I lashed my hand out to clutch his throat, yanking him close to my face. “I wish it’d been you,” I rasped out. “Itwillbe you next.” Hot moisture burned a wake of fire down my cheeks.
I stood, taking Grim’s throat with me and bashed his head into the wall, just to watch him collapse at my feet.
King Forest was nowhere to be found. Of course not. He’d set a fire and watched it burn, only to abandon it when the flames raged into an inferno, leaving the destruction for others to deal with in the aftermath.
More guards charged me, but I continued to pulse blasts at them through the palm of my hand to ward them off, turning my attention to my sister. “Peri,” I whispered, sliding an arm under her limp body. “Wake up.”
Her skin burned my gilded fingers with its iciness. “You can’t—no. We’re a team, remember?” I brushed a lock of hair from her face, and my throat clogged as sobs erupted, threatening to crush me. Peri’s body shook in my arms; the shame and guilt of what I’d done consumed me into a black chasm. I remembered Forest’s words from just before she walked in,“And you’re about to see for yourself just how much of a monster you truly are.”
Oh, gods. “What have I done?” I sobbed to the ceiling, continuing to launch blasts at incoming guards trying to steal my moment with my sister.
A blade flew at me from behind; my element sensed it, knocking it off course and launching it back at the guard who’d thrown it. The thud that followed told me it landed true.
I continued to absorb fractions of the guards’ auras around me, fueling me while I pulled from the electricity for my Kinetic magic.
Bending over while clutching my baby sister’s lifeless body to my chest, I cried into her hair, breathing in her scent for the final time. No way could this be the last time I’d ever hug her again. “I was supposed to protect you!”
I remembered her walking into the room and her distraught voice screaming for someone to help me. Her face was still wet from her own tears. But it was the vague memory of her saying,“Take from me”that razed what remained of her brother.
Peri had sacrificed herself to save me. She knew I’d heal, giving me my best chance of escape.“Go be free.”Her ultimate act of protecting me, when it should’ve been the other way around.
A raw, guttural cry ripped from my throat, aimed at the sky. My grief and rage erupted into the room—a blast exploding from my chest—this one much bigger than the last. The pulse rocked into the interrogation room’s cement walls, reverberationsricocheting against them. The building rattled, causing bits of stone to crumble to the floor.
My chest seized, an unrelenting force driving dull spikes in my chest, suffocating me. I’d have taken an Elemental dagger to the heart instead of this pain. Those wounds healed. This one would be permanent.
I didn’t know how much time had passed as I stayed with Peri, holding her against me. The icy air in the interrogation room chilled my tears, which had drenched her hair and the skin on her neck. At last, I forced myself to lay her back down on the floor with care, as if she were the most precious, breakable glass.
“I will kill every last one of them,” I gritted out. “I promise you.” Leaning forward, I pressed my trembling lips to the frosty skin on her forehead. “I love you, Peri.” I sniffled. “Please know”—I swallowed, my throat cinched tight—“that the Chrome you loved died with you.” My voice broke at the end. “So please forgive me.”
Setting her down on the floor, I closed my eyes and focused on my body. Torture was much preferable to the internal beating I suffered from what I’d just done. What I’d done to one of two people I had sworn my life to protect at all costs. I’d failed her. I more than failed her.
I fucking killed her.
Closing my eyes, I went to that dark void within myself, snuffing out my thoughts and emotions like a flickering flame. I’d just killed my sister; I didn’t give a fuck about anyone else.
My lids raised, the lights in the interrogation room still winking in and out from my Kinetic essence feeding from it. I scanned the room for the first time since arriving. Guards littered the floor. Some lay unmoving while others stirred, preparing for another attack.
My body still hadn’t fully healed—some bones still needed to set, but I didn’t care. The pain was my only indication that I wasalive, and this wasn’t some fucked-up dream or hallucination from the delirious states Grim and Forest induced me into.
I sensed the energies in the room, determining the strength of their magic. Ignoring the stab wounds and disfigured organs beneath my flesh, I scanned the area, assessing the threats.
A Kinetic guard with emerald hair met my empty stare, challenging me with terror quivering in his eyes.
I sneered and then turned my attention to the next guard, who rose from the floor. He seemed familiar, but I couldn’t care less who he was. Anyone remaining in this room meant me harm. Never again would I let myself be chained.
I was my own godsdamn weapon, owned by no one.
Absorbing the energies emitting from their auras, I snatched their Kinetic blades from their weapons belts, angled them around to where they pointed back at them, and hurled their blades in a single swift motion. The barrage of weapons impaled the remaining guards in their most vulnerable areas. Ensuring my escape, I exploded another powerful pulse from my body, blasting in all directions.
Bodies disintegrated into dust. The King’s Palace quaked harder than the other blasts before it.
With a final glance, I studied my sister’s deceased state, committing it to memory as a reminder to never again become someone’s weapon. “I love you, little sis. I’m so sorry.”
Stumbling on shaky and numb legs, my vision blurred again. The state of my body resurfaced, reminding me that I hadn’t yet healed properly. It would take a considerable amount to recover from the amount of damage I’d endured. I could worry about that later. Just not here. I wasn’t safe. No one was safe as long as I remained at the King’s Palace.
In the glow of the flickering lights, I caught sight of another guard standing in the blasted doorway. With each gutter, Iglimpsed more of his face. Familiar, but I couldn’t be sure. No one could be trusted in this building.
“Chrome!” the guard cried. “It’s me, Onyx!” He raised his hands by his head in peaceful surrender. “Your friend,” he said as I advanced on him, a cold fury driving me on.
