Elysium: Desired by the Cold-hearted Princess [GL]-Chapter 346: Stabbing the mark

Third-Person POV

Seraphina froze as soon as she saw the massive crowd outside the palace. It was worse than she imagined, hundreds of people filling the streets, their voices rising like a wave that crashed again and again. Banners bearing Jella’s new crest hung from the palace gates, and guards stood shoulder to shoulder, forming a wall between the people and the courtyard.

Her heart pounded painfully in her chest.

She pressed herself closer to the edge of the nearby alley where they stood hidden. From where she was, she could see flashes of movement, guards on the palace steps, and at the center of it all, the wooden platform. The execution stage.

"God..." she whispered, her throat tightening. "There are so many of them."

Beside her, Irina was glued to her phone, scrolling with shaky hands as she read updates from the crowd’s social feeds. "They’ve already brought her out," Irina said, her voice trembling. "Someone posted a live video... it’s trending across all platforms."

Seraphina’s breath hitched. "What?"

Irina nodded, eyes wide with disbelief. "It’s everywhere. They’re saying Jella’s finally ending the curse on the kingdom, and that the phoenix dies at sunrise. They’ve already brought Electra out."

Seraphina turned toward her sharply. "What do you mean, already?"

Irina looked up from the phone, guilt flashing in her eyes. "They dragged her out about ten minutes ago."

The words made Seraphina’s stomach twist. She looked toward the palace gates again. The crowd were pressed so tightly together that it was impossible to move through them, and the roar of voices drowned out everything else.

From behind her, Roxana cursed under her breath. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?" she snapped. Her voice was tense, but the fear behind it was obvious. "We can’t even get close! There are guards everywhere; even if we tried, we’d be caught before we reached the gates!"

Irina’s grip on her phone tightened. "I don’t know!" she said, frustration and panic bubbling in her tone. "It looks like they’re getting ready to stab her! The live feed keeps cutting out, but they’re surrounding her with guards..."

"Stab her?" Seraphina repeated, her voice rising slightly. She could feel her pulse racing, her skin cold. "They’re going to—"

She stopped herself. She didn’t want to finish the sentence. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she could barely hear the rest of what Irina was saying.

Penelope reached forward, grabbing Seraphina’s arm. "We’ll find another way in," she said, her voice calm but tight. "There has to be another entrance, a back gate, a tunnel, something."

"There isn’t time," Seraphina whispered.

She could barely breathe. Every image flashing through her mind—the crowd, the platform, and Electra on her knees—made her chest ache.

"Why aren’t the phoenix gods or those damned deities doing anything?" she said suddenly, her voice breaking slightly. "She’s one of them. She’s one of their own! How can they just watch this happen?"

No one answered.

Irina glanced at her helplessly, while Roxana turned away, her fists clenching.

Seraphina’s knees felt weak. She leaned against the wall for support, her fingers digging into the brick. Her thoughts were spiraling, her breath uneven. She wanted to scream, to cry, to do something, but there was nothing she could do. She wasn’t even from this kingdom. She had no power, no authority, and no right to intervene.

Still, she couldn’t just stand there. She looked up at the palace again, her eyes blurring with tears she refused to let fall. ’There has to be a way,’ she thought. ’There has to be something I can do.’ And then, out of nowhere, it came, a whisper, faint but clear, entering into her mind.

A voice that wasn’t hers and a thought that didn’t feel like her own.

Her eyes widened, and without even thinking, she turned sharply toward Irina. "Irina!" she said suddenly, her voice loud enough to make all three girls jump. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Irina blinked, startled. "What? What’s wrong?"

"Do you have anything sharp?" Seraphina asked quickly.

Irina frowned. "Sharp? Why..."

"Just answer me!" Seraphina interrupted, her tone urgent. "A key, a knife, anything!"

Irina exchanged a confused look with Penelope and Roxana. "I... I might have my room key," she said slowly, fishing through her pocket. "But why..."

Before she could finish, Seraphina turned around and yanked up the back of her shirt, exposing the sigil etched into her skin, the same mark that connected her to Electra.

The sight made all three girls freeze.

"Seraphina, what the hell are you doing?" Roxana hissed, her voice half-whisper, half-yell. "Are you seriously undressing in the middle of the street?"

Seraphina didn’t look at her. Her tone was steady now, low, and determined. "I need you to stab it."

The words hung in the air for a second.

Irina blinked, unsure she heard right. "What?"

"Stab the mark," Seraphina said again. "As hard as you can."

Roxana’s jaw dropped. "You’ve lost your mind."

"I’m serious," Seraphina said, her voice firm, her eyes burning with conviction. "That mark connects me to her, and although I can’t exactly explain it, something tells me to stab the mark."

Irina looked pale. "That’s insane. You don’t even know what’ll happen!"

"I don’t care!" Seraphina snapped, spinning around to face them. "I’m not going to stand here while she’s killed like some criminal! If there’s even a chance this can do something, I have to try!"

Roxana hesitated, her expression torn between disbelief and fear. "Sera—"

"Do it!" Seraphina yelled, her voice cracking under the intensity of her desperation.

For a long moment, no one moved. The noise of the crowd in the distance filled the silence—the shouting, the chanting, and the rumble of a kingdom demanding blood.

Then Irina, trembling, stepped forward. She pulled her keychain from her pocket and removed one of the sharper, pointed keys. "If this kills you, I’m going to lose my mind," she muttered, her voice shaking.

Seraphina gave a small, strained smile. "If it does... at least make sure it’s worth it."

She turned around again, gripping the edge of the wall for balance.

Irina raised the key, her hand trembling. Penelope grabbed her wrist. "Are you sure about this?"

"No," Irina said. "But she is."

She took a deep breath and then drove the key into the mark.

Seraphina gasped sharply as pain tore through her back, white-hot and immediate. The sigil flared to life, glowing brighter than ever before. Irina pulled the key back instinctively, terrified, but the light only grew stronger.

"Seraphina!" Roxana shouted.

"I’m fine!" Seraphina said as she gritted her teeth, though her entire body felt like it was on fire. The mark pulsed violently, each throb syncing with her heartbeat, and the ground under her seemed like it was vibrating faintly.

Then...

A blinding flash exploded from the mark, shooting upward into the sky like a burst of light, and the shockwave made all four girls stumble back.

People in the crowd near the palace turned toward the sudden flare of white in the distance, murmuring in confusion. Even the guards on the execution stage hesitated, glancing up as the light streaked across the clouds.

Roxana shielded her eyes, shouting over the noise. "What did you just do?!"

Seraphina didn’t answer. She was still on her knees, breathing hard, the mark on her back burning like fire, but in that pain, she felt something.