Emperor Of The Abyss

Chapter 8

Power surged through him. Raw and Terrifying.

Kane didn't mean to push her. He barely moved his arm. But when he did, when he shoved Elara away from him, it was like he'd been hit by a battering ram.

Elara flew backward. Her feet left the ground. She sailed through the air and slammed face-first into the corridor wall outside Kane's room with a sickening crack.

The impact knocked the wind from her lungs. She felt something break,her nose, maybe her cheekbone. But worse than that, worse than the pain in her face or the stars exploding in her vision, was the pressure in her stomach.

The knife.

In the chaos, in the flight through the air, in the terrible force of hitting the stone wall, the knife had turned in her hand.

And now it was buried in her stomach.

Elara slid down the wall and crumpled to the floor. Blood was already spreading across the front of her gray dress, dark and wet. She tried to breathe but couldn't seem to get any air. Everything hurts. 

Kane stood in his doorway, staring at his own hand. His palm was glowing,actually glowing,with a faint amber light that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. He turned his hand over, watching the light fade, and his face went white.

"No." 

He whispered.

Then louder:

 "No!"

He rushed forward and dropped to his knees beside Elara. Blood was pooling beneath her, spreading across the stone floor. The knife handle stuck out from her stomach at an angle. Her eyes were wide and glassy, staring at nothing.

"Elara!" 

Kane pressed his hands to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but there was so much blood. It was hot and sticky and it just kept coming.

 "Hold on, just hold on, I'll get help…"

Elara's lips moved. Kane had to lean close to hear her.

"I'm... sorry..."

The words came out in a wet whisper. Blood bubbled at the corner of her mouth.

"Don't talk." 

Kane said. His own hands were shaking now, covered in her blood.

 "Save your strength. Someone! Help! I need help!"

Inside the room, Valerie stirred. The shouting had woken her. She sat up in bed, confused and disoriented, the sheet clutched to her chest.

"Kane?" 

She called out, her voice thick with sleep.

 "What is it? What's happening?”

Kane didn't answer. He was too focused on Elara, on trying to keep pressure on the wound, on watching the light fade from her eyes.

Elara's chest rose once more. Then fell.

And didn't rise again.

"No, no, no." 

Kane muttered. He shook her shoulder gently. 

"Elara, stay with me. Come on. Don't…"

But she was gone. Her eyes stared at nothing. Her body went limp.

Valerie appeared in the doorway, the bedsheet wrapped around her naked body like a makeshift dress. She was still half asleep, her hair a mess, her eyes not quite focused.

Then she saw the blood and then she screamed.

The sound was piercing, high and terrified, echoing through the stone corridor like a siren. It cut through the night silence of the palace like a blade.

Doors started opening. Up and down the servant's 

wing maids poked their heads out to see what was happening. They emerged in their nightgowns, their hair in sleeping braids, their faces creased with confusion and fear.

The first maid to reach the scene was a young girl named Ruth. She took one look at the tableau,Kane kneeling in a pool of blood, Elara's body sprawled against the wall, the knife handle sticking from her stomach and her hand flew to her mouth.

"Sweet mercy." 

She breathed.

More maids crowded around. They pressed close, trying to see, gasping when they caught sight of the blood.

"Isn't that Elara?" 

Someone whispered.

"What happened to her?"

"Is that... is that a knife? In her stomach?"

"She's dead. Look at her eyes. She's dead."

"The prince... what did he do?"

The whispers grew louder, overlapping, building into a confused buzz of voices.

Valerie stood frozen in the doorway, still clutching the sheet around herself. Her face had gone pale. She stared at Kane, at his blood-covered hands, at Elara's body.

"Kane?" 

She said, and her voice was small. Uncertain.

Kane looked up at her. His eyes were wild, desperate.

 "She came at me with a knife." 

He said.

 "I didn't mean to,I just pushed her and she…"

But Valerie had already started backing away. She shook her head slowly, her eyes wide with something that looked horribly like fear.

Like she was afraid of him.

"Valerie…" 

Kane reached out with one blood-stained hand.

She flinched away from him.

Then, before Kane could say anything else, before he could explain, Valerie turned and ran. The bedsheet trailed behind her like a banner as she fled down the corridor, her bare feet slapping against the stone.

"Valerie, wait!" 

Kane tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't work properly. He was shaking too hard.

The maids were all staring at him now. Some with fear. Some with horror. Some with a kind of sick fascination.

And then a new voice cut through the chaos.

"What happened here?"

The crowd of servants parted instantly, pressing themselves against the walls to make way.

Lady Morgana walked slowly down the corridor, four guards flanking her,two on each side. 

She wore a black sleeping gown with a robe over it, but somehow she still looked perfectly composed. Not a hair out of place. Her face was calm. Almost serene.

She stopped a few feet from where Kane knelt beside Elara's body. Her dark eyes took in the scene with clinical precision: the blood, the knife, the dead girl, Kane's trembling hands.

The corner of her mouth twitched. Just slightly. So briefly that anyone watching might have though

t they imagined it.

Then her face settled into an expression of shock and horror that looked almost convincing.

"Dear gods." 

Morgana breathed. She raised one hand to her throat. 

"What happened here?...”