Key looked at Elliot—Elle’s hand, reaching out to sniff it gently before nuzzling her hand.
”I won’t,” Key responded. ”Cole would kill me. And I don’t want you to die.”
Colton’s POV:
When I looked at my reflection, my eyes were pure black. I couldn’t recognize my old self.
Slowly, my lips twisted into a smile.
”Something to do,” I answered. ”To help you.”
Elle’s POV:
I almost melted with relief, slowly coaxing Key to me. While stroking his head, I drew my brows together. “But he hates me,” I said aloud. “He wants me dead.”
Her laugh was sharp and cruel, ringing in the air until it slowly faded away. “Just watch… and wait. I want information.”
I responded by bowing my head, imagining my Mistress in front of me.
”I’ll make you proud, my Mistress.”
Key rolled his eyes dramatically, shaking his head.
”He doesn’t. He doesn’t hate you,” he knew she couldn’t hear him, but he knew Scylla would deliver his message. He purred under her touch before tensing up, his ears twitching. His bondmate’s aura felt different. It felt weird… corrupted.
His eyes widened. Of course.
”I have to go,” he said to Scylla hastily. ”Cole… something’s wrong with Cole.”
All of a sudden, Key tore away from my arms and down the hallway, leaving both Scylla and I in the dust. I stared after him, features twisting into a look of bewilderment.
”He said that Cole doesn’t hate you,” Scylla tried to explain, ”And that there’s something wrong with him.”
All of a sudden, Key was beside me, taking hesitant steps towards me. I quirked an eyebrow.
”What’s wrong, Key?” I questioned, walking over to him to pat him on the head. He ducked, hissing, teeth bared. I looked at him coldly, dropping the warmth I’d pulled up. ”Behave, Key.”
I took my eyes off of him for one second only for his tail to slam into me. I crashed into the wall, biting back a hiss of pain, memory going blank.
When I came to, I was on the floor, back aching madly. I looked up to meet the aggressive eyes of my bondmate.
”What?” I hissed, pulling myself to my feet. ”What the hell just happened?”
Key immediately relaxed, trotting over to me and nudging me with his head.
”I’m worried about you,” he said softly. ”We should tell someone. What if that witch did something to you?”
I scowled.
”Nobody needs to know,” I rejected his worries. ”And you’re not going to tell anyone. I’m fine. I thought you were with them.”
Key didn’t respond. He simply wrapped his limbs around me, laid down and covered me with his wings. His warmth brought me peace for the first time since I came back.
[TIME SKIP - Elle's POV, three days later]
"Focus," Scylla's voice instructed me as I stretched a hand over the large tub of water on the ground in front of me. "The water…. it's like a part of you. You're not bending it to your will, you're.. flexing a muscle. Lifting a limb."
I nodded, inhaling deeply. Unlike I had before, I didn't command the water to drift out into my open palm. I drew it up as if executing a battement, getting ready to dance. At first, the surface only trembled. But when I closed my eyes, envisioning a cold blade against my throat, it surged upwards. Somehow, I managed to catch it at the last moment, tugging mentally at the wobbling, shapeless, levitating blob until it formed a long, thin rod.
Scylla and I practiced manipulating it, spinning it around like a baton while maintaining its shape. And for a while, it worked. I focused on channeling my emotions, suppressing them just enough for the movements to be controlled, but at the same time using them to shape my magic like a potter to clay. After roughly half an hour, I began to mix it up. Stopping the movements of the baton, I flicked my fingers to the side. The top three quarters flattened and stretched until I had a slowly shifting broadsword in front of me. There was water left in the tub, so I made a second and a third.
"Just like juggling…" I muttered to Scylla, who formed a sword of her own. We sparred back and forth for a bit, but my concentration began to slip. Sparring—I was supposed to be doing that with Colton. My mind flashed back to our most recent session–he'd taken off his shirt–and my stomach twisted. Another mental image appeared, once again featuring Colton. Only thi time, it was the enraged, betrayed expression I'd found him wearing just four days ago. And all of a sudden, I was reliving my nightmare; smoke curling around a wooden post, flames devouring my body, my screams shattering the air.
And all three swords turned on me.
I found myself backed against the wall, panic coursing through me as I dodged slashes to my throat and chest. I ducked beneath them, terror spurring me on, and ran for my rapier—just as pain exploded between my shoulder blades.
I took a deep breath to calm myself down. Three days. Three days since I discovered Ell—Elle’s, as Key informed me, identity. Three days since we last talked.
Thankfully, the whispers in my mind went away. They didn’t surface, she didn’t surface. I didn’t know what she was planning, but whatever it was, I wasn’t going to complain. I was finally free of the insanity plaguing me. I hadn’t pulled myself out completely, but I was better. No more screaming at myself. No more trying to hurt myself to get rid of the voices.
Forming tiny balls with my fire, I twirled my finger as they began to revolve around in the air. That’s when I heard it—the scream. Elle’s.
