A small strike of gaping silence, and then everyone screamed.

I spun around, away from the hanging corpse, and faced the side where the living form of chaos relentlessly broke out.

I tore myself away from the guests and thunderously marched towards the group of dancers; fury filling the thick tube of my veins.

Where is she?

The dancers shrieked as I rapidly approached them, pushing through their crowd to grab the murderer's arms.

I didn't find it.

"Get out of my way!"

The females scattered, almost falling to the floors as I checked every face and neck to see if it was the one I was looking to crack and kill.

Before I knew it, I was stuck; surrounded by a massive crowd gobbled by fear and tension, and their bodies had reflexively come closer together to form tight circles around me. It almost suffocated me, making it unable for me to see anything much outside their formation.

I heard Rhea cry out.

I jumped up, propelling myself through the scared guests and constantly looked from side to side to spot the dancer's face.

When I made it out, the scene I met depressed itself into slow motion.

Rhea's mother was coughing out blood through her nose and mouth; losing control of her own movements, and her vehement howls of pain sent out a toxic wave - catching onto everyone else.

Guards came running towards her, half of them ordered to get the healers immediately while the other half evenly tried to get her to a safe space before procceding to remove the dead body from the chandelier.

Within the next few seconds, the true disaster stormed in.

I fisted my palms and roared violently, racing towards my father.

My father, who had a knife looming over his neck, taunting out droplets of blood from his exposed collarbone.

She was holding it.

I grabbed the handle of the knife, desperately letting my fingers scrape over the bolster as I swung it away from his neck.

I looked up to see the dancer who had instantly removed her hands from him.

I pushed him to the side and leapt to grab the dancer's head, curling my fingers around her neck, as I held her against me in a tight lock. 

Her head was beneath mine, sharp blue eyes cunningly staring at me.

"Guards! Bring me the dungeon ropes at once!" In moments, three guards removed themselves from the protective ring that had formed around my father, and strode towards me.

I looked down at the dancer to see her breathing hard, wild eyes wickedly flickering everywhere.

All of a sudden, she gazed up into my eyes with a strange softness, fixing her gaze straight at my lips.

"I love you."

It was an extremely small gap of a moment, but it was still something - a crack that an angel could never fly through but one that a devil could wreck with a smirk and make it so much bigger to storm its way through.

In that tiny gap, my grip on her loosened and she immediately clutched the moment, whisking it away to her advantage.

Her arms shot up so quickly that a little blink could have missed it, and it dropped violently onto the sides of my neck, hitting my collarbones with an unexpected sharpness. It forced me to plunge back, nearly bolting my senses together.

I wasted no time in reacting, as I flung my legs up and fluidly drove it at her stomach just as I took the fall, bringing her body down with mine.

Her head crashed onto the floors next to mine with a loud grimace, but we both braced our fall at the same time. I latched my hands against her neck the minute I could, prisoning her body. Her fists banged against my chest as she began to choke under my hold, impetously gasping for air.

I heard another scream behind me, and this one was frighteningly more familiar.

Lia.

I rashly shoved away all the noises, and started pounding the murderer's head against the floor, only wanting to hear her screams as her eyes thrust itself into a dark oblivion - a place she could never return from.

If I can stop her, I can stop everything.

Another scream came - a much louder one that urgently ceased my movements and drug me out to listen.

My hand painfully stiffened against the dancer's neck as I whipped my head around.

I shouldn't have done that.

Before I could even see what was happening, my head was pulled back and fiercely slammed back onto the floor, momentarily shaking my vision away.

Darkened stars, a hammered rush of thoughts and nothing more.

It felt incredibly easy to just...not open my eyes in that moment.

No. Stay awake.

Stay the hell awake.

My eyes forcibly opened.

"A concussion for nearly giving me one, how considerate am I?" The dancer breathed near my ears, and her eyes spoke of a defiant glare as she glowered down at me.

Suddenly, I was forced to an upright posture by someone else from the back. A silk-like material was fastened around my wrists that were bound to my back. My body was hauled back, and it thumped against one of the pillars, ropes being tied all around me.

I couldn't move at all.

"Doing this in a different scenario would lessen the pain, but do try and hang on for now, your majesty."

I gritted my teeth.

Once I was able to get my eyes to fully open, absolute chaos struck my sight.

The guards were completely unconscious, sprawled across the floors in a state that I gravely hoped wasn't irreversible. The guests were dissolved in the exact same state, various bodies lying around one another with or without a flowing breath.

