I squinted my eyes, shaking my head, trying to push whoever was on top of me off of me. I growled, trying to break off their hold.
“Let go of me!” I snarled, grabbing their arms and pushing them off of me, slamming them on the bed, hand squeezing their neck. ”You. You ruin everything. Every time I get in control, you mess everything up! You’re lucky my mistress wants you, otherwise I would love to strangle you. I would love to tear you apart, watch him find your tattered body and completely lose it. You’re pushing your luck, you wench. Sooner or later, you all will be bowing before her, begging for mercy.”
My eyes flew open in shock and terror as I found our positions reversed. I was pinned down, unable to move, and the man above me…. was a stranger.
A hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed. I began to choke, sucking in desperate breaths of air that went no farther than my throat. Pain shot through my body. Terror and panic overwhelmed me. For a few seconds, I experienced a short snapshot of living hell.
Then I was wrenching the monster’s hand off my neck, gasping and trying to regain control of my violently trembling body. Colton. Scylla came out of nowhere, flying at the stranger with her claws outstretched. I barely managed to scream-sing a hoarse ”No!” which sent her shooting backwards and out of danger. Before I knew what was happening, I’d snatched up both of Not-Colton’s wrists and was holding them firmly against my chest.
“Colton.” For a moment, I considered Singing him into submission. But no—it was much too risky. I didn’t know what it would do to him in his current state. So, for some ridiculous, unknown reason, I began to sing in a rough, raspy voice.
”W-Wise men say~”
I coughed, my skin burning from the bruises Not-Colton had left behind.
”Only fools rush in… But—But I can’t h-help falling in love with y-you~”
I froze, the rough voice filling my ears. What was this person doing? I growled, shaking my head, trying to snatch my hands away, trying to get free. Until the owner of the voice registered in my brain. The hazy look in my eyes vanished—the cage began to lift, the walls tumbled down.
And Elle’s face came into my view.
I immediately stopped struggling, eyes wide. The first thing I noticed were the bruises on her neck. Me. I did this. I hurt her. She really was going to kill her. Make me kill her.
“Elle…” I whispered, guilt lacing my voice. We were supposed to wake up happy in each other’s arms. Yet I had mine wrapped around her throat. “I—I’m so sorry… you should leave. Please, before I hurt you beyond repair…”
He was back. Colton—my Colton—was back. I sagged against the mattress, overwhelmed by sheer relief. He said something about leaving, about not wanting to hurt me, but my pulse was roaring too loud for me to hear him.
“C-Colton—“ The name came out a half-whimper. I pushed myself up and threw my arms around him, buried my face in the crook of his neck. “Y-You’re back—Thank god, you’re back—You did it—“
My eyes widened when she wrapped her arms around me, her face in the crook of my neck. I immediately hugged her back, pulling her closer, breathing heavily.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, kissing her on the neck—where I’d left those bruises. I kept on apologizing, kissing different spots of her neck, everywhere my hands had circled and squeezed. “It was because of you that I was able to regain control… your voice pulled me out. I didn’t d—thank you, Elle…”
The experience had left me shaken, furiously blinking back tears. But I didn’t deserve to cry. I wasn’t the one who’d just been through hell and back. So I straightened my posture and adjusted my arms around Colton until I was the one holding and comforting him.
“I-I would do it any day,” I promised, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Are you okay, though? Are-Are you hurt?”
I pulled away from her hold, staring at her like she’d just told me she wanted to be cursed as well.
“What? Elle, I don’t think we’re asking the right questions,” I shook my head, cupping her cheeks, tilting her head to look at the bruises more closely. “Are you okay? Elle, this is why we can’t stay together. I don’t know when I’ll end up hurting you. You got lucky this time. I don’t want to wake to my senses and find you dead. I don’t. I won’t hold it against you if you left. Please.”