I didn’t know what I was doing until I was already on my feet and towards the door. I took a deep breath and opened it to find water everywhere with Elle on the floor, blood soaking her shirt. My face paled.
I was at her side immediately, pulling her gently in my arms, careful not to pull at her too hard. That idiot. What was she even doing? Was she purposely trying to get herself killed?
“It’s okay,” I murmured soothingly. “I’ve got you.”
I carefully held her in my arms before standing up, blood soaking my arms. I didn’t mind. I couldn’t take her to the Healer. She was injured on her back and the Healer would realize she was a female. And he would tell the King. I couldn’t let that happen, so I decided to take her to my room.
I was drenched in water and blood, clenching my against whimpers of pain. And oh, how it hurt. How it burned. It felt as if my back was being ripped to shreds, torn apart. I whirled around just as I fell, holding my arms up, trying to fend off the swords—but I couldn’t. The second I touched them, a gash opened up at the point of contact. And I couldn’t regain control of them either. With each slash, my panic increased, and so did the fervour of the attacks.
Scylla leapt forward, but a cream tore itself loose from my lips. ”𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀!!~” The Windsong sent her flying backwards before I could stop it, and still, the swords kept slashing until I was curled into a fetal position on the ground, gasping in pain as gash after gash opened up on my back.
But suddenly, footsteps. Colton’s voice, calling out to me. My power exploded outwards. Water splattered everywhere. And then, someone’s arms were sneaking around me, pulling me towards their chest. At first, I struggled weakly, vision blurred and unfocused, but they didn’t relent, so I caved in. Sagged against their body. Buried my face in their chest.
“C-Colton?”
Key flew off towards Scylla to make sure she was okay while I laid Elle on my bed on her stomach.
“It’s okay,” I murmured. “I’m going to need to remove your shirt. And your binder.”
I didn’t wait for her response. Forming a small blade with my wind, I slowly cut off her shirt, pulling it off of her until her back was bare, littered with gashes and cuts and blood. I swallowed thickly, shaking my head.
”Key, get me water,” I ordered my bondmate as I opened my drawer to take out my medical kit.
I cried out and curled into a tiny ball, hiding my chest behind my arms and knees. “N-No—“ I begged him, choking back a gasp of pain as fabric graze the deepest cut across my back. “Get—Get away from me—“
Scylla called out desperately, struggling against the invisible bonds that kept her pushed against the wall. I could feel her terror, her guilt, but I was unable to comfort her, encased in an inescapable cocoon of pain. “Colton—” I gasped squeezing my eyes shut. “Stop—Don’t—“
His hands were on my bare back, on my shoulders, dragging further into the void that had opened up in my chest. He couldn’t be touching me—I couldn’t be shirtless in front of him—
I could feel her panic, the way she fought against me. Didn't she trust me? No, of course not. Not after what I’d done. She didn’t even trust me enough to tell her secret.
“Elle, stop,” I said softly, trying to coax her into relaxing. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. I just want to help, but I can’t if you don’t let me.”
I tried not to use too much force. She was going to panic again. I didn’t want her panicking.
I wanted to push him off of me and scramble away, run into my room and close the door against him. But I couldn’t move—he would see me the moment I moved my arms and knees away from my bare chest. He had me trapped. For all I knew, he was going to stab me himself, drag his nails down my back. For all I knew, he was about to strip me of my innocence, deflower me right there and then.
“C-Colton—“ God, the pain. I needed to escape, to get away from it, to push it off my body, but there was nothing I could do. “Get—Get away from me—Please, for the love of god—“
Scylla broke through in my mind. ”Let him help you—“ It was not a suggestion, ”Now.”
I could have gotten to my feet. The pain wasn’t enough to keep me from standing. But I was absolutely powerless in front of him. Again.
“I’ll close my eyes,” I said to her softly once she calmed down enough. “Can you shift on your stomach? I’ll close my eyes and you can do it.”
My heart ached for this girl. It was true that she’d faked her identity, but she was still the same. She was still Elliot, but just under a different name. Her original name.
Key brought the water I’d requested, along with a clean cloth I would use to wash away the blood. God, how did she hurt herself this much? Couldn’t she have just asked me to watch over her? Or did she decide she didn’t even care enough, now that her cover was broken?
Shaking all over, I managed to roll over into my stomach. My chest heaved—I was hyperventilating, going rigid against his hands, eyes squeezed shut until blotches of colour appeared on the inside of my eyelids. A distressed whimper parted my lips.
I would rather have a back riddled with gaping wounds than his hands on my bare skin like this. I would take out-of-control powers and sentient swords over having my binder cut from my chest any day. I would do anything to get away from Prince Colton, from Key, from the goddamn pain.
But I only clamped my mouth shut as all the water in the room rose from the floor in a solid, rippling wall. I only battled it back as something in the bathroom exploded, sending water spilling from underneath the door.
