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She'd panicked. She'd ignored Jonathan's warning, and now there was blood running across her robe, staining the maroon a darker, filthy burgundy. Not her blood though... His.
She couldn't breathe. Not deep enough to keep the edge of her vision from closing in slightly, increasing her panic. She inhaled and closed her eyes to steady herself, the shadows of the fire in the hearth dancing across her eyelids. In... out... In... out... She turned towards the body lying broken across the polished wooden floor of the antechamber. And felt the sick rise into her throat.
She'd done that. Shattered his skin like porcelain. Cracked his bones like glass. Created that bloody tapestry unraveling around his head like a sadistic crown, glistening with reflecting starlight through the window above them.
She closed her eyes again, and pressed her bloodied hands over her ears. His voice was haunting her. His screams were still echoing in the crevices of the wooden beams supporting the room's skylight.
Commotion beyond the double doors startled her, and she ran to the balcony. The celebration was still going strong in the courtyard below, stalls buried beneath the traffic of frantic worshippers desperate to have their tokens blessed by the Elders. No one was looking at the cathedral. Thank the gods, she thought automatically. She pulled herself up into the ledge and shuffled around the granite walls to the next room's open balcony. She climbed down and pulled open the door.
Jonathan was pacing a new pattern into the worn carpet in front of the hearth. His head snapped up when she entered and he swore quietly.
"Dammit, Eve. You look like shit." He said. He helped her remove her outer robe and veil, tossing them into a pile on the floor. "What happened?"
Eve shook her head. "I'm not exactly sure," she managed. "One moment the Elder was coming towards me, and then he was lying dead on the floor." She rubbed her temples, trying to stop the onset of pounding in her head. "I don't even know how I killed him."
Jonathan stared at her, apprehensively. "Look, neither of us knows exactly what this all means yet. But this is the opposite of lying low." He moved towards a basin on the far wall and began scrubbing blood from his hands. Eve followed.
"It was an accident - I'd only meant to threaten him. To scare him enough so he'd leave my family alone." She started scrubbing the Elder's blood from her hands, picking at the hardened clots under her nails. "How was I to know I would Rend him?"
"You did what?!" Jonathan stepped away from her, not bothering to dry his hands.
"I mean, I think that's what it was?" Eve said. "I've never seen it before and they don't exactly talk about it too much at school." She reached for the towel near the bowl.
"For good reason, Eve!" Jonathan snapped. "You mean, an Elder was Rended by your hand tonight?"
"I didn't mean to!" She bit back. "This shit is all new to me! And I'd appreciate some help figuring out instead of being treated like a monster." Eve threw her towel to the floor and stormed over to the balcony. She hung her head and sighed. "I didn't mean to kill him, but I am glad he's dead," she confessed. "What he did to Lyla... That was unforgivable."