.

The shadow sees her body collapse like a rag doll. Her fall makes the leaves around her fly up into the air before decorating her white dress; the napkin flying away towards the tree where the shadow is standing.

The shadow slowly picks it up, holding it in his palms, and admires the red drops smeared over the ink.

He walks towards the fainted woman lying down on the ground. He tilts his head to the side, examines her with his stare, and bends down. Her face is soft and her mouth is a small "o" when she breathes. The shadow glances down on the napkin once more before he lets it be taken away by the wind and shifts his gaze back to the woman.
He puts his hands under her knees and her back, lifting her off the ground, and carries her in steady arms. Her warm body is pressed against his chest as he carries her through the forest.


Her head if groggy but when she sees an unknown ceiling above her she quickly sits up with a now crystal clear mind.

"So you have woken up now, huh?" a voice asks her with a teasing tone. "I almost thought you wouldn't wake up".

Bonnie whips her head towards the man standing in the corner of the room; her mouth open in shock when she sees her husband walking to the bed she is lying in.
Malachai is grinning at her and sits down on the bed beside her. The window in the room shows her that it's still night, the darkness still holding the world prisoner; she can't have been asleep for more than a few hours.

"Where am I, Malachai?" she asks with a hoarse voice. He tilts his head at her question and taps his chin as a fake gesture that he is thinking how to answer her question.

"Oh, please, Bonnie, call me Kai", he smiles at her. "Or husband if that's what you prefer."
A wolfish grin is spreading upon his handsome face and the mocking tone in his voice makes her wanna slap that stupid smile off his face. "But back to your question, you are in my house- our house, and that is our bed so if you don't mind-" he stops mid sentence and lies down beside her, and at the same time jumps hard enough to make her lose her balance and fall down flat against the bed again. Bonnie just lies still, afraid and shocked, and looks at him with big eyes.

"So" Kai says and makes the o long. "What are we going to do now?"

Bonnie doesn't do anything, her eyes might have become even bigger than before.
Kai furrows his eyebrows, but then relaxes and slowly starts to grin at her.

"Oh, Bonnie, what are you thinking?" he teases.

"I wasn't thinking of- what ever you thought I was thinking", she answers with a tightened jaw.

"What ever you say, wife", he exclaims and puts his hands behind his head, making himself very comfortable, with closed eyes.

"Don't call me that", she snaps at him. Kai opens his eyes and glances at her from the corners of his eyes, without turning his head, with raised eyebrows.

"But you are my wife" he explains to her with a tone you normally use to a child. Bonnie clenches her fists and glares at him, unable to speak because of the fire burning in her chest created by his words, hoping that she can kill him by just looking at him.

Kai closes his eyes again; letting Bonnie lie there consumed in her rage.

The only thing keeping Bonnie from jumping at him, straddle him, and strangle him is the fact that he probably was forced into marry her just like she was forced to marry him. Neither of them chose to marry each other; it was a marriage of politics. The two covens marry each other if they decide it's fitting, a decision made the moment the children are born, and if one of the covens broke the promise it would result in consequences no one wants to speak of; the covens would live in a living nightmare.
Their destinies are already written; the covens need to unite to be powerful enough to be protected and the contract between them makes that possible.
Bonnie sacrificed herself for her coven by giving up her happiness.

"If you're going to stare at me can you at least think of something else than murdering me in my sleep?" Kai smiles at her and moves closer to her which makes him only a breath away from her.

Her warmth is distracting but Kai manages to divert his thoughts to something else. He is surprised she hasn't jumped out of bed and run away, not that he is complaining though, and grins in amusement. Besides, the little witch lying beside him is adorable when she is angry.
Her eyes are still big, but they are trying to kill him, make him bleed, and her whole being is shaking; she is the lion protecting her territory and he is the intruder.

After a while she calms down a little bit, still glaring at him, but she is not shaking anymore.
"Where am I supposed to sleep?" she asks slowly; she is still suspicious of him and his intentions.

Kai smirks, amused, by her question. "Is this not a bed?"

Bonnie stops breathing. "You can't be serious."

"I thought sleeping together, in the same bed, was something married people do", Kai comments.

"Yeah, but this is an arranged marriage, I don't know you!"

Bonnie pulls away, withdrawing from her husband, in sheer panic. She won't sleep beside a man, even though it may be her husband, she doesn't know or know the intentions of.

"I won't do anything to you, Bonnie", Kai sighs and moves away from her, to the edge of the bed, to prove his point.

"I can't know that", she hisses at him. "Don't you have a sofa?"

"We-"He corrects her. "-do have a sofa, but I wouldn't sleep on it if I were you."

"Who said that I would be the one sleeping on it? And why not, what's wrong with the sofa?" She asks in suspicion.

"Well, we might or might not have a sofa with burn marks on it", he admits.

"You have a burned sofa?"

"Yeah, that's what I said." He smiles at her even though it's not really something to smile at. Why in hell would you have a burned sofa? "So, Bonnie, do you want to sleep on the right or the left side of the bed?"

Bonnie doesn't answer; she just stares at him in disbelief that he's actually serious. "I take that as the answer that you want the side you have right now", he answers himself. "You don't talk much, huh. Or-" His eyes sparkle in the dark. "-Can it be that you are nervous around me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Malachai", she warns him. "Can't one of us sleep on the floor?"

Her head feels heavy, so does her eyelids, and she knows she will soon pass out again if she doesn't go to sleep soon. Her whole body feels like it's sore and the stress from the wedding has left her a headache; it's pulsating behind her eye like a ball of pain.

"I wouldn't sleep on t-" Kai begins but she cuts him off.

"'I wouldn't sleep on the floor if I were you'", she mimics him. "And why not?"

He puts his hand on his heart and fakes a pained face to seem hurt. "I just don't want you to get cold, that floor is more or less ice."

"Why is the floor so cold then?" Her eyelid is twitching and her blood is practically boiling.

"I don't have the heat on", he shrugs. "But what I do have is body heat." If she thought his grin could get any bigger than before then she was terribly wrong.

Bonnie massages her forehead trying to relieve some of her headache. She ignores Kai watching her when she takes one of the pillows from the bed and lays it between them.

"Is that supposed to stop me?" He looks at the pillow unimpressed and pokes it with a finger. "If I really wanted to I would just have to roll over it or, even easier, just take it away."

"It makes me feel better so let it be", she barks at him with annoyance. She turns on her side; taking Kai away from her vision. She feels the movement when Kai moves in the bed; a silent sigh escapes her lips. Her heart is thumping and her face shows a pained expression she didn't want to show him before. He stays quiet, to her surprise, but she can feel it in her bones that this night will be a very long one.

"Good night" she whispers to herself quietly. "Have a great life."