Crimson Lace

Chapter 16

ALEC
CHAPTER SIXTEEN

My whole body is clenched as I ram my leg into the trash can. The contents spill all over my bathroom floor, but the mess isn't enough to stop me. My fist collides with the glass bottles of cologne and soaps that were neatly organized on my sink. The room now smells strongly of masculinity and exorbitantly priced liquids as the glass shatters on the floor, some stray shards dig into my fists.

"Dammit," I grumble, not bothering to pick the pieces out of my knuckles.

If anything happens to Elle, I swear to hell that someone will pay for this, and the next thing I destroy won't be my bathroom. I can't stop imagining her locked up in a cell somewhere. Is she scared? I have to know. Are they torturing her? I will strangle them if they do. I have to keep myself under control or else the whole palace might lose power because of me. Again.

Screw it.

I use my shoulders to open the door leading into my chambers, and stalk out onto the balcony. I need the fresh air or else I might explode. The evening breeze is calming, but I have another reason for being out here. I extend my arms out in front of me, palms open to the darkly bruised sky. I close my eyes, allowing my rage to fuel the energy. It starts as a tickle in my senses, rather distant at first. I can feel the power strengthening. The deeper I inhale the more I feel it. Shivers run up my back and vibrations echo in my fingertips. I clench my hands shut, holding onto the power while it rises in me like a tide. As pressure builds my fists convulse, until it's too much to keep inside of me. I need an anchor for the electricity, a pocket for my fury.

I open my palms, allowing the power to thrust skyward. The clouds darken above me, like I am a magnet and the sky is metal. The lightning doesn't take long to develop. Pretty soon the sky is alive with blue fiery light and the feeling rattles my bones. I can practically taste this surge of power on a molecular level. Every clap of thunder seems to restart my heart, every branch of lightning reaching for the ground is like an extension of my body.

For hell's sake!

Boom.

Why did she have to do this?

A bolt in the distance splits a tree in half.

What was she thinking?

The light is blinding. The fear for her life is blinding.

They're going to kill her!

A bolt lights up the pond like blue spider webs.

Rain pelts my face. I ruffle my hand through my wet hair, feeling the brown locks slip through my fingers and plaster to my forehead. I grip the marble railing of the balcony so tightly that the veins of my fists show and my shoulders cramp. The cloudburst and its electric branches are vengeful at my command.

My feet are planted in one spot even though I feel like I am running.

I want to rush her cell, break down the walls, and pull her out. I would trade places with her if I could. Anything to protect her from King Keaton's wrath. My sopping wet suit clings to my chest tightly. The feel of the wet material against my skin makes me itch enough so that it's a distraction from my outrage.

No matter how much I push Elle away my heart scrambles to reach her. I don't know how to live like this fool that I am becoming.

"Mom?" I croak, biting back a shiver as the rain cools the seething anger that was keeping me warm. "This would be a good time for some of your advice." I almost laugh at how ridiculous it is for me to talk to the sky. "Why do I feel this way, mom?" I wipe the sky's tears from my face as if they were my own, looking to the stars and the moon for some sort of sign. But as expected there is no answer.