Chapter 336: Waiting

E’s POV

I almost laughed when my father called. It wasn’t the good kind of laugh; it was the kind that burned at the back of my throat and made my stomach twist. He had called to tell me that Darius refused to let Seraphina leave the hospital.

Meanwhile, here I was, barely holding on myself. My body felt like it was on fire, like I was burning from the inside out, and every movement started to feel a lot more painful than the last. I was hanging by a thread, and yet the one thing that could help me, help both Sera and me, was being blocked because a prince had decided to be stubborn.

I pressed my palm over my forehead and shut my eyes. “If you’re not going to bring Seraphina here,” I said into the phone, my voice sharper than I wanted it to be, “then I’ll go to the hospital myself.”

There was a pause, and I could almost hear my father’s jaw clench on the other side. Then his voice snapped through the line, hard and fast. “No, Electra. Absolutely not. I can’t let that happen.”

“Why not?” I asked, though I already knew what he’d say.

“It’s too risky,” he said. “You’re in danger already, and let me remind you that there are people outside those walls who want you dead. I’m not about to risk your life like that.”

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see it. My hand trembled around the phone. “If I don’t see Seraphina in the next twenty-four hours,” I said slowly, “both of us will be dead. You won’t have to worry about risking my life at all, because there won’t be any life left to risk.”

The silence on the other end was heavy.

“Don’t talk like that,” he said finally, his voice quieter. “Don’t say things like that. I’m going to see if there are doctors from other kingdoms who can attend to you. Someone out there might be able to…”

I let out a loud and bitter sound before he could finish. “Can you even hear yourself?” I said, my voice cutting through the line. “You’re talking about doctors like this is some kind of human sickness. I’m not human father, and there’s nothing some lame doctor can do for me right now.”

I could hear him breathing on the other end. Slow and uneven, and I had a feeling he was trying to keep himself from shouting.

“Electra,” he said at last, “you’re weak, and for this reason, you’re not thinking straight. This isn’t you—”

“This is me,” I cut him off, my voice cracking under the intensity of my own frustration. “This is me, Father. This is me dying while the one person who can keep me alive is lying in a hospital bed. You think I don’t know how weak I am? I feel it every second. I feel it every time I try to stand and every time I try to breathe, but I also know that if I don’t see Seraphina soon, it’s over for both of us.”

He didn’t answer for a while, and I was just about to keep talking before I heard him draw in a deep breath. “You’re not going to the hospital, E,” he said finally, his tone firm again. “You’re too exposed. If you step outside that door, you’ll be arrested or dead before you reach the hospital.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Then at least I’ll die trying.”

“Don’t say that,” he said quickly, his voice breaking for the first time. “Don’t ever say that to me.”

I rolled my eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. My hand was cramping from holding the phone so tightly, and my father’s voice just continued to spill through the line, full of the same words he’d been saying for days. Promises and assurances. It all blurred together, and I didn’t have the strength for this back and forth anymore. My chest felt like it was caving in, and my body was burning from the inside. Every word out of him felt like it was scraping my nerves raw.

“If you can’t bring Seraphina to me,” I said, my voice flat, “or let me go see her myself, then there’s really no point in continuing this conversation.”

“Electra, listen,” he tried again, his tone softening, already slipping into the emotional plea I’d heard so many times. “I’ll try to talk to Darius again tomorrow. Just give me one more day…”

“Tomorrow will be too late.” My voice cracked, but I didn’t stop. “And I’m done waiting.”

“Electra…”

I ended the call before he could get all emotional on me. The beep of the line disconnecting was loud in my ear, and I stared at the phone for a moment, then dropped it on the bed. It bounced once and landed on the blanket.

The room was quiet again, the kind of quiet that makes you feel like you’re deaf. I sat there for a few seconds, staring at nothing and trying to catch my breath. My hands were trembling in my lap. My skin felt like it was burning, and even my heart felt hot, beating against my ribs.

Enough sitting.

I pressed my palms into the mattress and tried to stand. The weight of my own body shocked me, and my legs shook as if I’d been running for hours instead of lying still. My knees almost gave out, but I caught the edge of the nightstand before I could fall.

Slowly, carefully, I moved across the room, gripping the furniture as I went. The wardrobe, the desk, anything I could hold onto to keep upright. My fingers dug into the wood.

By the time I reached the bathroom door, my breath was coming in short, rough bursts, and sweat clung to my forehead.

I pushed the door open, and I didn’t even bother looking in the mirror. I already knew what I’d see—someone pale and burning at the same time. Someone who wasn’t Electra and wasn’t entirely me either.

The robe I wore was the only thing covering me, and it felt heavy and damp against my skin. My fingers fumbled at the tie, clumsy and weak, but I managed to pull it loose. The robe slid off my shoulders and pooled on the floor with a soft sound.

The shower stall was only a few steps away, but it might as well have been across the world. I dragged myself toward it, my feet slipping a little on the tile.

I reached out and turned the tap. Cold water shot from the head, splattering against the floor, and the sound filled the bathroom like soft rain.

I stepped under it without testing the temperature. The shock of the cold hit me hard. It slammed against my skin, made me gasp, and my whole body shuddered. For a second I thought my legs would give out completely, but I stayed upright.

The cold water ran over my head, down my face, and down my arms. It soaked my hair and plastered it to my cheeks and neck. My skin prickled. The burning inside me didn’t vanish, but it dulled, like a fire smothered by a blanket.

I leaned my forehead against the cool tile wall. My breath came in slow, shallow pulls. Minutes passed, or maybe even hours. Time felt strange here.

My legs finally gave out, and I slid down until I was sitting on the floor of the shower. The water kept falling over me, pooling around my feet before running toward the drain. My knees were drawn up, my arms resting loosely on them.

I closed my eyes as the cold seeped into me, but the heat inside still pulsed like a heartbeat and like a countdown.

I thought about Seraphina lying somewhere surrounded by machines. I thought about Electra, who was still silent inside me and unreachable. I didn’t even know where she was, or if she could still hear me, and to my surprise, I somehow ended up thinking about my father and the thought of him pacing some faraway hall and telling himself he was doing everything he could.

I thought about the girls as well, feeling bad that they never got to say goodbye to Electra, who was more of their friend than I was.

The water ran over my face and into my mouth, and I let it. I didn’t move. My eyes just stayed closed.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was scared, more scared than I had been since I’d awakened inside Electra. I was scared that even if they brought Seraphina here, it wouldn’t work. Scared that even if I touched her, nothing would happen, and scared that I was already too weak, too far gone.

My fingers curled weakly against my knees. I didn’t know how much longer I had. Hours, maybe, or a day at most, but regardless, here I was sitting under a shower and waiting to die.

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