"I-I'm not leaving you because of something as little as—as this," I forced out through gritted teeth, a pained hiss escaping me as his finger brushed across a particularly sensitive bruise. I didn't even hesitate, didn't second-guess myself for a minute. "I'm not–I'm not leaving you alone in a situation like this. And you won't find me dead. Or severely hurt—While you were….gone….the monster said—"
Here I paused, trying to recall his exact wording. "H-He said that I was lucky that his mistress wanted me alive. And that he—that he wouldn't kill me. Because of that."
My blood turned cold. No. Not for this reason. Please, no. She shouldn’t want Elle. Anyone but Elle.
“Leave,” I whispered, touching our foreheads together lovingly. “Please. All the more reasons you need to leave. That witch is a monster. She doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants and if she doesn’t want you dead, it means she wants you. And I can’t let that happen, so you have to stay away from me. Do it for both of us, Elle.”
I silenced him with a firm kiss. I'm a very stubborn person, Colton, and I'm not leaving you. Though my lips didn't move to form words, I spoke with my body, cupping his beautiful face in my trembling hands, bumping our noses a little, letting all my passion leak through and into each kiss I gave.
To hell if I was ever going to leave this boy. Whoever was controlling him—they could go fuck themselves. He was mine to care for. Mine to protect. Mine to love. And at this point, I would rather die than leave him alone to deal with the living hell strapped to his back, the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I immediately kissed her back, resting my hand on her head, pushing her towards me. She wasn’t going to leave no matter what I tell her. She’s always going to stay by my side—until I injure her terribly.
“I love you,” I murmured against her lips, feeling her emotions through the contact. My other hand reached out to cup one of hers on my cheek, feeling it tremble beneath my hold. I gave it a gentle squeeze. “I don’t want to hurt you, Elle, so I’ll try my best. I won’t let you down.”
I love you.
My heart soared. "You don't have to worry about a thing…." I whispered, tilting my head for better access to his beautiful mouth. "You would never hurt me……. it wasn't you, who just did all that. I know that…." After a brief breath of air, I went in again, deepening the kiss. "And I hope you do to…"
It was still me. It was my hands, my mouth, my body he took over. It was my voice that spoke. I could have stopped it if I was strong enough, but I wasn’t.
I bit her lower lip, asking for entrance to the inside of her mouth, wanting to explore further but not without her permission.
I shivered in his arms, pressing closer in a silent gesture of consent. My lips parted to let him through—where on earth had he learned to kiss like this? Each touch was like magic, each kiss wiping my mind completely blank of any thought unoccupied by him.
"Colton…" I whispered against his mouth, fingers tightening in his hair.
My heart hammered in my chest, thoughts in a frenzy. Blood roared in my ears and I found myself to be unaware of anything but her mouth on mine, her hands on me, lighting a fire I couldn’t control.
I pulled her closer, and the second she opened her mouth for me, I went for it, slipping my tongue in her hot cavern. Sweetness exploded in my mouth the second I did so. She had a knack for driving me insane, in a good way, with her hands, her voice and her mouth. It was like I was dealing with magic—and that was ironic because our world actually was magical.
“The only person I want driving me insane is you,” I murmured in her mouth, further deepening the kiss. “You and no one else…”
A gasp slipped from my mouth into his. His experienced lips ravaged mine with such passion, such hunger…. I went weak against him, barely able to hold myself up under the tidal wave of pleasure already overwhelming me.
"C-Colton–" He had reduced me to rubble, and I wanted no less.
Finally, I pulled away from her to catch my breath, simply resting my head on her shoulder, breathing in deeply.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “For still being here even though you know the risk.”
It was strange—Despite the emotional turbulence taking place inside me, not once had the pipes creaked. Any thoughts of water ad its whereabouts had been completely removed from my mind. It was as if he was focusing me, solidifying my control… somehow.
"And thank you", I answered, mouth numb from the force of the kiss, "For–For loving me despite everything I've done."
“And what is it that you’ve done?” I muttered, shaking my head. “It’s me who’s supposed to be thankful for that. Any second, I could hurt you and you’re still here. I’m grateful for that.”
