“Because this is for their protection.” My Twin Soul looked at me, more guilt and shame sitting in his eyes than I’d ever seen before. This was his attempt to right all his recent wrongs. “From me.”
The flames continued to flicker around us. Heat kissed the nape of my neck, but I wouldn’t show my discomfort. “Who are you?” I asked.
A pair of aged eyes within the fire swiveled toward me, narrowing as if noticing my presence for the first time. “Ah,” the voice whispered, although it carried way further and louder than a typical whisper ever should, somehow reaching right into my soul as it was directed at me. “It’s been a long time since we last spoke. Arcadia is in this state because of you. Why should I protect you now?” he asked. “My sole purpose is to protect this realm, so how do I know that this time, you have the best intentions for Arcadia?”
I glanced at Chrome, then Slate, in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is truly my first time in Arcadia. I have nothing to do with this…” I trailed off, searching for the correct term for “infection.”
“You say that you don’t remember,” the voice stated. The fire continued to swirl around us. Slate stepped forward, blocking me from the flames in a protective stance. “But my people have ways to change that. If I take you under my protection, then know that you’re under the rule of Druid law. You won’t be a prisoner, but you will not be trusted. No harm will come to you, but given your past transgressions, you will be monitored. And I presume that once you learn the truth of those, you will understand why I feel the need to take such precautions.”
Slate spoke up. “She doesn’t go anywhere without me. I’m her Guardian.”
The fire exhaled, embers puffing outward and nearly singeing our clothes. “Well, that could’ve been useful about a thousand years ago. But very well, what about you, young king?”
“While I’m grateful for the chance to be back to myself, I don’t know how much longer I have. I need to make use of my time tosabotage Celanea and Forest while I can,” Chrome answered, looking at me with a pained longing in his silver eyes. “I’ll find you again,” he promised.
My throat seemed to swell shut. I went to protest, but before I could, the man in the fire—Brecken—interrupted. “It is done.”
With that, the world went black. The last thing I saw was the pain that shone in Chrome’s vulnerable eyes, the slump of his shoulders, and his lips shaping two words I didn’t have the chance to respond to.
I’ll always forgive you.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cotton
“Cotton?” Scarlett said from behind me, snatching my attention from the living ghost of my past. I startled, spinning around.
Scarlett’s face was tear-stained from her reunion with Cardinal, the brother she’d assumed to be dead. Little did she know, I was dealing with a similar reality as well. But no one, except for Chrome because he’d been so observant, knew of my past with Onyx.
“Is everything okay?” Scarlett asked. “Have you found Gray?”
I shook my head and turned around to face Onyx again, except he’d vanished. I searched the crowd, but like before, he’d disappeared from existence.
“Come on. Let’s go help Cardinal with the injured,” Scarlett muttered as she moved forward, grabbing my biceps as she did and dragging me along.
“They don’t trust us, Scar.”
“Well, the best way to fix that is to show them otherwise,” she said under her breath.
I swallowed, focusing on an Elemental woman with black hair whose gilded skin was painted in bruises. Her high cheekbones andsharp brows made her look severe, but beneath the outer hardened appearance, it was clear she’d suffered some losses. She wore sadness like it was her brand. I was thrown back to a time when Gray was a young princess who had been publicly abused and berated. I had wanted to reach out to her then, but given the fact that my mother was dead and my tongue was gone because I knew a royal secret that I shouldn’t have, I had placed a stout wall between us, never allowing her close to me or me to her. It had been too risky.
But maybe I could help this woman.
I guided Scarlett toward the girl who sat on the bench I’d previously occupied before Valik opened the portal. Upon seeing us approach, her eyes sharpened and her spine straightened. Scarlett glanced at me, unsure, but I nodded in encouragement for her to continue.
We stopped before the Elemental, who stared at us with distrust. “Hi,” Scarlett said. “Is there anything you need help with? If you have any injuries that can’t be healed on your own, we’re happy to get help for you from the healers here.”
The young woman raised a brow, shifting her gaze between Scarlett and me. “Since when do you care about injured Elementals? Last I checked, your kind were too busy hunting us down. The only reason we’re here is because your people destroyed our home. I’m guessing killing my little brother wasn’t enough, was it?”
Scarlett froze, opening and closing her mouth. “That wasn’t?—”
I touched her shoulder.“Let me…”
Lowering myself to my knees so that the girl and I were eye level, I held my palm out to her as a sign of peace.
Holding her stare, I slowly opened my mouth, pushing forward the severed tongue so she could see. I would’ve tried to speak into her mind, but she didn’t know or trust me. Judging by her expression, it would’ve been too much too soon.
I spoke in Scarlett’s mind instead.“Tell her what happened to me.”