Rhea's mother was lying hopeless in her daughter's arms, gushes of blood drizzled all over her face and attire; her spotty freckles rapidly capped and clotted by simple drops of red fluid. The only person supporting her was Rhea; desperately holding her mother's head at an angle to stop the pouring blood.

"Rhea..." I uttered, strenously trying to somehow get her help and let her know that I was here.

Her body and eyes didn't move a single inch away from her mother, as her hands kept shaking with a tearful vigour.

My parents were both tied to the same pillar near mine, their bodies painfully cinched around the tall brick.

Compelling out struggled breaths, my mother grunted and groaned, demanding my father - now a physically battered man slowly swaying into a scary silence - to stay awake as she frantically banged her head against the rock behind her.

The Hall of Thrones was completely surrounded, by men I knew were unfamiliar to the kingdom in every way.

Who are they?

I surveyed everything again, mindlessly searching the scene for some sort of hope.

Rhea's father...he was nowhere to be seen.

Where is my sister?

"Your sister - the sweetheart put too much of a fight to be simply restrained like your parents." The dancer answered my loud thoughts with a disgustingly pleased tone.

I shut my eyes angrily, internally lashing out at the sudden thoughts about Lia - it terrified me to the core.

"If anything, and I mean anything has happened to my sister, I will drain out every drop of blood from your body and make it sink into your slashed throat, you vile makarti."

The dancer stepped in front of me, and crouched down to my level, meeting me with a curious smirk.

"They were right about you, I hate to believe it. Trust me, if I had known, I would have come better prepared that fateful night."

I can just see her blood-splattered corpse hung at the entrance to the very dungeons she escaped from.

"Trust me, if I had known, I would have stabbed you in both of your eyes and gone for your heart instead of stopping at your stomach." I spat out with a sneer.

"Care to know what I would have done, before that beautiful thought even entered your head?" She raised a brow, tilting her head at me.

I opened my mouth to respond, but something caught the corner of my eye.

A female head peeking out from a far pillar, near the exit to the hall.

Dark brown eyes, plaited brown hair, fisted palms secured at her sides.

Zyanna.

I subtly pulled my gaze away, fixing a quick glare at the floor.

"Thinking about anything in regards to your pathetic existence, I truly consider it to be a crime."

She swiftly narrowed her eyebrows, strictening her gaze.

She briskly got up with a sudden alertness in her stance, and folded her arms across her chest.

The female spun around, facing the unknown men surrounding the Hall of Thrones. "That was too kind of an insult. Something's changed. Mayans, repeat the border check around this area. Alive or dead, I want to know. If anyone attempts to enter, kill."

Mayans? Who are these men?

The men straightened up even more than before, their sharp muscles shifting into motion so quickly that it could have given them whiplash, and flew out of the doors.

I stared up at the dancer.

Who is she?

I swallowed and looked at Zyanna, my breaths beginning to descend into mad twists and knots.

Nothing should happen to her. She should be left out of this. No matter what, innocents should never be sacrificed, innocents shouldn't die.

Innocents shouldn't enter a fight that didn't belong to them, no matter what.

But that's exactly what a ludicrous female did.

Suddenly, a little child emerged from behind the pillar next to Zyanna, and sped towards me with a fiery outcry.

"Rain! No!" Zyanna screamed, immediately falling into a frenzied chase after her.

The dancer yanked out a knife from the back of her dress, and ran towards Rain and Zyanna with a prepared smile.

"RAIN!" I yelled out, pouncing forwards only to hit the floors, my hands still tightly tied up.

I hurriedly whipped my head in Rhea's direction, and gathered up every bit of energy I had left, as I shouted into the air, almost breaking into a strangled cry.

Her head shot up, and her eyes widened in dismay, like everything around her had actually just registered itself to her brain.

"Rhea! Go and help them now!"

She abashedly shifted her glance to her mother that was still in her arms, and for a moment, it felt like I was about to be betrayed.

"Rhea, please!"

I was praying.

Please don't let me down, Rhea.

My best friend sunk down, and closed her eyes with a lone tear.

Time came to a standstill, and the air was crunched between the dancer, Zyanna, and Rain.

The knife flew into the air.

Blood landed on the carpet.

A body unceremoniously dropped without a rising breath.

***
Don't kill me, but I think this is my new favourite chapter, haha. It was such a struggle to get into the writing and flow, but thankfully I got it together today.

Don't kill me again...but, uh, what do you think? Every thought, whatever it is, just let it out.

Stay blessed and strong even during the times that make you weak,
OceanaCamerons 🌹🌹🌹