I nodded, dazed. My eyelids slit open, and I came face to face with his broken intensity. Chromatic irises swirled in turbulent waters in his eyes, his soul speaking everything he couldn’t. “Chrome…”
“Sleep,” was the last word to echo through my mind before the world darkened around me again, blotting out the sunlight that had begun to warm my skin.
The door banged open,jolting me awake in a panic. I searched the room for Chrome as the memory from this morning’s dream rushed back to me.
Was that a dream?
“Gray!” Aella snapped my attention back to the door. She stood with wide eyes, her waist-length hair braided to perfection. “Come on. We have a meeting with Orion.”
I nodded, rubbing my face before climbing out of bed. As I stepped to the door to head out, a small white object on the bedside table caught my attention. It hadn’t been there when I crashed into bed earlier that morning.
My heart beat faster with each inch I moved toward it, as if itwere a bomb waiting to explode the moment I touched it. Tears sprang to my eyes as I choked on a sob, my hands shaking as I covered my mouth.
My mother’s lost letter sat on the table, taunting me. I remembered the dream—or what I had believed to be a dream—of Chrome merely hours before. He’d been here.
Meaning, he’d been the one to take my mother’s letter that day. And now, he was returning it to me—the final piece of my mother I had left. And if he couldn’t be restored, then surely he wouldn’t have risked being caught to bring it back to me.
I picked up the envelope, tracing the fading calligraphy with my fingertips, then pressed it to my heart as I allowed a single sob free. Just one, before I inhaled and looked out the window, seeing the gap that hadn’t existed before between the sill and pane.
Chrome.
Stuffing the letter inside my bra, I gathered myself and hurried from the room, forcing the crushing reality from my mind as I rushed to shower and change.
Half an hour later, I found the usual crowd waiting for me in the war room. Aella relaxed her shoulders as I entered, and Kodiak offered a tight smile that showed his usual pity toward me. In the two months since Chrome’s absence, he’d been unable to hide his sadness from his eyes.
Making my way to my seat at the far end of the table, I couldn’t help but hold River’s glare. The acid that leaked from her aura would poison anyone else, but to me, it was nothing new. The sting only came because I actually liked her and thought we had become friends. But that all changed when her little brother, Blaize, died and Chrome turned Infernal—whatever that meant—and obliterated the veil.
Since then, all hell had broken loose, and she blamed me for every bit of it. It probably was my fault, but if I lingered on that thought too long, I’d never crawl out of Chrome’s bed in the mornings to face everyone. I had to keep going, keep fighting. Ifnot for myself and my people, then forhim. Because I knew he would do nothing less for me if our roles were reversed.
Orion cleared his throat from his usual seat beside Chrome’s vacant one. “Gray. Care to report anything that occurred during the battle on the square last night? Any intel as to where the Kinetics are coming from?”
I swallowed thickly, my throat having dried up like a prune. “This one seemed to have come from the Tuscaloosa Domain.”
Orion nodded, lowering his haunted gaze to his braided fingers resting on the table. His brows drew together in thought. “Charlotte. Nashville. Biloxi. Jacksonville. Columbia. Orlando. Now, Tuscaloosa. It seems pretty coordinated that all of the domains in the Southeast are targeting this region. I keep getting word from our scouts and Hogan’s spies that Hollows are being wiped out at least once a week around the country. It’s only a matter of time before they break through our weakened wards here and find us.”
“But every Kinetic from the attack that day is dead, and Forest is gone. We can’t forget that advantage,” Aella offered with her hopeful optimism.
“That won’t stop them. This Hollow has become their primary target now,” I responded, my tone robotic. I felt like I was speaking on a loop. “They know if they find it, they can then easily wipe out the rest of the Elementals. Without us, the rest of the Elemental Hollows will surely fall.”
Silence fell over the room again. That was, until Void spoke. “But should I remind you again that you are the queen of both Elementals and Kinetics. Why can’t you?—”
“Because, like I’ve said, they want me just as dead as they want you. They don’t know that I’m truly Forest’s biological daughter. They think I’m an adopted interloper. They’ve always wanted me to fail.”
I couldn’t help but glance at Slate, who sat opposite me. He dipped his head in agreement before looking at Onyx. The three of us collectively reflected on the beatings my father, oh solovingly, bestowed upon me in public. The cheers from the crowd echoed in my mind.
“She’s right,” Slate interjected. “I wish she weren’t, but Onyx and I can both attest to it. The Kinetics won’t follow Gray. Currently, the Kinetics are like feral animals without a leader, who follow no rules except for those set forth by the governing council of lords appointed by the king. The lords are leaders of other Domains, and the council is composed of one from each major region of the world. But even their rage is too strong. The brainwashing is too strong. Their emotions are so heightened, and they are simply reacting off base instincts they—we—were taught since we were old enough to walk and talk: instill dominance, exact your vengeance, and power is everything. They feel one-hundred percent justified in their actions at the moment.”
“So,” I said, meeting Void’s gaze. “I wish being their queen mattered, but to them, it doesn’t. It would require something massive for them to see the truth. For now, we just need to remain one step ahead of them and perhaps think about moving the Hollow to another location.”
Orion peeked up from the corner of his downtrodden gaze to meet mine. His growing hair was a mess, and his lips drooped at the edges. “I’ll reach out to Sergeant Hogan to see if they have any space and are willing to harbor us temporarily until we can find a safe place to relocate.”
“Well, the Kinetics obviously know that we’re in Perry, evidenced by their presence in the town square last night,” Onyx piped in. “They can’t quite pinpoint us just yet because of the wards, but our energies are peeking through in a wide radius, especially now that Chrome isn’t here to strengthen the wards with me.”
I cleared my throat. “Exactly. It’s not a matter of if, but when. So everyone here needs to remain prepared at all times. And we need to be ready to pack and leave at a moment’s notice.”
“I’ll send an emissary to deliver a letter,” Orion started, looking at Kodiak.
Kodiak’s jaw tightened, the dark stubble on his jaw rippling as he clenched his teeth before dipping his chin. With the landscape having massively shifted, Kodiak had struggled to plot out the land. He used his connection to his earth element to draw accurate maps. It had begun driving him mad, but it seemed that he was starting to get the hang of it.
