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

Seraphina's POV

The hallway was too quiet, and every step we took kind of felt like we were walking on glass, even though our shoes barely made a sound. I kept glancing over my shoulder, half-expecting one of the guards to suddenly appear from thin air and ask what we were doing sneaking around the infirmary past curfew.

But we got lucky, and for whatever reason, no one was around the hallway that led to Electra's room, and the deeper we moved into the corridor, the faster my heart beat.

I was trying so hard to stay calm, but my hands were shaking just thinking about what we might find once we got the door open.

We finally reached the door, and my hand reached out for the knob, only to find it locked. I tugged it once, then twice, but it didn't budge.

"It's locked," I whispered, stepping back in frustration. "Now what?"

"Move," Roxana said quietly, stepping forward.

I blinked, confused for a second, until she reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out a small set of pins, actual pins.

She crouched in front of the door, shoved one pin into the keyhole, and used the other to start fiddling around like she'd done this before. Irina, without being asked, took out her phone and pointed the flashlight toward the lock.

"Wait, Roxana… do you pick locks often?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

Irina answered before Roxana could, her tone so casual it was scary. "Roxana's been picking locks since we were thirteen. She's basically our go-to criminal."

"That doesn't exactly sound like a good thing," I muttered.

"Don't ask questions," Irina said with a grin. "Seriously, kid, you don't want to know why we needed a lock picker."

"Noted."

Roxana didn't even glance up. Her brow was furrowed, lips pressed into a thin line, and her fingers moved with precision like this was just another Tuesday for her, and in a strange way, I was grateful.

I didn't care why or how she knew how to do this, if it got us inside, then that's all that mattered.

Seconds passed like hours, and all of us stood there, holding our breaths. Then, with a soft click, the lock gave way.

"Got it," Roxana whispered.

She stood and pushed the door open slowly, and the moment the door creaked open, a strong wave of heat hit us, and it was so strong, so suffocating, and so hot, like we had stepped into a sauna that had gone rogue.

I immediately covered my nose with my hand. "What the hell…?"

"It's coming from inside," Penelope murmured. "It's like the air is burning."

Irina narrowed her eyes. "That's the Phoenix heat. It's worse than what I'm used to, but whenever Electra fell sick and isolated herself, the heat was always pretty bad."

All four of us stood frozen for a second, staring into the room before fully stepping in.

"Holy mother of the sun," Penelope muttered, already fanning herself with one hand. "Even hell can't be this hot."

"No wonder there are no guards at the door," Roxana added. "Who the hell would volunteer to stand outside this?"

We pushed forward anyway, the door clicking softly behind us. Penelope, squinting into the shadows, asked, "Can I borrow your flashlight again?" She turned to Irina. "I want to find my phone."

Irina nodded and handed it over. "It should still be where we left it; just don't let it melt. I don't trust this heat."

While Penelope wandered toward the corner of the room where we had slid her phone earlier through the gap in the door, the rest of us turned toward Electra's bed.

It was... overwhelming. Her body lay still, so painfully still, and yet, the space around her was like wildfire.

"Are we even sure we can touch her?" Roxana asked, cautiously holding out her hand but not making contact. "She looks like a damn oven. What if we can't carry her out without being burned?"

I didn't want to hesitate, not for a second. Something inside me, call it gut instinct, call it desperation, maybe even something deeper, told me I had to act fast. So, before Irina could stop me, I reached out and touched Electra's arm.

Nothing.

No burning, and no pain. Just her skin, warm but not unbearably so. She felt like herself.

The look on Irina's face was somewhere between alarmed and relieved. "You're okay?"

I nodded. "She's warm, but it doesn't hurt."

Roxana blinked in surprise and then, hesitating only briefly, tried to touch Electra as well, but the second her fingers brushed against Electra's arm, she gasped and yanked them back. "Shit—!"

"Roxy?" Irina immediately stepped toward her.

Roxana held out her hand, and I could already see the small red mark forming on her fingers. A fresh burn.

"She burned you," I said quietly.

"She did," Roxana hissed, wincing slightly. "Just barely touched her, and it was like touching a stovetop."

"But she didn't burn me," I added.

Irina turned to me with wide eyes, like she was beginning to piece something together. "Why didn't it burn you?"

I glanced down at my hand still resting gently on Electra's arm. "I don't know... but I've been close to her when she's been sick before. Maybe... maybe it's me."

Roxana snorted softly. "You're her heatproof girlfriend? That's a new one."

But I wasn't laughing, not even a little. My brain was running wild. Was this what Solara meant? That only I could be there when she was dying, because I was the only one who could withstand this?

