Chapter 9: The Blood Oath
612 Words
The palace halls were eerily silent.
Elara followed Kael through the torch-lit corridors, their footsteps echoing against the stone walls. The weight of the news—the assassin is dead—hung between them like a blade.
Someone had silenced him.
Which meant someone inside the palace had orchestrated the attack.
Kael’s jaw was tight, his expression unreadable. But Elara could feel the tension radiating from him.
“We should have questioned him sooner,” she murmured.
Kael’s golden eyes flickered toward her. “And if we had?”
Elara exhaled sharply. “Maybe we’d have answers.”
“Or maybe we’d be dead.”
She hated that he had a point.
Still, the timing was too perfect. The assassin had been executed before he could talk—not by the guards, but by someone powerful enough to reach him inside the palace dungeons.
As they neared the lower levels, Kael slowed.
“Elara,” he said, voice quieter now. “Whatever we find in there… be prepared.”
She met his gaze. “I always am.”
---
The dungeon was damp and suffocating, the air thick with the stench of blood and decay.
The moment they stepped inside, Elara’s stomach turned.
The assassin lay slumped against the stone wall, his body unnaturally still. His throat had been slit cleanly, the wound precise. Not an act of rage, but one of efficiency.
Kael crouched beside the corpse, his fingers ghosting over the dried blood. His expression remained neutral, but Elara knew him well enough to see the anger simmering beneath the surface.
“This wasn’t a regular execution,” he muttered. “They cut his throat, but there’s no sign of a struggle.”
Elara stepped closer, her sharp gaze scanning the walls. No chains had been broken. No locks tampered with.
“He let them do it,” she realized.
Kael looked up.
“What?”
Elara swallowed. “Whoever killed him… he didn’t fight back.”
Silence stretched between them.
It didn’t make sense. The assassin had fought to kill Kael in the ballroom—why would he surrender so easily now?
Unless—
A chill ran down her spine.
“He was afraid,” she whispered. “Not of us. Of them.”
Kael rose to his feet, his golden eyes dark with realization.
“Which means the real threat,” he said grimly, “is still watching us.”
---
By midday, news of the assassin’s death had spread through the palace.
Whispers slithered through the court like a venomous tide.
“Eliminated before he could talk.”
“An execution within the royal dungeons—unheard of.”
“If the prince isn’t safe, none of us are.”
Elara ignored the murmurs as she walked beside Kael toward the grand hall. They had more pressing concerns.
“We need to find out who ordered his death,” she muttered under her breath.
Kael’s gaze was distant, his mind already working through possibilities.
“I have my suspicions,” he admitted.
Elara arched a brow. “Let me guess—Lady Selene?”
His lips pressed into a thin line. “She stands to gain the most from my death.”
Elara didn’t argue. Selene had made her disdain for Elara clear from the moment they met. And after the hunt, after the ball, after everything—she had more reason than ever to see Elara gone.
But something about this felt… off.
Selene was dangerous, yes. But this? This felt larger than her.
Elara was still lost in thought when the grand hall doors swung open.
And every noble inside turned to stare at her.
- Writer
