“Peri…” Amethyst whispered, “she was helping me to protect Chrome from Grim and the king. She acted as my eyes and voiceto keep him out of trouble. It didn’t always help, but I’d like to think it saved him unnecessary punishments.”
I closed my eyes in defeat, Peri’s loss rising to the surface and threatening to derail my mission for the truth. But as I thought through the past, I remembered how she always did what she could to keep Chrome from getting in trouble with Grim. I just never expected my aunt to be in on the charade with her. I ran my hand over my mouth. “Fucking hell…” Everything truly had fallen apart.
“Before yesterday, Chrome had been locked up in the prisons for the past month because of the rooftop gathering you guys had on Friday the thirteenth. But that never should’ve happened, because I covered for him. Except…”
“Royal.” I bit my bottom lip, nearly drawing blood to keep my anger at bay.
Amethyst blew out a quaky breath. “I’ve had to be creative to hide the fact that I protected him. Basically, Peri took the fall for it. She told Grim that she lied to both of us about where her and Chrome went that night. Which she was punished for as well.” My aunt’s words were thick, hardly understandable.
Peri.
The whole situation was so fucked up. No one in that family aside from Grim won. I couldn’t linger on Peri for long, or the bond that she and Chrome shared. Everything that the pair of them went through to protect one another.
I cleared the emotion from my throat, taking the subject in a darker direction. “Chrome has never told me outright, but we’ve been close over the years, so I’ve learned his tells. I’ve believed for a while now that Grim has punished him…sexually. I swear to the gods, if you knew about that and…” I hedged, my voice dropping low. If she knew…I wasn’t sure if I could give her the benefit of the doubt on everything she’d been telling me.I couldn’t look past that egregious act, regardless of whatever Forest threatened.
Amethyst’s face paled a shade I didn’t think her deeply tanned skin was capable of becoming. She was almost translucent as horror crept into her expression. “What?” Her voice broke. “No…what are you—”
I angled my head and scrutinized her. “I think Grim was punishing him in sexual ways. Chrome couldn’t stand to be touched, especially from behind. He always had this haunted look in his eyes after his punishments as well. Whenever I’d push him to tell me what happened, he’d just say the same thing, that it was just a beating and not anything to worry about. But there was always something off.”
Amethyst shook her head. “No, he couldn’t…wouldn’t…that’s just…fucking…” My aunt shoved her fingers through her deep purple braids—so reminiscent of Chrome—shaking her head. “No. No. No. That couldn’t have been happening. I would’ve known. I would’ve stopped it!” Amethyst shoved away from her desk abruptly, knocking the rolling wing-backed chair behind her so harshly that it flipped over. Her red currents snaked up her arms in violent streaks. “Fuck!” she screeched, snatching a dagger tucked into the holster around her thigh, beneath her dress. Whipping around, she launched it into the canvas of a forced family portrait that hung on the wall. “I’ll fucking kill him,” she murmured to herself.
“Chrome always said that you all wanted him broken…”
“Theywanted him broken! And I couldn’t do a godsdamn thing about it unless I wanted to watch my son get beheaded in front of my fucking eyes.” Venom dripped from Amethyst’s voice as she stood, heaving. At last, as if the final dam broke, her hands clutched her chest. “My children aregone!”
I couldn’t verbally acknowledge Peri right now. If I did, I’d break down with Aunt Amethyst before I got the rest of the truth. “You said he’s not dead but worse. What did you mean?”
“He depleted Peri!” Amethyst sobbed, gasping for air. “Forest and Grim pushed him to the point of no return and put my fucking daughter in front of him as a test of his will. He couldn’t hold on anymore.” Amethyst collapsed to the floor again with a thump, her knees catching her fall. “Now, my son is becoming Endarkened, and my daughter is dead!”
I shivered as my heart fishtailed to a stop. “No…”
“This pain is too much…” Amethyst whimpered. “I can’t…”
I rose to my feet. “No, we’ll make this right. The important thing is he’s not dead.”
Amethyst shook her head. “You don’t understand. The king has now branded him as the lost prince and painted him as the biggest target for all Kinetics. We’re officially at war now, Slate. And my son is wanted dead or alive.”
I nodded, clenching my jaw. “He’s strong. If anyone can beat the odds, it’s him. He’s not alone. Trust me.”
Confirmation that Chrome wasn’t dead allowed me to take my first real breath since yesterday’s tragedy. Now, having more information than anyone else in the insurgency, I could set out to start laying the groundwork to finish what we had started. “I’ll work with you, Aunt Amethyst. I’ll help you in the field against Forest, but I’ll need any info you have on him. And you must maintain your façade with the king and Grim. I promise you, I won’t let him go Endarkened.”
Knowing what I did now about my newfound abilities, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of hope that bolstered me in my promise.
Chapter 36
Chrome
Me
Get the king’s attention and get him out of his suite.
Slate
On it.
Iturned my burner phone off and left it on the dilapidated bedside table of the drug-infested motel I’d been hiding out in since yesterday. I’d messaged Slate earlier today and informed him I was alive, hidden, and I’d still be in contact. Little did he know, it would only be a few hours later. Thankfully, he didn’t ask questions. That’s what I appreciated most about him—he never pushed for what I was unwilling to give.
I paced across the carpet, shaking out my hands at my sides, then alternated between shoving my fingers in my hair and rubbing my palms down my face.
