A Bastard's Allure-Chapter 117: Her Price

Elena was pacing back and forth in her room while waiting for Gabriel. Not that she wanted but Darion had insisted. The fact that he had made Darion a general without consulting her made her burn with a rage.

What the hell was he thinking? The humans would have obviously be against it at all odds. And to think a vampire was beside their leader in the keep, no lesser!

She sat on the bed when her legs grew tired when she felt a presence in the room. But before she could even move a limb, a heaviness unlike any other she’d experienced before overcame her. Her body and limbs felt heavy and before she knew it, she was falling onto the bed before everything turned pitch black.

When she later came to, she found herself soaked wet in a vastness of light. The place stretched as far as the eye could see. The floor was made of water that didn’t rise any further than her ankle.

’What is this place?’ She thought, looking around for any familiar hints. There were none!

"Hello?" She called once she was on her feet. "Anybody here?" The only response she got was the echo of her voice.

She started walking around but she always ended up at the same spot she had started. There was no way out! Or was this just another one of her dreams? But it appeared real. She could the cold sensation of the water on her feet, she could feel her heartbeat and rhythmic breathing.

Stranded, she knelt in one place trying to stay still. Maybe it was just a dream she’d get out of.

"How does it feel," She heard a voice in the vast space making her to look around. "Being trapped in a place of your own creation?"

Elena searched for the source of the voice but she couldn’t see anyone apart from her own reflection.

"Who are you? Where am I?" She asked, her head shifting around in search of a soul.

"There’s nothing special about you," continued the voice. "You’re just a normal human with beauty. Is that why he chose you?"

"Gabriel?" She asked, her brows creased in confusion. Did Gabriel had anything to do with any of this? Was he the reason she was here?

"So powerful but settles for less. Pathetic!" The voice said in mockery. "He should be mine!"

Wait. Was this a jealous girlfriend or something? Was it one of Gabriel’s mistresses? But he had no mistresses! Who was she then?

"What is it that you want?" Elena asked, staring at the vast expanse.

"What I want you can’t offer. Unless you’re planning to serve your own heart on a silver platter."

"Everyone has a price," Elena said with shrugged shoulders.

"Yours is too much, even I can’t bear it if I was in your place!"

"Name it!" She insisted.

The place grew silent for a couple of fleeting seconds before Kara materialized in the distance. She wore all black, her long dress sweeping through the water.

"You have a beautiful memory," she commented as she walked closer.

"Memory?" Elena furrowed.

"We’re inside your headspace. I hid you into one of your memories," she replied before turning her eyes onto her.

"Are you willing to pay the price for your freedom?" She asked.

"Let me hear it first."

"Clever one, aren’t you?" Kara said before she started walking around Elena. "For once, I wish that arrow hadn’t struck you."

Elena swallowed hard. "You wanted me dead. Why am I still alive?"

Kara tucked the stray strands of Elena’s hair behind her ear. "You. How could you be worthy of him? A mere princess. A tool for his amusement."

Elena just stood there as Kara mocked her.

"Even your brother grew tired of you and disposed you off. A princess, traded away like a sack of flour for the interests of men. Yet those men decide every move you make."

"From a fugitive princess to the ruler of Mysthaven. How the weak have risen!" She scoffed.

Elena’s eyes followed her every move, anger slowly boiling within her.

"They learned that you’re missing, the men of Mysthaven. Do you think the city is in a frenzy looking for you?"

"Gabriel is," she interjected.

Kara halted in her tracks. "Gabriel. I almost forgot the elephant in the... Is it a room?"

"He’s also the price you’ll be paying for your freedom," she said, closely watching Elena’s reaction.

"Not the reaction I expected to be honest," she said, letting out a sigh.

"You’d expect me to turn my back on my husband?"

"I presume it isn’t the first time you’ve done so," she said, a naughty chuckle dancing on her lips. "I wouldn’t mind turning my back to him, and my body too."

Elena’s nostrils flared, her hands clenched into tight balls.

"He’ll find me!" She said through her teeth.

Kara took a few steps back. "I didn’t expect you to give up easily. Now I’ll have to make you do it."

Elena was about to understand the meaning of those words in a few seconds. Kara run her hand across her face completely changing her appearance into that of Elena. This wasn’t just a simple guise; it was her power!

Her face grew wide in surprise as possibilities of what she was about to do crossed her mind.

"You will not lay a finger on my husband," she said, pointing at Kara’s reflection of her.

"Oh, I will do more than laying a finger on him. How about turning my back to him?" She asked, picking the right chords to rile Elena up.

Elena ran the narrow distance between the two before she landed a clumsy punch on Kara’s stomach. However, to her surprise, her hand went through, before her entire body crossed to the other side. She stared at her first in disbelief before shifting her gaze to Kara’s reflection of her.

"Thought you could hurt me inside a memory?" She asked in mockery. And as if to add salt to injury, she said, "My husband must be very worried about my absence. Let me get back and have a good time with him. Bye bye."

"You bitch..." Before Elena could grab the formless figure, it disappeared, making her land flat on her stomach.