Chapter 279: Is She Dying?
Electra’s POV
I didn’t know what I had expected to happen once I found Seraphina, but it definitely wasn’t this.
One minute we were in that stupid forest, and the next... we were back. Back in that huge throne room, which seemed to be surprisingly hotter than I remembered, but I wasn’t even thinking too much about that, because I couldn’t. Not with Seraphina lying in my arms like this.
She wasn’t moving. Her breathing was shallow, and her skin was hot—too hot. Her forehead was drenched in sweat, her lips slightly parted, and there was this pained look on her face that made my heart twist in ways I wasn’t used to.
I could also tell that she was trying to speak, her mouth opening just a little.
"Seraphina?" I asked quickly, brushing some of her hair away from her face. "Hey, hey—are you okay? What’s happening to you?"
Her lips barely moved. "It’s... temporary," she whispered.
"Temporary?" I repeated, confused and panicked. "What does that even mean? Seraphina, talk to me. What’s going on? Why are you burning up like this? What’s the problem?"
She didn’t answer me right away. She just let out another soft groan, her body twitching slightly in my arms like she was fighting something from the inside. Her skin was so hot now that even I could feel the heat rolling off her in waves.
My breath hitched. I could feel that something was wrong. Deeply wrong.
"Grandfather!" I shouted, looking around the throne room. "Where are you? What’s happening to her?! You said I’d find her if I passed your stupid test, well, I found her! Now do something!"
Nothing, not even a sound or a squeak. The throne room was still as silent as a grave.
I swallowed hard and called again, louder. "Azaryon! Someone! Please!"
Still nothing.
Seraphina let out another groan, and my panic shot through the roof. I looked down at her again, holding her tighter, trying to keep her still even though her body was starting to heat up like the core of a flame.
Her shirt was soaked through, and her whole body trembled like she was caught in a fever dream she couldn’t wake from.
"I swear, if either of you just brought me here to watch her die, I will burn this entire place to the ground!" I yelled in frustration, not exactly sure if getting upset was helping my situation, or making it worse.
She was supposed to be safe now, hell, we were both supposed to be safe now. That’s what they said. That I’d find her if I passed the test, and that she could save me, but no one told me anything about her needing to be saved too.
I pressed my forehead against hers, squeezing my eyes shut.
"Don’t do this," I whispered. "You can’t leave me. Not now, not after everything."
Her breath hitched again, and I looked up quickly. Her eyes fluttered open just barely, just enough for me to see that glassy shimmer of pain in them.
"I’ll be okay," she whispered again, her voice almost too faint to hear. "This is... just part of it."
"Part of what?" I asked desperately. "You have to tell me what’s going on. Why are you burning up like this? Why does it feel like your body’s on fire and no one’s doing anything?!"
But her eyes fluttered shut again, and this time, they didn’t open.
I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t even sure what I could do. All this power that I supposedly had locked inside me, what good was it if I couldn’t protect the one person who mattered most?
"Please..." I whispered. "Somebody, anybody, please help her..."
And then, finally, after what felt like ages, I felt it. A soft rumble under my feet, like the very room was sighing in response to my plea. I looked up, eyes searching wildly, just as the flames at the corners of the throne started to shift.
"She is not dying," a voice finally echoed, deep and calm. It was my grandfather.
I snapped toward the sound, my heart still racing. He was standing at the far end of the room again, near the throne. Watching, always watching.
"Then what is happening to her?" I demanded, not even trying to hide the anger in my voice anymore.
His expression was unreadable. "She’s absorbing a part of you."
My eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
"Your soul is not the only one that’s been torn from its place," he said, his voice annoyingly calm like he was explaining basic math to me. "Seraphina’s body is adjusting to the bond that was created when you were reborn. The connection between vessel and flame is not one-sided."
My lips parted slightly. I didn’t even know what that meant, not really. All I could see, and all I really cared about, was the fact that she was still burning up in my arms.
"Is she going to live?" I asked, voice softer now, more fragile. "Tell me the truth."
He didn’t answer right away. He stepped forward instead, slowly, until he was close enough to look down at both of us.
"That depends on you," he finally said.
I blinked. "Me?"
He nodded. "You have a choice to make, Electra. Now that you’ve found her, you can begin the binding process between you two. That is what will truly save your life, but in doing so, you will burn a piece of her life away in return. It is a shared fire, and one cannot rise without the other giving flame."
I stared at him, stunned, and my voice felt caught in my throat.
"So you’re saying... to live, I have to take part of her life?"
"To share your power, yes."
I looked back down at Seraphina, who looked more fragile than ever. My heartbeat was so loud now, I was sure he could hear it.
"Will she survive it?"
"She most likely would since the process wasn’t designed to kill the human vessel," he said calmly. "But the pain is an integral part of the process, and nothing you do can change that."
A part of me cracked.
This wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.
I had finally found someone who made me feel like I wasn’t alone, and now I was supposed to hurt her just so I could live?
I closed my eyes, holding her tighter.
"You said she’s the one who can save me," I whispered. "But what if I don’t want her to lose herself just to keep me alive?"
"It’s already too late for take backs, Electra," he said. "There is no more time, and your vessel is already at work."