"Of course I'm still here…" I had to restart the sentence several times, my tongue much too stuffed with the taste of him to work properly. "And I've done too much….. I told you to get away from me. After you'd done nothing but patch me up. You found me bleeding out on the floor, and after a week of refusing to talk to me, you stitched up my wounds. I was terrified, and you comforted me. And after all that….. I ordered you away. I forced you to. I took control of you, even if I didn't mean to. Don't try to tell me that wasn't an awful thing to do."
“You were afraid,” I told her, tightening my hold on her. “And it was a good reason to be afraid. It’s not like I made things easy for you, anyway.”
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.
“I must seem very pathetic to you, huh?” I scoffed. “Everyone relies on me to rule them one day. They all have high expectations of me. People think of me as a capable ruler, and I’m not. I can’t lead them—not like this. I was meant to be an impregnable wall, and that turned out to be an exaggeration…”
I inhaled shakily and took his face firmly between my hands. "You. Are. Perfect." I punctuated each word with a kiss. "Alright? You're not allowed to argue with me on that. We're going to get rid of this–this thing inside of you, I promise. You're human—It's impossible for you to be an 'impregnable wall'. Even Princes make mistakes."
I smiled shakily, pressing my forehead against hers tightly, lips tingling from her contact.
“I’m not supposed to do that,” I murmured. “Make mistakes. It’s… I’ve got a country to rule. A small weakness makes you unfit. People don’t trust a prince who ends up being like this, Elle. If the court finds out my position… they’d immediately withdraw me from my position.”
“Your father has made mistakes,” I reminded him gently, “And so have your ancestors. The court will never find out about this—not from me. We just need to be careful, and we’ll get this sorted out. I promise.”
"The mistakes my father has made have only been to the benefit of the court," I squeezed my eyes shut. "He's… he's a good father, but he's a terrible ruler. Power has made him blind. And we don't know how long it'll take to get rid of this witch from my mind. The court is sick, Elle. If I get caught, you have to pretend you never knew about this. Promise me this. I know I'm asking too much from you, but you should understand."
“You’re insane if you think that I’m not going to stand by your side.” I pulled back enough to look him directly in the eye. “But… Colton, I still don’t fully know how this happened to you. Would—Would it be okay for you to explain? Tell me what happened when you left on that mission..”
I winced, memories still fresh wounds.
"I'm not going to lie, I don't know myself," I confessed, looking away. "I was meant to look into Jeremiah's disappearance, the top Healer, along with a few other Elites."
I fell silent, the next part hard to explain. How could I tell someone what happened to me, when I wasn't sure of it myself?
"I was… ambushed, and I don't know how long I remained unconscious. I remember bits and pieces, but…" I stopped, my body trembling as I remembered the torture. The fear, the helplessness. Unable to call out to my bondmate, unable to use my powers. I'd been taken in before I even knew what was wrong.
I wrapped my arms tightly around Colton’s trembling body, bracing the back of his head against my hand. “Shh….” I murmured, mouth pressed to his ear. “You’re safe now You’re home. I’m so, so sorry you had to experience that… words can’t express how much I feel for you. You don’t have to talk about it if it brings back too many memories..”
"You know what makes it worse?" I let out a chuckle, shaking my head. "The king didn't even notice. He only wanted to know about the Elites. So what if his son went off the radar–so what if he arrived at the Healer, half-dead, mind shattered, struck by trauma? Power has made him hungry. He's forgotten the type of a man he was before things began to go bad. He changes every day, desperate to learn, desperate to enforce. One day his bondmate will turn on him, and nobody will ever know what happened."
My deep-seated hate for the King rose, but I quickly stamped it down. I couldn’t afford to eat angry right now; Colton needed me.
“My father,” I said after a brief pause, doing my best to lighten the mood, “Would gladly take you in. What yours did is horrible—nobody should have to suffer through that. I’m sorry…”
