The Immortal Prince ✔️

17

All of a sudden he vanishes.

His book once on his lap topples to the floor, pages fluttering. Stooping down, I retrieve it, smoothing out any creases as I look around the room, puzzled.

"Hale?" I ask into the air.

All it's takes is a single blink at least four minutes later, and he's back. A crying Eyla is clutching at him, his arm wrapped around her waist to keep her standing.

And she's covered in blood.

Shooting out of my seat, I watch Hale help her into the chair he was sitting in only moment ago, the blood on her now on him too.

"Eyla? What's going on?" I come to her side, , lifting parts of her clothing to see where the blood is coming from. It appears as though there are no major wounds that are to blame for this, and yet the blood is fresh.

Her breathing is rushed, hysterical, as she clutches my arm to the point of pain, looking at me with widened eyes.

Hale looks down at me. "I found her like this. She isn't injured."

"Eyla...Eyla, it's okay. Tell me what's going on." I grasp either side of her face, holding her gaze. If only those deep brown eyes would reveal to me what she has just seen, because by the looks of it, it's a nightmare.

Her expression crumbles into pure, unbelievable pain. "Its...Oh it's Will, Vae."

"This is Will's blood?" I question breathlessly, rearing back slightly, looking at what stains my skin now. Naseua overwhelms me for a moment, as I try to hold back from turning around to be sick all over the floor.

The tears streaming from Eyla's dark eyes mix with the blood on her face, dripping down her chin and jaw. "He's dead. Someone killed him."

"His neck was cut," Hale tells me grimly.

Dread falls over me like a thick, heavy blanket I can't kick off. Will murdered? He may not have been the most likeable person, but I've never known anyone to harbour distain toward him.

And to have his neck cut...My head spins, dizziness nearly sending me toppling to the floor.

"He was meant to meet me at yours, so Hale could bring us up here, but he never came. I went to his house and he was dead," she sobs, still clutching me.

Murder is so rare, and yet I've been confronted with it far too much in my life.

"It's okay Eyla, you need to relax now," I soothe, patting her hair down, pushing down my own emotions. Eyla's beautiful, sweet soul doesn't need corrupting by such horror. And Will did not deserve to be murdered so brutally.

Her face scrunches up as she tips her head back, breathing in deeply. "I think I might be sick."

Letting her sit forward, I look up at Hale. A frown is etched into his features as he stares at the floor, lost in thought. I'm certain he's seen far worse things than this, but he's unnerved regardless.

"How did you know she needed you?" I ask him. He disappeared without hesitation, sensing something.

He exhales slowly. "I just knew..."

I turn back to Eyla, grabbing her face in my hands. "We will find out who did this, okay?"

I'll kill whoever did this myself, if I have to. Fragments of myself are starting to break away, and retribution may be the only way I can start putting them back together. No matter our relationship before his death, I cared about him, and he was important to me.

Eyla grabs my hand. "It was brutal. It was almost exactly how you described-"

"Eyla...Don't," I say over her.