Elysium: Desired by the Cold-hearted Princess [GL]-Chapter 52: I’ll make you miserable

Third-person Pov

Seraphina's legs felt like jelly under her as she stood frozen by the target. Her entire body trembled so violently that she feared she might collapse or worse—wet herself from sheer terror.

The grazing cut on her cheek stung, but it wasn't the pain that overwhelmed her. It was the realization that the arrow could have easily been fatal if Electra had miscalculated by even an inch.

The image of the arrowhead plunging into her face flashed vividly in her mind, making her stomach churn. freēwēbnovel.com

Her fingers twitched involuntarily as she reached up to touch the thin line of blood trailing down her cheek. The warmth of it against her fingertips felt surreal, almost as though it belonged to someone else.

She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears forming in her eyes, but no matter how hard she tried, her mind betrayed her, pulling her back into the darkest corners of her memories.

She could see it clearly—the day her father introduced Gianna to her as her "new mother." Seraphina was too young then to understand her father's cold introduction or the evil in Gianna's eyes, but she remembered the way it made her chest ache.

From that day forward, her life went from good to worse in the blink of an eye. The way Gianna's sugary smiles would morph into sneers the moment her father was out of earshot, and the way her evil words cut deeper than any slap ever could, though there were plenty of those, too.

Her father's neglect hurt just as much. His indifference when Gianna locked her in her room for hours, sometimes days, as punishment. The times she went to bed with her stomach growling, the ache of hunger replaced only by the ache of loneliness, and the way she used to cling to memories of her mother, her real mother, as her only consolation.

And now, here she was again—trapped, humiliated, and powerless in front of someone who held all the control. Electra's smug smirk burned in her mind, and it only added fuel to her spiraling thoughts.

She blinked rapidly, forcing herself back to the present. She couldn't let herself fall apart—not here, not in front of them. She wrapped her arms tightly around her torso as if to hold herself together, even though she could clearly hear Electra and her friends laughing at her from the other side of the field.

"Did you see her face?" she faintly heard one of them say. "I thought she was going to faint on the spot."

"Maybe we should give her another shot," a voice she managed to recognize as Roxana's added. "You know, for practice."

The blood in Seraphina's veins turned to ice, but she refused to look back at them. She couldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her crumble any further. With trembling legs, she took a tentative step back from the target. Then another.

Her movements were shaky, but she was determined to put as much distance as possible between herself and those monsters.

She thought about leaving the field altogether, running back to her dorm, and locking the door behind her, but the fear of what might happen if she didn't comply with Electra's demands kept her rooted to the ground. She knew Electra well enough by now to understand that ditching practice, however life-threatening, wouldn't go unpunished.

Instead, Seraphina decided to hide behind the targets. She figured if she kept herself out of Electra's line of sight and didn't engage with them, maybe—just maybe—she could survive this practice session unscathed.

She turned her back to them, pretending to examine the back of the targer. Her fingers brushed against its rough surface as she tried to focus on her breathing—anything to calm herself internally.

But the sound of footsteps approaching shattered that fragile hope. Seraphina's heart pounded in her chest as the steps drew closer, and she didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Running away already?" Electra's voice was low and mocking.

It sent a chill down Seraphina's spine, and she felt her muscles lock in place, her body instinctively freezing.

"I-I wasn't running," Seraphina stammered, her voice barely audible. She cursed herself for sounding so weak, but she couldn't help it.

Electra chuckled softly, the sound almost musical but laced with something dark. "Good," she said, stepping closer until Seraphina could feel the heat of her breath on the back of her neck. "Because running won't save you, little dove. Not from me."

Seraphina's hands balled into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms as she fought the urge to cry.

"Turn around," Electra commanded, her tone leaving no room for argument.

Seraphina hesitated, every instinct screaming at her to run, but she knew there was no escaping Electra. Slowly, she turned to face her tormentor. Electra stood mere inches away, her tall and intimidating figure toppling over Seraphina. Her piercing eyes locked on Seraphina's, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still.

Electra's gaze flicked to the small cut on Seraphina's cheek, and a ghost of a smirk played on her lips. "I didn't think I'd actually hit you," she said casually, as if discussing the weather. "But I guess even a grazing shot was enough to scare you half to death."

Seraphina swallowed hard, her throat dry as she struggled to find her voice. "You could have killed me," she whispered, her words trembling.

Electra's smirk widened, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "But I didn't," she replied smoothly, tilting her head as if to study Seraphina. "And isn't that what matters? You're still standing, aren't you?"

Seraphina's fists tightened at her sides, her nails digging deeper into her palms. She wanted to scream, to lash out, to do something—anything—to wipe that smug look off Electra's face, but she knew better. Lashing out was what got her here in the first place.

Instead, she took a shaky step back, creating a small but much-needed distance between them. "I didn't come here to be your punching bag," she said quietly, her voice steadier than she expected. "If you're going to keep this up, I'll leave."

"You're not going anywhere," Electra said firmly, taking a step closer to close the distance Seraphina had created. "You're part of this team now, whether you like it or not. So you'd better toughen up, little dove, because this is just the beginning. I'm going to make your life so miserable, you'll have nightmares about me for the rest of your life."