“Are you sure this is the only way?”he asked.“And how do you even know about this sword?”
“My mom, Queen Lilliana, left me a note. She knew about it somehow.” I turned around, my heart twisting at the sight of Chrome fighting against Slate and Onyx’s restraint, the Syphon Bond taking hold once again. “I don’t have time, Cotton. Please.”
Cotton closed his eyes, dipping his chin.“Of course, Your Majesty.”
I bit my bottom lip, doing my best to push aside the reality of what I was about to do.
Cotton flipped the sword around so that its hilt faced me.
“Thank you,” I whispered, my heart already disintegrating. Then, I raced to Chrome, dropping to my knees.
His eyes sought mine out upon my arrival. “My Rainbow.” The silver in his irises faded in and out with the black trying to push through. “Take me to the other side now, will you?”
My face contorted as I forced back a sob. “I’ll find you.”
“I know, Princess,” he said before he groaned. “Hurry, I can’t hold it off much longer.”
His stab wound had already nearly healed, the Syphon Bond closing in, snatching him back in its grip. And there was no doubt that when he came back around this time, he would be merciless. None of us stood a chance.
Only a few breaths later, the demon that possessed my Twin Soul broke through again. “I’ll punish you so fucking hard for this, little savage!” His face contorted as he lunged at me from the ground, his shadows lashing out. Slate and Onyx shoved his shoulders back down, slamming the back of his head into cobblestones.
My hands shook, sobs wracking my chest as I watched the man I loved lose his battle. “Chrome…”
Eyelids fluttering open, the real Chrome’s metallic irises swirled, gazing at me—despite the internal war he fought—as if his soul spoke through them. He panted, allowing Slate and Onyx to hold him down. Love and hope beamed in his lazy grin as he cupped my cheek with a quivering palm. “You’re my only hope.” He grimaced, swallowing through the struggle. “It’s always been you, my queen. Thank you for setting me free.”
Squeezing the sword in my fist, I summoned what bit of inner strength I had left, my mother’s words from her letter ringing in my ear. “I’m so sorry.” I leaned across his front, delivering one last desperate kiss—one kiss that said everything I’d wanted to say over the past few months.
Salty tears splashed between our entwined lips, as I let my love and pain be the final thing he tasted.
I took the Eternal Sword, as my mother had called it, and sat up so my back was straight.
“It’s—about time—I returned these…” Chrome kept his quicksilver gaze on mine, a soft smile on his face as if he was at peace. I raised the sword above my head. Sobs shook my shoulders as I brought the point of the sword down, spearing him right in the heart.
A second before the blade struck true, I was slammed with memories. Memories that, at first, I believed belonged to him, but as they rolled through my mind, I realized they belonged to me from years ago.
The whole truth.
Memories of a young Chrome and me in the King’s Palace, where I sat on the floor drawing in my notepad, and he sat beside me. It was the first time he’d called me “little savage.”
There was a memory of us outside the elevator, and I’d been so angry with him, but he told me not to give up during a time when I’d been at my lowest.
I remembered riding on the back of his motorcycle, hugging him tight against my body as he sped through Downtown Atlanta, but the memory stopped there.
A memory from a few years after he’d left the Royal Domain resurfaced. I’d been seventeen, and I stood outside the towering luxury hotel’s grounds. He’d appeared frantic, his eyes wild and panicked. I remembered feeling confused, but at the same time, Iknewhim. Chrome had kept reaching for my face before curling his fingers into frustrated fists as he caught himself. He’d been erratic, and I had no idea at the time who he was, but regardless, I’d been mesmerized by the troubled boy in the woods. I wanted to help him.
The most painful one that returned was the night he’d taken these memories—the one where he’d fled the Palace and taken on the identity of Griffin Silas. I’d been half-asleep, and he’d appeared in my room to bid me goodbye. Even then, he’d promised he’d find me again one day. Then he’d kissed me, taking with him the few but special memories that we shared.
The realization that he’d done that to protect me all those years ago felt as if Royal had just run that evil blade through my heart.
I collapsed across his body, hugging him as his life slipped furtherand further away. He wheezed, never pulling his eyes from my own. Even dying, I saw his heart shine for me as his eyes glossed over. Then it was just raindrops pelting off his body.
Burying my face into his neck, I clung to him in his final moments. Chrome's last breaths were harsh, each one sounding like a broken whistle. When his final one sputtered out, his chest stilled, and the wheezes silenced.
I wept on him, not ready to let him go. Not prepared to face the world without him. Again.
Moments later, I felt it. The cord that connected our souls. As if someone had taken a pair of scissors to it, it snapped, severing the remaining fragile threads connecting us.
The pain had me screaming. I seized my sternum with my fingertips where the cord had previously been. My power erupted. Another lightning bolt struck the ground nearby, quaking the earth around us.
