“Gray.” Slate’s voice was sharp, commanding. “Do not let what she said drown you in self-blame and guilt. Everything that’s happened isn’t your fault. She knows that. She is mourning. Honestly, she kind of reminds me of someone who grieved the loss of her first love a few years ago.” His eyebrow raised, accompanied by a knowing smirk. “We all know that she doesn’t fully mean everything she’s saying right now.”
I swallowed, pushing past the dryness and the emotional rock lodged in my throat. To an extent, I agreed with him, but there was still so much truth to what River had said. “It’s been a long few days. I just want to forget for a bit.”
Slate’s eyes flashed momentarily. “Then forget you shall, my queen.”
Chapter Twenty
Gray
As Slate and I set up our makeshift pallets in a secluded spot in the woods, we didn’t speak about our vulnerable moment from earlier. Or River.
The humidity began to set in, making my already stifled chest constrict more, but we needed to eat, rehydrate, and wash up before we wilted away.
Water and earth Elementals had created multiple pits in the ground and filled them with warm water, allowing us to bathe the blood, soot, and sweat from our bodies before eating. Thankfully, I’d thought to snatch my soap from the Hollow upon our hasty departure. I was too anxious to sleep yet, so instead of lying down, I decided that being in the company of my people was much more preferable than sitting with my own thoughts.
I ran into Onyx while on my way to check on Kodiak and the other injured Elementals. Kodiak looked no better than he had before, and I wondered if we were only keeping him alive to suffer.
I hugged Onyx’s waist. “Thank you for helping with the wards. You’reour hero.”
Onyx waved me off with a chuckle. “Does that make me king then?” he asked jokingly.
I slapped at his chest, giving him a disapproving but amused look. “You’re incorrigible.”
Onyx chuckled. “I kid. There’s only one king meant for these people. And he is definitely not me.”
I dropped my gaze, my conflicted emotions toward Slate causing guilt to flare up.
“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll find a way to bring him back,” Onyx said comfortingly, placing his hand on my arm.
“I hope so,” I mumbled as we walked back to join the others.
I found Slate, Aella, and Shadow sitting together around an unlit campfire. As soon as the temperature began to dip, the fire wielders would ignite it. This was the first time we had all stopped and made a camp to rest and eat while we could regroup since we left the Hollow three—now four days—ago.
As we approached the others, Onyx yanked me to a stop, leaning into my ear. His eyes carried the weight of suspicion within their amber depths. “I gotta ask,” he started, glancing at Shadow before focusing back on me. “Does Shadow look…eerily familiar to you at all? Like someone you feel like you’ve met before but just can’t place when?”
I startled at his question. “Oh, yeah,” I said, hesitantly, remembering that Shadow wanted to tell Onyx himself about their relation. “That’s because he’s Chrome’s half-brother.”
Onyx’s mouth opened, not expecting for me to slam him with that piece of information.“Come again?”
I sighed, shaking my head at the insanity. “Yeah, that was my reaction, too.”
“But how?” Onyx pressed.
I bit my lower lip, lowering my gaze to my feet. Having always been on his end, I hated the feeling of hiding something so big about his life from him. “I would talk to Shadow when you get the chance. It’s definitely something that you should hear from him.” I casta cursory glance toward Shadow, who laughed at something Slate had said.
Onyx and I joined the others. I sat next to Slate, Onyx taking the spot on my other side. When the Hollow had packed up before leaving, many had grouped together to pack some fresh fruits and vegetables, while water Elementals had created a storage chest of ice to carry meats in. We cooked our venison and beef over the fire, then roasted potatoes, carrots, and corn to fill our stomachs. Having eaten enough to stave off hunger while continuing to drink water to rehydrate, we relaxed as much as we could during the downtime. We still had a long way to go. From what I could gather, we were along the Tennessee border. We still had nearly a month before we reached Utah on foot.
“Remember that time Chrome made me train harder for an extra two hours because I was too hungover from the night before to make it to training on time that morning? Worked me so hard I threw up,” a guy named Everett joked, garnering my attention. A few others laughed, reminiscing about their training sessions with their leader.
I glanced at Slate and Onyx, heaviness settling in at the apparent hole Chrome had left in his wake among his people. A young woman sitting beside Everett, named Azura, spoke up next, sharing the moment during training when Chrome had earned her respect. “It was only two months after he arrived at the Hollow, and I didn’t trust him. Being young, I’d given him attitude during our first training sessions. But when he’d demonstrated only a fraction of his power and skill against me, swiftly putting me on my ass, he stood over me and said, ‘If you can defend yourself against me, then you’d easily survive a Kinetic.’ He wasn’t wrong.”
Going around the circle, everyone began sharing similar stories to Azura’s. I sat and listened, absorbing everyone’s memories, conjuring these moments in my mind and living through them, if only to experience the real Chrome again. I found myself smiling and chuckling, fully able to picture everyone’s versions of Chrome.
When it got to Onyx, he dropped his head, then looked up at Slate with a knowing grin, as if they shared an inside joke. “Chrome,Slate, and I shared a group of friends back at the King’s Palace. Back then, we were only teens, but it didn’t stop us from forming a secret operation in an attempt to overthrow King Forest. Chrome was the Warrior legend among Kinetics at the time, so no one knew the truth of what he truly endured behind closed doors. Aside from Gray here, he consistently had more eyes on him than was ever considered necessary.” He shook his head, lacing his hands together in his lap.
It was strange for me to hear stories about Chrome from his time back at the King’s Palace, especially when it involved friends like Onyx and Slate. It felt like an entirely different reality had existed right under my nose.
“Anyway, every so often, our group would sneak out of the King’s Palace and meet up on a rooftop where we could just be kids for a bit. It was always more of a risk for Chrome than anyone, but it was great to see him let down his guard, even if only for a few hours.” Onyx leaned back on his hands, propping his knees up.
