My heart swelled. She had believed her entire family to be dead. I smiled for her, glad she had the brother she had been closest to with her again.
I cleared my throat as I watched their reunion. No doubt they had a lot to catch up on.
Realizing I hadn’t spotted Gray yet, anxiety took over. This was the main Elemental Hollow. Now that Chrome had turned into something else, she would be the sole monarch of both Kinetics and Elementals. And given everything that had transpired between her and the Kinetics, it was clear she would lay her loyalties with the Elementals.
So where was she?
Battered Elementals walked past me, their gazes vacant. Whatever they’d experienced, it was clear they had lost a lot. Having never dealt with Elementals in the past, I noticed that even the golden sheen of their skin seemed wan, and the darkened circles beneath their eyes made their faces appear hollow. They walked past, casting distrustful glances my way.
That was fair.
Familiar insecurity regarding my disability rose in me again. My silence felt like a sign of drawing battle lines between us.
I pushed it down past the lump in my throat. Guilt from my people’s bigotry and hatred against their people made me cast my gaze away. What I didn’t expect—and vacuumed the air from my lungs—was the pair of bright amber eyes I met from across the courtyard.
I stilled. Those molten eyes had always reached places I’d never wanted anyone to see. Instead of the playful yet fierce stare he used to behold, a hard and tired expression rested there.
Onyx Valor had been presumed dead. And with his death, a large piece of me had died with him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chrome
Chains rattled as I locked the cuffs around Gray’s wrists. The glare she hurled at me had me smiling. I missed that look. It was the look that snagged me from the start.
“Let me go.”
“Can’t do that,” I said, tightening the cuffs around her ankles, too, despite the deep part within me that rebelled against the idea of chaining her up. “I need you here.”
Thankfully, Slate was safely locked down on the other side of the cell. When we’d arrived, I’d used my shadows to suffocate him until he blacked out so he wouldn’t be a nuisance.
“Why?”
“Because you’re my queen.”
Gray’s face twisted with disgust. “You don’t lock your queen away. My Chrome never would’ve done something so vile.”
My laugh reverberated off the walls. “You obviously didn’t know the thoughts going through my mind when I chloroformed you and took you to that old house.” I stepped back, feeling the bond strengthening with our close proximity. But with it, my apathy melted a bit more, returning the love I had once felt for her.
The stabbing betrayal and sharp bitterness that shot down our connection had me unwittingly gripping my chest, rubbing it as if that would make it disappear.
“I hate this Chrome. I want the real one back.” Gray gritted her teeth, fighting back the tears I knew she refused to let drop. “Just fucking kill me now, because I’ll never be your queen when this is who you are.”
I leaned forward, breathing the oxygen that she exhaled. Feeling another piece of me die at her venomous words, I clenched my jaw to shove out the pain. “You say that now. But you don’t know the freedom you’re missing. We could be free of it all together. Just you and me. No one controlling us. No one dictating our lives. We’d be dictating others. Wouldn’t you like that for a change?”
“No. Our people depend on us. The real Chrome never would have abandoned his people, no matter what came up. You were many things, but loyalty was the one thing nothing or no one could strip from you.” Gray swallowed, not breaking eye contact. “You proved you’d changed the moment you walked away from me.”
“I walked away to spare your life.” My whispered words remained steady, but barely. “I’d do it again. Theonlyreason I still exist is because of you. I won’t give up on us.”
Gray shook her head, the chains clinking from above her. The pain in her eyes should’ve shattered me. And while my heart fractured at the knowledge of what I caused her, I couldn’t stop the course I was on. I needed her. “I’m not gonna stop until you’re healed. I promise,” she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek.
On instinct, I swiped it away with my thumb, that deep part of me hating to see her hurt. I cupped her cheek carefully in my hand as I studied her eyes. It was impossible to ignore the way my heart sped up when she leaned into my palm and closed her eyes.
Abruptly, my heartfelt moment for Gray ended, smothered by the Syphon Bond. My lip twitched. Frustration warred inside me at these moments of weakness I kept having for her. And why couldn’tshe see the bigger picture? “What if I don’t want to be healed? What if I like being the way I am now?”
Another stab to my heart bolted down our bond. This one came from her. “Youlikebeing an Infernal? Explain to me why.”
I inhaled through my nose and briskly put space between us. I placed my arms behind my back, gripping my wrist in one of my hands as I began to pace the ancient stone cell. Silence passed between us that she let carry on before I spoke. “It’s great not tofeelfor once. The guilt. The pain. The emotional burden is all gone. All I want is power.” It was partially true. At least, it had been the entire truth before Slate got his hands on me at the Hollow. I turned to meet her assessing expression, her face tight. “And you.”
