Exhaustion from all of the traveling began to suck away what bit of energy I managed to maintain, but I had enough to get me to the New York City Domain. “Make sure I get a powerful Kinetic when we arrive.”
Before Forest could respond, I lashed out two shadows, one on each side of me. In a blink, they crossed around his throat, twining until they squeezed so tightly his eyes bulged. He gasped, clawing at the shadows to release him.
I shook my head and stepped toward him, sending the loose ends of my shadows to slither into his mouth and push down his throat. The muffled coughs and gags that fought to eject my power from invading his body were pointless.
“Doesn’t feel so great to be at someone else’s whim while they hold your life in their hands, does it?” I asked. “Remember all the times I was down in the prisons?” I dispatched a third shadow and snatched up his dagger tucked at his waist.
I observed the Kinetic blade, the sharp sigils engraved into the metal that once answered to me. The embedded redfern was harmless to me now. And while it wouldn’t poison Forest because it no longer activated to my touch, I could still cause him pain.
Forest’s face turned blue from the lack of oxygen, and I directed my shadows to move further down, seeking out his heart. They coiled around the organ at the same time I made the shadows stretch his mouth as wide as it would go. When I slipped the tip of the dagger between the corner of his lips and the shadow, I compelled my power to squeeze his heart. His knees buckled, and made the sudden movement jerk the blade upward to slice the inside of his mouth as an extension of his smile.
Forest’s muffled screams gave me a momentary dopamine boost. So I repeated the same motion to the other side of his mouth.
Blood leaked from the jagged cuts, staining his verdant beard. I withdrew my shadows from his mouth and then from his throat. He fell forward, catching himself on his hands as he hoarsely gasped for air. When he looked up at me with unfiltered hatred steaming from his bloodshot eyes, and the garish smile that leaked crimson down his jaw and throat, I crossed my arms to appraise my work.
“Anyone ever tell you that you have a beautiful smile? You should do it more often.” Before he could gather himself, I grabbed his forearm and disappeared from the Goshen Kingdom.
Chapter Nineteen
Gray
The survivors of Perry Hollow hadn’t moved from our spot in the woods. The griffin remains billowed from the flames as we tended to the wounded and said goodbye to our dead. Healers worked overtime tending to patients while instructing non-healers on how to care for others.
Nightfall had landed, blanketing our makeshift camp in a shroud of blackness. I sat on the ground beside Kodiak, who lay unconscious from the wound he’d taken from the griffin’s talons across his chest. Shirtless, his barrel chest shimmered with gold and oozed the griffin’s black poison. Every few minutes, I wiped the wounds clean with a wet rag, careful not to let the poison touch my skin with the gloves provided by the healers.
“Is he going to make it?” Shadow’s thick Cajun accent couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else around here.
I dropped my chin. “I don’t know.” I sighed, feeling the weight of defeat continue to press down on me.
“I presume you two are close.” Our prisoner-turned-refugee sat down beside me, grabbed a pair of gloves sitting off to the side, and slapped them on his hands before snagging the wet rag from my grip.
I relinquished the cloth, allowing him to take over. “He is…” I trailed off, fumbling with how to explain the relationship I shared with Kodiak. We weren’t the best of friends, but he was someone I trusted, who brought compassion and a sense of safety. “He is a close friend.”
“I see,” Shadow murmured as he wiped away the oily liquid seeping from Kodiak’s chest wound.
“During all of this,” I started, “I haven’t had the chance to get to know you at all. It’s all been such a blur since you arrived. Tell me about yourself. Especially since you’re Chrome’s secret brother.”
Shadow sucked in a deep breath, staring at the deep gashes on Kodiak’s chest. “Well, I come from the New Orleans Domain. I left it long ago to go off on my own. I never really associated much with the cutthroat lifestyle Kinetics live. I preferred to be on my own, following my own agenda.”
“The New Orleans Domain just let you leave like that?” I asked, shocked.
Shadow chuckled, gently wiping the wound again. “I wasn’t anyone of importance. I was adopted by my mother’s cousin. So having that label on me growing up set me up for failure in the Kinetic world.”
I knew all too well what he meant. Kinetics at the Royal Domain looked down on me my entire life, believing I had been adopted. “Had I not been considered royalty, I would’ve snuck out of the King’s Palace years ago. Even being adopted royalty doesn’t spare you from their hatred.”
“But you’re not really adopted, though, are you?” Shadow asked. It wasn’t an accusation, more like he was genuinely trying to understand.
“No. I wasn’t. But I only just discovered that less than a year ago.”
Shadow nodded in understanding.
“So how is it possible that you’re related to Chrome? What’s your agenda that you mentioned?” I pressed.
Shadow sighed, keeping his focus on Kodiak. “Before Amethyst was forced to carry and deliver Chrome, she had been in love with someone else. Someone at the Royal Domain…”
My eyes widened as my suspicion was confirmed. “Smokey.” Holy shit. Of course, they were related. They shared the same enigmatic smile.
With a nod, Shadow chuckled. “Don’t tell him. Let that come from me.”
