Boris came into the room hours later. Tatianka had already left.
He looked at his wife, his witch wife. Dead. Gone.
A strange, heavy feeling gnawed at his chest, it was a feeling of guilt, sadness and regret.
Ignoring the feeling, he picked up the jar from the table and turned to leave.
Suddenly, the blood inside the jar began to glow.
He froze.
Zhanna's body, her dead body, was glowing too!
What was happening?
Then he heard them, voices. All speaking at once. Whispering chants. But above them all, one voice rang clear.
Zhanna's.
"Boris! I will pay you back for all you've done! You deserve worse than death!"
Boris stumbled backward, heart racing. Goosebumps rose on his skin—literally.
He tried to run, but his body refused to move. Something was holding him back. Something unseen.
Suddenly, he felt a shock run through his arm—electric, burning. He dropped the jar.
It shattered.
Blood spilled everywhere.
As the liquid touched the floor, the force holding him loosened. Boris could move again. Without thinking, he bolted for the door. He grabbed the handle…
BANG!
An invisible force slammed him against the wall, it was more like a wave pushing him against the wall.
His head hit hard.
Darkness.
When he opened his eyes...
He rose up from his chair, awake. Pavel was running towards him. "Your highness, the artist is waiting for you- to take your portrait," Pavel said.
Boris remembered instantly, he needed to send a portrait to his bride to be- so she could see his face. What's that her name again? Zhanna! He didn't even know who she was and he never cared to know all he wanted was to get to the throne and the black magician said that she was the key.
As he was about to leave, he turned to look at where he was sleeping…A chair! At the stables! It was still early in the morning. Had he slept there all night?
Weird, right? What was even weirder was this feeling that he had. Something happened in his dream, something…he couldn't remember.
"Oh well" He sighed and decided not to dwell on it.
---
In Koldunova, Zhanna's hometown, things were even weirder.
Zhanna woke up with a gasp, "I'm back!" She said involuntarily.
"What?" Zhanna was confused, she wasn't in heaven, she was in a room.