Within the Walls [NEW VERSION]

Chapter 38

My breaths echo off the narrow tower walls as I climb up the spiral staircase. Sobs fall from my lips each time Larissa's death flashes across my mind, gripping my heart in the claws of shock.

Screams and shouts crackle from below me, scraping along my spine. I don't stop. Even though every instinct protests, urging me to turn and check on Ruben. Wind batters and howls through the cracks in the windows as I pass, the glass clattering. I simply stumble blindly through the raging tempest of night and lament.

Finally, I arrive at the top of the spiral stairs and slam my shoulder into the wooden door, shoving it open. Not a single candle is alight. Thick shadows drape over the room as if the king has only ever known darkness – as if he's never seen the light.

The king chuckles from somewhere in the gloom, sending a chill into my blood. He stands rigid before the single arched window of the tallest tower, his back to me, overlooking his kingdom, the moonlight gilding his stubble and green eyes. Fires and riots consume the Concave and Convex Sectors. Smoke plumes into the night sky, melting into the inkiness of it all, covering the stars.

"I should have trusted my institution," the king says, voice low, dripping with disgust and the waver of fear. "Never should I have allowed you to live. Look at what you've done."

"It's done, Talin," I say, trudging closer, spinning my knife. The pungent stench of soot drifts in with the wind. "Step down."

"Of course, Elle." He spits out my name, turning his chin, his body following. I startle at the severed flesh on his cheek, the blood smeared and dripping down his face, soaking into his gown. He removes his crown and holds it out. The pathetic encompassment of human greed to little end glints at me, like the fangs of a beast. "I suppose you think this belongs to you. That you have the right to pry it from me with your blood-drenched hands."

I scoff, suddenly feeling an inch tall and wishing for nothing more than to flee. But I square my shoulders and take another step. "The people will decide who will lead them."

"You do not understand what you have done." He places the crown back on his head and paces the small room. "There is not enough food to go around. Not with the blight. Now, the Convex people are going to grow arrogant and fight for the Concave food. I predict a war within the kingdom, Elle."

"Don't lie to me," I snap, echoing his own words. "You don't care about that. You are afraid of losing control, of losing power."

"Not true." He waggles his finger.

"It doesn't matter anyway." I lunge at the king, slashing my knife at his throat and kicking him in the gut. He staggers back, smacking into the window ledge. I grab his collar and shove the knife against his throat, gathering the primal, inhuman will to slice his neck open. I can do this. Do this.

He gurgles and groans, leaning back out of the window as rioters below shout his name and launch knives and spears, cursing his name to the depths of the God of Soul's realm.

An icy, hollow look, awoken by ancient instinct, glints in those green eyes as I press the blade against his neck, letting the blood drip, drip, drip out as he whimpers and cowers. I lick my lips, reveling in the sight and feeling of the king beneath my blade... my father's blade. The serpent Fallon crest reminds me of who I came from, and the man who planted the fire and the shadow in me from a young age. Would he be proud of me? Would he cheer me on?

Yes, I would, my father's voice, the one that never left my memory, echoes in my head.

"Stop," Talin hisses, trying to thrash. But I push harder. His eyes bulge and his face turns the shade of the bodies that clog the Convex carts before mass burial – the bodies he created. "Elle!"