Crimson Lace

Chapter 12

WARNING: This chapter contains mature themes including violence and gore.

ELLE
CHAPTER TWELVE

Instead of the hum and clap of lightning burning through flesh, a much different noise breaks out over the courtroom. It takes me a second to place it.

Loud bangs.

The lights sputter out before anyone has time to see the cause of all the ruckus. The courtroom has fallen into chaos. The room is too dark to be able to see, and all I hear is the trampling of feet and terrifying screams.

"The rebels!" one woman shreeks.

The rebels? As in gangs. The floor almost shakes with the ferocious running of the suddenly petrified people. It isn't until Alec uses his electricity to power on the lights again that we can see what's going on. The pungent smell of nitro gun powder fills the room.

A shooting.

The shots still ring in my ears. Who is dead? My eyes shoot to the thrones. After all, the two kings sitting side by side are the most obvious targets, but they have already fled the scene. They've been escorted out by their bodyguards. Josephine is gone as well, and her large bird went with her. Only Alec remains.

I sigh in relief at the sight of him standing and not lying on the floor amongst the dead. We lock eyes for a brief second across the room, but he turns away and leaps into action. His fists spark to life with electricity, and he barrels through the crowd in a haze of blue and silver light.

He's going to hunt down the assassins.

What crosses my mind next is both a mixture of panic and relief. Wesley is no longer in the room. The only trace of him are the rose stems and flower laying loosely on the floor. And in an instant, I realize it was a rescue.

He tried to console me. He was telling me that he would be okay. That was why he kept attempting to get me to say that he isn't going anywhere. He didn't want me to be sad. I am such an idiot for not taking the hint.

I'm slow to recognize the bodies. There are three of them, and they lay sprawled out on the floor exactly where Wesley had been just minutes ago. They are the bodies of the guardsmen who were nearest to him. One of them is the Greener, which explains why the stems fell off of  Wes enough to break free. Without their source of power they are nothing but regular plants.

It seems impossible that Nobles could be killed. After all, they try to burn it into our brains that they are invincible. But in truth they can be hurt, even by us Serfs. They are not all-powerful like they pretend to be.

If Wesley wasn't in trouble before he sure will be when they find him, because if there is one thing that Nobles hate more than Serfs, it's losing to one. They'll kill him in far worse ways than Alec's lightning if they get the chance. I couldn't stop Alec from killing Wesley, luckily I didn't have to, but maybe I can help him escape.

It doesn't take much for me to slip out of the room. Through all the commotion no one is going to pay much attention to a random Serf girl darting through the crowd. Even the King didn't seem to pay me much attention after the shots were fired. He didn't check to see if I was amongst the dead. Even though he has known me since I was a baby and has watched me grow up, he still doesn't seem to care much about me.

Why would he anyways, I am just a pet. It doesn't matter. I'm on my own. I've always known that and it's always been true.

Running through the panicking herd of people is like a blur of colored fabric and bright makeup. Through the comotion it's easy to forget to watch my step. I slip in something wet and land face down in a pooling spill of red wine. My dress is soaked and stained crimson.