Wulf (The Fifth Place #1)

by Set Sytes

Alexia was standing outside the thick semi-circle of people, with her back to him. She wasn’t moving. Some of the crowd shifted away, shaking their heads. There were gaps. Gaps showing high wheels, and a pool of burgundy blood that looked dark and unnatural. The body of the carriage was trying to hide it in shadow, but the bright bruise of the day was everywhere, and there would be no hiding. Bathed in the blood, just behind the wheel arches, was Alexia’s father. Alexia moved through the crowd as it parted, as stiff as an automaton. Her feet scuffed the dust behind her, at one point almost tripping her up. She walked to the side of the carriage, where the light pointed to her father’s stony face and his broken torso. Pointed to the rut of the wheel that had grooved his body as though he were only a patch of mud. She went slowly to her knees. She went in silence. Jay moved closer, caught the side of her face. The pink flush of her cheeks was gone, now she was only white. Her lips were pale, her eyes hidden by the fall of her hair that no longer glowed of sand and sunset, but echoed the gore and the mocking of the morning light. Translucent tears streaked down her face and dripped to the ground, where they diluted her father’s blood. This was where she kneeled, as it continued to flow around her.