Irina stepped closer, watching me carefully. "Whatever this is... it's important. It's not normal."

"No kidding," Penelope called from the other end of the room. "Found my phone, by the way, and it's nearly melted. Can you believe that? This place is literally now hell on earth."

"We have to get her out of here," I said, looking back down at Electra's still face. Her features were soft, calm even, like she wasn't in pain, but I could feel it, deep in my chest. The pull. The sense that something terrible was right on the edge of happening.

"But we can't even touch her," Roxana reminded me.

"I can."

Irina looked between the rest of us, then at Electra. "Then you'll have to carry her, Sera."

"Carry her where?" Penelope asked. "This room is boiling, and the hallway could be crawling with guards by now. How do we even get out without being caught?"

"We'll figure that part out," Irina said with that calm, commanding voice of hers. "But for now, let's just focus on moving her. Sera, if she's not burning you, try to lift her. We'll support you however we can."

I nodded, swallowing hard.

Gently, I reached down and slid my arms beneath her. She was warm, very warm, but not unbearable. Still, there was a strange heaviness to her, like her unconscious form wasn't just physical and like something else was tethered to her that I couldn't see, couldn't name. It made her harder to lift than I expected.

"I've got her," I said, pulling her up slowly and pressing her against my chest. Her head rested against my shoulder, limp, and my heart squeezed at the sight of her so pale and so still.

Irina moved to support the infirmary door. "Go first. We'll cover you."

Penelope was already checking the hallway again. "All clear for now, but let's not waste time."

We made it halfway to the door when Roxana stopped us with a quiet whisper. "Wait."

We froze.

"What is it?" Irina asked.

"Footsteps," Roxana whispered. "Coming this way."

My heart stopped. Electra still felt like a furnace in my arms, and if anyone saw us right now, there was no talking our way out of it.

Penelope cursed under her breath. "Back inside. Now."

Irina held the door as I turned and carefully walked Electra back to the bed, laying her down again. My hands were shaking.

"Hide behind the curtain," Irina said, pointing toward the divider near the back wall.

We rushed to it just in time, the door opening seconds later. I could barely make out the voices of the guards outside, and we all held our breath.

Minutes passed, and then more, until eventually, the footsteps retreated again, and the door clicked shut.

"Okay," Irina whispered, stepping out. "Plan B."

"What the hell is Plan B?" Roxana asked.

Irina let out a long, tired sigh. "I don't exactly have a plan B, Rox, but we really need to start thinking of something else before someone finds us crouched behind some curtains like idiots."

"We are idiots," Roxana muttered. "This was a suicide mission. What were we thinking?"

"That we couldn't just leave her," I said quietly.

My arms were still sore from carrying Electra earlier, and I had a dull ache running through my back.

Roxana grunted, tapping her foot. "Screw it. How about we just carry her out again? The guards already came by to check on her, right? They won't be back so soon."

Irina hesitated. "It's risky…"

"I'm not saying it's not," Roxana replied, "but standing here is even worse. We can't wait for them to come back and find us here."

"I agree," I said, straightening up. "Let's go."

We stepped out from behind the curtain in sync, like we'd all silently agreed that this might be the only chance we'd get.

I reached for her, sliding one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. The moment I lifted her, her heat seeped into my skin, and she was lighter than before, or maybe adrenaline just made her easier to carry.

Penelope hurried to the door and opened it slowly. Irina peeked out first, then gave us a nod.

"All clear," she whispered.

We moved fast and had barely gotten halfway through the hallway when Roxana spoke again. "Wait, where are we even taking her?"

None of us answered. We just kept moving, hoping someone would figure it out before it became too obvious that we hadn't.

"I mean it," she said again, louder this time. "We can't take her to our rooms, and hers is probably being watched. The guards are going to notice she's gone any second now."

Irina groaned. "Yeah, we get it, Rox. We're improvising."

"Well, improvise faster!" I snapped, adjusting my grip as Electra's body slumped harder against my chest. "She's burning up, and I'm not exactly a weightlifter over here!"

"Okay, okay," Penelope said, looking around frantically. "What about the music room? It's always empty after lights out."

"Did you really just suggest we take an unconscious person, who's boiling as hot as hell, into the music room? Are you slow?" Irina shot back.

"Can we save the arguing for when I'm not hauling a near-dead girl through the hallway?" I gritted my teeth, my arms shaking now. "Seriously, pick a damn place."

We were rounding the corner when a voice behind us suddenly made us all freeze.

"Can I help?"

We turned back fast, my heart in my throat and panic already rushing to my head, and to our utter surprise, it was Deena.