Elodie's POV
I was submerged in complete and utter disbelief, staring at Arya like a foreigner. Like I never knew who my friend really was, or for that matter what secrets the royal family might've been hiding from our society the entire time.
No words were exchanged for a few seconds, only when the library door was pushed open and two blue eyes peered from the side of the door.
Kieran let out a sigh and gave me a sad smile.
I turned to look at Arya who furrowed her eyebrows and pleaded with me with her eyes. Inside, I wanted to scream out loud what I'd just seen but the part of me that cared about her friend kept her lips sealed shut.
"Hi, Elle." Kieran whispered.
Slowly, I plastered a smile into my face.
"Would you want to go get some food in town maybe? There's a village through the woods."
I took in a deep breath and nodded, taking his hand.
***
Kieran's POV
"So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard somebody has been dwelling a little. Sulking, I'd say."
Elodie scoffed and playfully punched me in the arm, having to bite her lip to stop the smile that threatened to appear on her face.
I pulled out a painted white, wooden chair from a glass table outside an autumn-themed café, a gorgeous lining of cotton sheltering us from the beaming sun above our heads.
Having never stopped moving since our building, I didn't think we'd ever sat down anywhere with the only intention to enjoy ourselves. And Elodie Blue sure needed to enjoy herself.
"Elodie, I know what you're thinking. I know what he did is awful but please don't make any assumptions."
The smile she'd been forcing faded and she stared down at her lap, playing around with her fingers.
"If he could betray me, who says he couldn't-"
"He might not be the traitor." I interrupted. "When has he ever done anything to lose our trust in the past?"
She shrugged again.
"Stop thinking about us, Elle. I want you to be upset. I don't want you to be scared of betrayal or fearing for the group, you need to be upset about the relationship you just lost otherwise it'll haunt you forever."
Finally, she looked up towards me. I saw raw emotion in her eyes.
The terror, the sadness and the confusion she'd been processing for as long as she could remember.
She was looking at me, into my eyes, almost as if she was looking through me and I was nothing more than a spirit.
It was silent, it was nice. Being able to see clearly.
That feeling was destroyed in an instant.
I saw panic fill her eyes. "Kieran, that was a gunshot."
"I know." I said, trying to stay calm. "Run. Through the woods. Go get everyone packed up quickly."
"Wait, no." She shouted. "Where are you going?"
"To find where it came from." I exclaimed, standing abruptly from the chair and jogging in the opposite direction we'd came from.
She didn't have a chance to argue, in seconds I was long gone running round the side of a building and she was forced to run through the woods.
Three more gunshots. Ringing out only around 20 meters away.
One loud bang, a crash almost and then complete silence.
Why was nobody screaming? Running?
I knew why I saw no authorities, clearly the system wouldn't deem superiority with violence worthy of their attention. But people weren't emotionless robots, we're programmed to run or hide when we her anything that could cause us harm.
Yet there was nobody, anywhere. For the first time I noticed that the town was completely deserted.
I cautiously wandered round the town centre, a pretty, italian-styled square that highlighted the entire village.
Taking a deep breath before appearing round the side of a corner, scanning the square for anything that could tell me the source of the shots.
It was deserted, aside from one man, who stood in the middle staring at me. Complete terror embedding itself into his sunken eyes.
On the ground lay a gun, the front smashed as if it'd been hit against the ground repeatedly. Clearly that was the source of the crash.
The man opened his mouth about to say something, then suddenly his eyes glazed over and he crumpled to the ground.
"Shit." I whispered, running over and fumbling about for his wrist.
No pulse. He was gone.
I didn't understand. He knew how to shoot the gun, a bullet hole in his chest indicating that, but why had he shot himself? He seemed terrified and I thought I might've seen relief when he looked at me.
And why had there been multiple shots, I saw only one wound.
There was only thing I did understand.
Firstly, he hadn't wanted to do it.
And secondly, he most definitely wasn't the one in control of it.