Elysium: Desired by the Cold-hearted Princess [GL]-Chapter 337: One last try

Third-person POV

Seraphina knew she was dying.

There was no use denying it anymore. The darkness around her was thick, endless, and heavy, holding her down from every side. She couldn’t see, couldn’t move, and couldn’t even feel her body properly. Every breath she tried to take felt thinner than the one before, like air was slipping away from her bit by bit.

Somewhere deep inside, she could still hear faint sounds, the sounds that didn’t belong in this dark place. The rhythmic beeping of machines and a voice once in a while saying her name, but it all sounded far away, like she was listening through a wall.

The truth was simple: she was slipping away, and yet, there was something inside her that refused to let go. A spark buried deep under the layers of pain and exhaustion, a single memory that kept her from sinking completely.

Electra.

Even here, in this void, her name felt like warmth.

Seraphina could almost feel the faint burn of the sigil on her back, the one that Electra’s grandfather had marked her with. She couldn’t exactly feel any pain from it, but she could feel it beating like a heartbeat that wasn’t her own. The mark connected them, bound them, and being in this condition suddenly made her remember the day it appeared, the way it pulsed whenever they were close, and the way it sometimes glowed faintly when Electra touched her.

And now, even as her mind faded and her body gave up, that mark was still there, a reminder that she wasn’t alone. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

That connection meant one thing: if she died, Electra would die too, and the thought hit her like a rush of cold water through her chest.

She didn’t fear the idea of dying anymore. She’d already made peace with pain and death as soon as she was stabbed, but Electra—no. She couldn’t drag her down with her. She couldn’t let the girl she loved burn out because of her. No matter how weak she was, she couldn’t let that happen.

Her mind, dim as it was, tried to focus. She couldn’t open her eyes, couldn’t lift a finger, but she could think, and she could still will something into existence if she tried hard enough.

Her throat burned as she forced out a sound, a whisper more than a word.

"...Electra..."

It came out faint, almost swallowed by the void, but it was the best she could do. Her body trembled with the effort, and her lungs screamed. She didn’t even know what she expected. It wasn’t like Electra could hear her. She wasn’t a goddess, and Electra was certainly not some higher being who could snatch her soul from the jaws of death, but still, Seraphina called again.

"Electra..."

Her voice faded back into the darkness. She tried one more time before her strength ran out, the sound barely escaping her lips. Then she went still again, her body limp against the hospital bed.

Darius stood beside Seraphina’s bed, his phone pressed loosely against his ear. The sound of his father’s voice came through the speaker, asking something about her condition, but Darius barely registered it.

He’d been watching Seraphina’s face for hours now. The doctors had done everything they could. The healers from Aldoria and the Elmerian physicians they’d called in had all said the same thing: her chances were gone. The machines were keeping her alive, nothing more, but for some reason he couldn’t understand, Darius refused to leave.

His father’s voice crackled through the line. "Darius? Are you still there?"

He swallowed. "Yes, I’m here," he said quietly. His own voice sounded distant. "There’s been no change."

"I see," King Orion replied, sighing. "Then you need to start accepting the reality of this, my son. You’ve done all that can be done..."

"Father, please," Darius said sharply, though his tone softened a second later. "Let’s not talk about this now."

He wasn’t ready for that conversation. He turned his gaze back to Seraphina, studying the faint rise and fall of her chest that was the only proof that she was still there. Her skin was pale, her lips cracked, and her hair scattered across the pillow. She looked small and even more fragile than she had always looked to him.

He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "I know you want to live, Sera. Don’t stop fighting," he murmured under his breath.

He didn’t expect an answer, but then, something changed.

At first, he thought he was imagining it, a faint movement of her lips, and a sound so soft that it could have passed off as a sound from the machines.

He froze.

"Hold on a moment, Father," he said into the phone, lowering it slightly but not ending the call. He leaned closer to Seraphina; his breath caught halfway in his throat.

Her lips moved again, and he strained to listen. There it was, a faint mutter, broken and breathless, but real, and he could only make out a single word.

"...Electra..."

Darius’s pulse jumped, and for a second, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, but then he heard it again, clearer this time.

"Electra."

He stood there frozen, his heart pounding.

"Father," he said quietly, "I have to call you back."

"Darius, what—"

He ended the call before his father could finish, immediately dropping his phone on the side table.

He turned back to Seraphina, leaning closer until his face was inches from hers.

"Seraphina?" he whispered.

No response. Her eyelids didn’t flutter, her fingers didn’t twitch, but he could hear the faintest sound of her breath, and her lips moved again, the same name escaping them.

"Electra."

He sat down slowly in the chair beside her bed, his mind racing. He knew that Sera and Electra were romantically involved, but he didn’t want to believe that it was so deep that Electra’s name was the first and the only thing that had come out of her mouth after weeks of being hospitalized.

"Seraphina," he said again, his voice firmer this time. "Can you hear me?"

He asked, but there was nothing. Her lips stopped moving, her breathing shallow again. He reached for her hand, but it was cold, fragile, and limp in his palm. He stared at it for a long moment, then exhaled slowly, his chest tight.

He wanted to believe that this meant something. That maybe she was still in there somewhere, fighting, and that maybe Electra was the key, but even thinking that made no sense.

Electra had been gone from the public eye ever since the chaos at the tournament. Her father had whisked her away, and the news that Electra wasn’t human but an abomination had spread far and wide. That was one of the reasons why he had refused to listen to KIng Vale’s request to avoid putting Seraphina’s life in even more danger, and yet, Seraphina was calling her name.

Darius’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t a fool. If there was even a chance that Electra had something to do with this, and if somehow her presence could bring Seraphina back, then maybe he was wasting time keeping them apart.

He pressed the nurse call button beside the bed. "Get Dr. Lannis here," he said when a voice answered. "Now."

The line clicked off, and he leaned back in his chair.

He glanced at Seraphina again, and her face was calm now, too calm.

"Electra..." he whispered under his breath, almost testing the sound of it. "What is it you can do for her?"