Hellbound Heart

Just the sight of this man and having his body close to her like this was enough to cause Elle's legs to quiver beneath her. She felt as though all the strength that she had managed to retain in her had suddenly melted away with his arrival and she was sure it was because she felt that she was finally safe now. Now that he was here, a wonderful sense of security enveloped her. r

But before tears could even fall from her eyes, she felt a primitive fury blazing from him. One that was so deadly and suffocating that it sent violent chills crawling over her skin. Her relaxed body was now stiffened in paralysis once again. r

"What… did… he do to you?" His words came out broken due to his sharp breathing and his tone was full of danger. Elle looked into his eyes and saw how haunted and dangerous it was. Bloodlust blazed from them. She had thought she had already seen his true anger… she was so wrong… Sebastian, right now, looked as though he was ready to slaughter and create a bloodbath. And she could not help but feel terrified of what he was going to do. r

She forced herself to speak. She did not want to see him in this way anymore. But before a word could leave her lips, she saw his pupils dilate and then they…r

He abruptly moved past her. Again. He had flashed by so impossibly fast that she had barely caught sight of his figure moving. How on earth was a person able to move so swiftly like that?! r

"Princess!" Rion's voice echoed out. And when Elle glanced over to look at the source of the voice, Rion seemed to have appeared out of nowhere too. r

Slowly, she turned towards her back only to see that Sebastian was not there anymore. He was gone.

She finally stumbled and fell to the ground, unable to stand anymore. But Rion caught her and carried her up in his arms. He looked so worried as he checked her over to see if she was injured anywhere. r

Elle felt like a deflated balloon as she remained in Rion's arms. Her hands lifted and fisted in Rion's clothes. "Sebastian… he's gone… he might be going after Elijah…" she said weakly, wanting to let Rion know so that he might send someone to either stop or help Sebastian. r

"Don't worry about him, the others had already been dispatched to follow after him. Please just rest for now, Princess." Rion reassured her and then he took off his coat and covered her completely with it.r

Rion then began to walk. She felt like she was floating while being carried off. Her mind was still unable to recover fully from everything that had transpired. There were just too many things that had come one after the other.r

And all too soon, Rion placed her down. Upon realizing that she was already back in her room in the castle, Elle's eyes widened at him. They were back already? But did they not just leave that underground cave? However, she held her tongue from asking any questions for now and reasoned to herself that perhaps, she had passed out for a few moments without realizing and that was why she had felt that they just travelled for a mere few seconds. She remembered that she was feeling all lightheaded earlier. Perhaps that had affected her sense of timing?r

"Please have a drink." He had brought her a glass of water and Elle did not hesitate to take it from him and gulp it down. "How are you feeling now, Your Highness? Is there any –"r

"I'm fine." Elle cut the man off as she had finished the water. "Thank you." She then handed the glass back to him. r

Taking back the glass, Rion looked at her with concern. Elle could only force out a smile. "I'm fine. Truly! He… Elijah didn't… hurt me…" she said. "I just need some time to calm down. You should go check on Sebastian, I'm worried that he might do something… bad." r

Elle could not help but feel worried about him. She could still see that animalistic gaze reflected deep within his eyes just before he left her. r

"I'm assigned to stay here and watch over you closely. I assure you that the prince would be fine on his own. That is Prince Sebastian we are talking about." r

"B-but he might… k-kill Elijah. Sebastian was so angry earlier. I've never seen him that furious before!" Elle insisted. Despite all the almost mind-numbing stress she was feeling at the moment, she still could not stop herself from worrying that things will only go south from here on out. r

If Sebastian ended up harming Elijah… or maybe even putting his life to danger… she could not imagine what would be the outcome if it got out of hand. She did not want an even bigger problem to occur.r

"Please don't worry. There are reliable people who can stop Prince Sebastian from going after his brother. By now, he should've been stopped already. The prince just needs to calm his rage down and he'd be fine again. I assure you of that." Rion's tone when he explained all this was calm and confident. It was as though he already knew how things would turn out.r

The confidence and reassurance in Rion's eyes had Elle's panic calming down a little. r

And then Laura finally arrived. The maid scrambled around to prepare a hot bath that Elle had requested for. She needed to calm down. She needed to be alone for now. r

Once she was inside the bathroom, Elle locked the door and quickly undressed. She went to the mirror and looked at herself. She looked like something the cat dragged in. And the vivid hickey Elijah had left on her skin made her shiver in disgust. It was a dark red mark made more distinct against the very fair skin of her neck. r