Glancing at Slate, I saw him smiling wistfully to himself, clearly remembering the days that Onyx spoke of—days that felt so foreign and surreal to me.
“One night, we met on our rooftop. You guys wouldn’t believe this, but I was a little shithead back then.” He chuckled. “This was before the good days of moonshine, of course, so I brought the alcohol. Once we were all drunk, I challenged our two most talented Warriors to a contest. A contest of jumping from rooftop to rooftop while inebriated. I was so determined to prove that I fit in with them. That I was just as skilled, but the reality was, I hadn’t trained a fucking day in my life on how to jump rooftops.” Laughter echoed throughout the large circle of Elementals, including Slate. “It didn’t matter, though, because I was going to attempt it anyway. And when I clung on for dear life to the edge of the rooftop by the skin of my armpits, Chrome had to pull me up?—”
“And if I remember correctly, there was a lovely chant of ‘oh fuck, fuck, fuck’ as you dropped like a sack of shit from your ill-timed leap that was executed with all the grace of an ostrich,” Slateinterjected, a carefree grin reaching from ear to ear. “Then you had the audacity to ask us why we let you attempt such a thing.”
“Pride is a man’s biggest weakness,” Onyx deflected, his smile seeming to light up the space around us with warmth.
I glanced at Shadow, who tried to hide a grin of his own, but he wasn’t able to mask the sadness weighing in his eyes. I imagined he carried a great deal of regret for being robbed of a childhood with his brothers as he listened to stories that he should’ve been a part of.
Elementals called out things to Onyx like, “So that’s why you still jump off rooftops now!” or “You’re still a shithead, but you’re our shithead!”
Then it was my turn, with all eyes on me. Suddenly, my throat constricted as I reflected on the last real memory I had of Chrome. I couldn’t bring myself to speak of the moment he held me while he obliterated the veil to save me.
So I said, “He chloroformed and kidnapped me. Turned my life upside down.”
A heavy silence fell over the circle, an awkward tension rising from my extremely abbreviated version of the story. I knew everyone was waiting for me to elaborate and explain what happened, but every time I opened my mouth, the words got lodged in my throat.
“Excuse me,” I said, sniffling as I jumped to my feet.
I fled to the spot Slate and I had picked out for the two of us to rest, finding my makeshift pallet of blankets a few feet away from Slate’s and dropping down on them. I let myself sob, the ache of Chrome’s absence ripping away pieces of my soul with each passing day.
The crunch of leaves and cracking of twigs alerted me to Slate’s presence. I had no doubt he’d follow behind me after my brisk departure. And I didn’t wish for him to leave. The comfort he brought me was something I wasn’t strong enough to turn away from.
“Can I sit with you?” His worn combat boots with stained cargo pants tucked into the tops were standing inches from my face.
I nodded, sliding over on the pallet to make room for him. Theblankets shifted beneath his weight. His arm stretched out to slide beneath my neck, tugging me over to lay my head on his chest. “I miss him, too.”
“It was so weird hearing you and Onyx talk about your past with Chrome. It felt…alien.” I scoffed, wiping my cheeks and nose with my forearm. “It doesn't even make sense.”
“It does,” Slate reassured, his tone soft. “We were all very different versions of ourselves then. Including you. I had only just met you, but you were only a shell of the girl you grew into becoming.”
I reflected on the time and vividly remembered how suicidal I had been. My father had me so trapped and isolated from everyone. I wouldn’t have been able to become friends with any of them at the time, even if I’d wanted to. “You saved me that day.”
Slate sighed. “I did. But what you never knew was that it was Chrome who felt you dying.”
My breathing hitched. “What?”
“We had been training when he felt your life slipping away. He couldn’t go to you himself because your father and his parents had banned him from seeing you, so he sent me to save you.” Slate’s chest vibrated against my ear, his words magnified.
“That’s how you knew where to find me in the stairwell.” The pieces finally made sense.
Slate nodded. “But what you also don’t know is that I couldn’t stand the idea of you dying. Being gone. I couldn’t and wouldn’t let that happen.”
“But you barely knew me…”
“I know. I didn’t understand it. But from the first time I witnessed one of your public punishments, I couldn’t control myself whenever I saw you hurt, disrespected, or in danger. A compulsion to protect you became my top priority,” Slate explained gently, unusually guarded as if trying to gauge his words.
“But—” I lifted my head to meet his eyes. He stared up at the sky, refusing to pull away. “Why?” I whispered.
Slate hedged on his answer. Silence pressed down on us. But at last, he responded. “Because I’m your Guardian, sworn to protect you with my life at all costs. We share a bond, too. Although I believe it’s only one-sided.”
I stared at the man I’d fallen in love with all those years ago when I’d only been fourteen. I sat speechless, unsure of what to say. My sleep-deprived mind struggled to process such a claim. How was it possible for me to share two separate bonds with two men? But then I remembered the vast and untested magic that originated from Arcadia, and I understood that it was a possibility. “How long have you known?”
“Since the night of Chrome and Peri’s funerals.”
A part of me felt betrayed; more long-held secrets regarding my life. But a much bigger part of me had never felt so safe and protected. Except with Chrome. And that was the dichotomy I found myself in.
I lay stiff against him, afraid that any movement would deter him from giving me more information. “So I have a—Guardian? Appointed bywhom? And why?”
