Chapter 26

Elena sat on the empty bed, hugging her knees, reflecting on the incident that was still fresh in her mind. Between how aggressive her abductor was and the scandalous lie she shamelessly spat out, Elena wasn't sure which was worse.

"The longer I stay here, the worse my condition will be, it's only a matter of time till he barges in here with his bad temper." She blurted out, then winced from the pain of having her neck held so forcibly.

Her mind was plagued with a variety of thoughts that she failed to hear the tower door shut open and close.

"Princess." The blonde haired man announced, alerting her of his presence in the tower. "I barely managed to get you this portion of soup, the kitchen staff is stricter." He explained setting down the bowl of soup on the table.

"I heard about what happened just the day before, I'm glad to see you're unscathed princess. Your mother would have had my head." He told her in a light hearted tone, trying to ease the thick tension.

As he stared at the bland soup, he didn't expect the young princess to suddenly hug him from behind, sobbing quietly into his back.

"Please, I don't want to anymore!" She cried in a loud voice, gripping his shirt firmly with her fingers, letting out her pent up frustrations.

"Pri...Princess?" He stuttered, unsure of how to handle the situation, "is anything the matter?" He managed to ask her, his back stiffened.

"Take me away from here! I want to go back to the Kingdom! I'm tired of being imprisoned in this tower! I just can't bear to see that monster's face!" The princess wept bitterly, allowing him to see her vulnerability.

He dropped his shoulders then slowly turned around to face her, placing both hands at her sides, giving her arms a firm squeeze. Elena looked up at him with puffy green eyes, she resembled a child crying for their mother.

"Please kind sir, take me away with you tonight." She insisted, unwilling to spend another passing second in the dreadful tower.

"Tonight?" He echoed with uncertainty in his voice.

"It can't be any night but tonight, I fear that if I spend another night here, I'll run mad!" Elena's crazed emerald green eyes sent a cold chill down his spine. He closed his eyelids briefly before heaving a heavy sigh.

"It can't be helped then, tonight it is." He told her, placing both hands on her shoulders, lowering his eyes to meet hers.

"After tonight, it'll all be over, the pain you've endured is more than enough." His assuring words caused tears of relief to fall from her eyes.

"But you have to eat and regain energy, it won't be easy with my plans being rushed."

"Do you have an idea on how to break the barrier?" She asked while helping herself to sit on the chair, staring listlessly at the unappetizing soup.

"Vaguely, but... I am over sixty percent certain that it'll work, we have only one chance at making this escape princess." He informs her, gently massaging her shoulders, untying all the stress knots skillfully.

Elena closed her eyes in pleasure of being touched so sensually by a man, a slight moan escaped her lips, as she struggled to pick up the wooden spoon.

"Tell me, where would you like to go once we leave this country?" His question made Elena raise a confused brow, he made it sound like she was no longer welcomed at Valencia.

"I just wish to be anywhere but here, it's so suffocating I can barely breathe." Was her response, she stared at the dead plant on the floor and sighed.

She truly wanted to leave this life behind for good and start anew, even if her step father had plans to assassinate her, Elena resolved to live, no matter the circumstances.

"You must be glad to return to your family back in the country, I'll make sure of it, that you are heavily rewarded for your brave act of courage." She said, singing his praises.

He merely grinned at her kind words, and meticulously minded to the massage, releasing all the stress Elena was feeling.

"Drink it quickly before it gets cold, I can't spare any more time here princess, the other guards are already suspicious of me."

Though she didn't fancy how pushy he was being, the princess raised the spoon to her lips, a content smile plastered on her face as she lowered her jaw to drink it.

*Swoosh!*

A gush of cold breeze suddenly flooded the room, followed by a strong wind that sent the knight behind Elena a few steps back. If she didn't have her chains wrapped around her body, the princess might have flown a bit back herself.

Elena heard her blonde companion curse underneath his breath as Alixandre waltzed into the tower, wearing a mean scowl on his face. He charged aggressively towards the man behind his prisoner and with lengthened nails, jabbed his fingers deep into his chest, where the stranger's heart was located.

The princess felt her heart stop beating and her legs give way, thankfully she was still sitting on the chair. Her hands found their way to her mouth and covered them in an astonished gasp.

"No....No" She whispered under her breath then shook her head painfully from side to side, with eyes widened in shock.

The real shock, however only just manifested itself as the man whom had snuck into the tower to rescue her suddenly turned into nothing but dry dust!

"What did you do to..." Her words were cut off by Alixandre, who picked up the bowl of soup on the table and angrily bashed it against a wall!

Elena covered her ears with her palms in fright, she watched in horror as Alixandre hurried out of the chamber, wearing an angry expression on his face.

Heartbroken and conflicted, Elena did the unthinkable and followed him from behind, without the slightest idea of what it was she intended to do. She watched his elbow length hair dance from side to side as he descended the stairs, refusing to heed to her desperate calls.

Elena followed him all the way through the hallway past the line up of guards and servants, till they reached the main castle gates.

'What could we be doing here?' she thought, wondering why he had suddenly decided to allow her follow him to the gates.

"Open the gates!" He declared in an authoritative tone, speaking to the gatekeepers, who hurriedly responded to his words and raised up the gates, till we could fully see outside the castle.

Elena was tempted to run out and see if the barrier was lifted, but stopped the moment her eyes landed on a woman no taller than she, standing outside the gate, carrying a large black umbrella with beaded tassels.

"So it was you." Alixandre noted, stepping forward as he spoke, a confused Elena followed suite discreetly, hoping to ask the mysterious woman for help.

As Elena closed in on the woman, she realized that despite the scorching sun and the piping hot sand, the woman remained barefoot. Her twin braids danced around with the wind, along with her long flowing black skirt that stopped at her ankle length.

"I see you've figured it out, I'd expect no less from the infamous demon king. Alixandre Mistblood." She remarked, drinking in the king's features from head to toe.

She turned her attention from Alixandre and diverted it to Elena who stood two steps behind him, observing the situation.

"And you must be the princess on everyone's lips, I believe they call you the forsaken princess." The woman casually said, pointing her black laced gloved hand at Elena.

Alixandre stood in front of the princess, blocking her view of the woman, "did you think sending a corpse through my barrier wouldn't raise alarm? I admit it was smart to use a corpse to breach my defense, but you were far too confident in your school." He took a pause and hardened his stare on her.

"Witch of Cadaver."

Elena froze up at the mention of another witch aside herself, she peeked out of his arm and took another good look at the woman and realized the black haired woman might be taller than her.

"Please, I prefer to be referred to as Sierra." She interjected, cracking a mischievous grin on her face.

"And as per the corpse you wasted, it's done it's job decently, I was going to throw away such a weak corpse back into the grave anyways." Sierra mentioned in a serious tone.

Elena couldn't seem to understand all this talk about barriers and corpses, the only thing she knew was that her only ally had been slain by the tyrannical demon king. And now, another witch had shown up in Reeves.

She stepped away from Alixandre and stood directly in front of the woman, the barrier being the only thing restricting them.

"He's going to kill me! Please! I beg of you...take me away with you! They say I'm a witch as well, if it's true then you must help your kind." Elena begged, taking her last desperate resort.

"Of course you are a witch Elena, the blue moon witch to be precise." Said Sierra, she placed her hand on the barrier, and caressed it, like it was Elena's face.

"But, I'm not going to play saint any longer." She announced, tilting her head to the side, taking a good look at the chains wrapped around her shoulders.

"I've come here to kill you!"