Elysium: Desired by the Cold-hearted Princess [GL]

Electra's POV

I wasn't expecting to go to bed this early, but I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open. My head pounded relentlessly, and every breath I took felt like fire burning through my lungs.

Since coughing up blood earlier, my chest hadn't stopped aching, as if something inside me was trying to claw its way out. It was getting worse—this weakness, this... thing that was eating away at me.

I barely had the energy to think, let alone fight it. All I wanted was to sleep, even if just for a little while.

Just as I was pulling my blanket over me, a sudden heat surged through the air behind me, and my body stiffened instantly.

This heat wasn't mine.

Slowly, cautiously, I turned around, and my breath caught in my throat. Standing just a few feet away was a woman I had only ever seen in a dream.

Long, flowing blonde hair that matched my own as well as piercing blue eyes, and a warmth that felt oddly... familiar.

I knew who she was before I even had to think about it.

My mother.

"No," I whispered, my voice barely above a breath.

This wasn't real. It couldn't be.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched my arm, willing the hallucination away. Wake up, wake up, wake up—

But when I opened them again, she was still there. Still looking at me, and still smiling at me.

Tears blurred my vision, my chest tightening in a way that had nothing to do with my illness.

"Is that you, Mom?" My voice cracked.

The word felt foreign on my tongue.

Not because I had never said it before—I had called Queen Jella mother my whole life, though it had never meant anything—but because I had never said it to her. My real mother.

The woman who had brought me into this world, only to vanish from it before I ever got to know her.

Solara's smile widened slightly, a mixture of fondness and sadness in her eyes. "I'm surprised you recognize me."

A shaky laugh escaped my lips, though it was quickly swallowed by another wave of tears.

"How could I not? We look identical," I whispered.

Before I could stop myself, I rushed forward, desperate to touch her, to feel something solid, something real, and the moment my arms wrapped around her, I broke.

The dam I had unknowingly built inside me—years of wondering, years of resentment, years of not knowing what it meant to have a mother—shattered in an instant.

Sobs wracked my body, uncontrollable, raw, and painful.

She was warm.

Too warm. Like a flame that could scorch me if I held on too tightly, but I didn't care. I clung to her like she was the only thing keeping me tethered to this world, and she didn't speak.

She just held me.

After what felt like an eternity, my sobs subsided into quiet sniffles. I didn't want to let go. I couldn't let go, but eventually, Solara pulled back slightly, just enough to tilt my chin up so I could look at her.

"You've grown into a strong young woman," she murmured, brushing a tear from my cheek.

I let out a shaky breath. "Well, I don't feel very strong."

Her blue eyes softened. "Strength isn't always about feeling powerful, Electra. Sometimes, it's about enduring the pain you never should have had to endure in the first place."

A bitter chuckle escaped me. "Then I must be the strongest person in the world."

She sighed, her expression turning somber. "You've suffered more than I ever wanted for you."

"Then why did you leave me?" The question spilled from my lips before I could stop it.

Solara's eyes widened, pain flickering across her face. "I didn't leave you, my darling. I never wanted to leave."

I stood there, staring at her, trying to process what she had just said.

"You didn't leave me?" I echoed, my voice barely above a whisper.

Her eyes softened, but there was something in them—something fleeting, something distant.

"No, my love," she murmured, reaching out as if she wanted to cup my face again but stopping midway. "I was taken from you."

"But—"

Before I could ask anything more, she sighed softly. "I don't have much time left, Electra. I was only able to come here because Seraphina summoned me."

That caught me off guard. "You've met Seraphina?" I blurted out, stunned.

Solara smiled. "Yes. She's the daughter of an old friend, and I must say, I'm relieved to know that you have someone like her by your side. She's a good friend."

Something in the way she said that made my stomach twist. Like her by my side... Did she know? Did she know what Seraphina and I were to each other?

A nervous lump formed in my throat, but I swallowed it down, forcing myself to say, "We're actually... more than friends."

There. I said it.

I braced myself for any sign of disappointment, any indication that my mother would disapprove of the feelings I had for Seraphina, but to my surprise, she only smiled wider.

"That's even better," she said, her voice warm, full of understanding.

I exhaled, a strange sense of relief washing over me. She wasn't disgusted. She wasn't upset, and she approved.

I didn't know why that made my chest tighten, why my hands trembled slightly at the thought that even if she had been alive, she would have accepted me for who I was.

I had spent my entire life in the Elmerian palace feeling out of place. Never truly fitting in, and never truly wanted, but now, standing before the mother I had never known, I felt seen.

Wanted.

Loved, but the feeling didn't last long.

"I have to leave now," she said, and my heart clenched at her words.

"No," I said immediately, shaking my head. "You just got here. Please, don't go yet."

Her expression turned apologetic. "I wish I could stay longer, but my time here is borrowed, and it's running out."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to beg her to stay, but then she spoke again.

"I know you have questions, especially about my death. The only thing I can tell you, my love, is that I did not die because I gave birth to you. Someone took my life after I had you."

The breath in my lungs left me all at once. "Someone killed you?" I choked out.

She nodded solemnly. A storm of emotions crashed through me—rage, confusion, grief.

"Who?" I demanded. "Who did it?"

But she didn't answer. Instead, she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around me again, pulling me into a tight embrace.

"I love you, Electra," she whispered against my hair.

I clung to her. "Please, don't go yet," I begged, my voice breaking.

"Be strong, my love," she said instead, and then she pulled back, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

And just like that—she was gone.

The warmth vanished. The glow disappeared, and the room became empty.

Just me and the silence, and immediately, my legs gave out.

I fell to my knees, my hands gripping the fabric of my shirt over my heart, as if trying to keep it from shattering. A sob ripped through me, followed by another and another.

Tears blurred my vision, spilling down my cheeks, dripping on the floor.

I had finally met her. I had finally felt what it was like to have a mother, and now she was gone.

Again.

Leaving me alone.

Again.

The pain was unbearable, and I felt like I was drowning. Like I was burning. Like I was dying.