“Shit!” I cursed as the water exploded. “God damn it, Elle, I’m not going to hurt you! For God’s sake, let me help. I swear I won’t touch you again after this. I swear Key and I will leave you alone. You won’t ever have to see us again, so please, for the love of God, let me help.”
I admit, I lost my cool. I wanted to be calm as if I didn’t care, but the truth was, I did. I did care. I didn’t want her hurt, I didn’t want anything happening to her. But what could I do when she practically hated me?
I went slack beneath him, dizzy and sick from pain and confusion. Why was he this intent on trying to help? Why was he pretending to care this much?
But again, I was powerless to resist. The tsunami froze in the air, droplets suspended above the floor. My body quivered from the exertion, from the immense force and effort I was pouring into the task of keeping it all still. I felt Scylla’s power join mine, solidifying my control.
Once she stopped struggling, my heart dropped. She hated me that much, huh, to the point where she didn’t even want to see my face. She didn’t even need to anymore, didn’t need to mask her hatred. Why did that seem to hurt? Once again, that witch was right. There was no one for me, no one to rely on, no one to trust.
I dipped the towel in the water, wiping off the excess blood before I grabbed the disinfectant, waiting for Scylla and Elle to gain control of the water.
“This is going to hurt,” I murmured softly. “So just bear with me, okay? Just tell me when it’s okay to start. We have to hurry, though, otherwise…”
I gritted my teeth against another whimper, and before I knew it, fragmented Windsong was slipping through my lips. "𝒥𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝒾𝓉.”
Immediately after the words had left my lips, I tried to take them back, but I couldn’t seem to speak. My panic had taken over, power leaking out of its reserves until I was unable to utter anything other than the Song.
The same feeling came over me, gripping my mind, squeezing tightly until I couldn’t do anything to resist. I dipped the cotton ball in the disinfectant, gently dabbing her wounds with it, trying to do it slowly. My body didn’t listen to me. I tried fighting it off, but it didn’t work. Without stopping, my hand continued to dab her wounds with the disinfectant.
It was only after I finished that I was able to gain control, forcing myself not to make a sound. Sweat pooled on my forehead, but I ignored it.
I took out a needle and thread and sighed.
“One of your wound needs stitches,” I said to her. “Brace yourself.”
I started immediately, trying to do it quickly so she’d feel less pain as possible. Once I was done, I disinfected it again.
I grabbed another cream, spreading it gently over her wounds, swallowing thickly at her smooth skin. Blood began to pool out again, mixing with the cream.
“Don’t panic,” I whispered as I pressed a bandage on her back. “I won’t look where I’m not supposed to. I just need to lift you up a bit so I can tie the bandage properly.”
I could barely breathe throughout the whole procedure, could barely think. My mouth had long since gone numb, unable to produce even the feeblest whimper of pain.
Sometime in the middle of his stitches, the magic binding Scylla to the living room wall crumbled. She sped into the room immediately, quaking as she anxiously pressed her beak to my face, pressed her paws against my forehead. She was my lifeline, my rock. The only being I could rely on. And by the end of it, when the Prince whispered that terrifying sentence in my ear, she agreed for me, knowing that I never would without her help.
Taking a deep breath, I used wind manipulation to gently lift her up a little.
“Scylla, I’ll need you to wrap the bandage around her front when I pass it over to you,” I said to her bondmate. “Once you wrap it around her front, hand it over to me so I can work her back.”
I didn’t want to touch her like that without her permission, even if it was an emergency. That’s why I would let Scylla pass it over to me from Ellen’s other side.
While I wrapped my arms around my chest, body freezing up once more, Scylla did exactly as Cole instructed.
How had I ended up with this amazing, this phenomenal of a bondmate? It was the only thought keeping me sane—She was the only one keeping me sane. Keeping me from crumbling to pieces. I held my breath, waiting for her to pass the bandage off to Colton.
Once we were finished, I tied the bandage up, sighing and pulling my hands away. I let the wind settle her back on the bed, and Key handed me a spare blanket like I told him to. My bedsheet was stained with blood, but I didn’t care.
I pulled it over Elle gently, warming up the blanket with fire manipulation so she’d stop shivering.
“There,” I murmured. “It’s done. Key can take you to your room. And as promised, you’ll never see us again after this.”
What?? No.
I hadn’t meant to agree with that. I didn’t want that.
It was more than my delirious mind could stand. No. Don’t go—I don’t want you to leave me, I wanted to tell him, to plead. But the only words my mouth found itself stringing together came out nothing like I’d intended.
“Training—“ I croaked, “Your father—Wants you to—Wants you to train me—“
I exhaled softly, clenching my bloody hands. Of course. Of course that’s what she’d say. What else was I expecting?
“What he doesn’t know won’t kill him,” I replied quietly. “You won’t be the one getting in trouble for going against his orders. Just… take care of yourself. Rest for a few days until your wounds heal. I can teach Scylla how to remove the stitches.”
Tell me to stay. Please, don’t make me leave. I don’t want to be alone with her voice in my head.