The princess stirred, taking a deep breath and rousing from her sleep. I didn’t move when she cracked open an eyelid, spotting me right at her side. She jolted at first, but once she realized it was me, she asked in a raspy, sleep-hazed voice, “Chrome?”
“Hi, little savage,” I whispered, my heart knotting up at the purpose of my being there.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” she asked. Her voice quivered and was hoarse with sleep, but her nervousness was palpable.
“I’m not here to hurt you. I promise.”
“You-you’re supposed to be dead.”
“Am I now?” I asked, cocking my head with a smirk. “Well, as you see, I’m very much alive, unfortunately.”
“I’m glad,” she whispered.
I offered her a sad smile in response. “I just came to say goodbye.”
“Where are you going?” she asked as if she knew I wouldn’t give her the answer.
“I don’t know.” That wasn’t a lie.
“I need to ask you something before you go,” she whispered, dropping her gaze to the floor at my feet.
“Anything, my Princess.”
“Was that kiss we shared on the rooftop…” she started, hesitating as she struggled to get her words out. “Was that real for you?”
“There hasn’t been a moment that’s gone by in my waking state where I haven’t thought about it.” I wished I could tell her how much she unknowingly got me through the torture down in the prisons. There was so much I wished I could say.
Gray’s eyes lined with silver in the reflection of moonlight streaming through the room. “Me neither.” Another hint of guilt slithered into my emotions, but it belonged to her. Images of Slate kissing her flashed in my head, and I offered a sad smile.
I sighed, trying and failing to release the tension that twisted in my chest. “A kiss goodbye?” I asked.
Gray’s lips parted, her eyes going wide before she nodded. “Yes.”
I walked forward and bent down, running my fingertips up the soft skin of her cheeks before they rested there, cupping it in my palm. I searched her eyes while absorbing the desire and passion she felt for me, but the underlying guilt she felt lingered. I wanted to memorize her. To never forget that vulnerable look in her eyes that she only had when she was in my presence.
“Slate will be good to you. He’ll love you as you deserve to be.” The vice grip on my heart cinched tight, threatening to obliterate it to ash. “But I’ll find you again one day. I promise,” I whispered against her lips. Our noses nuzzled against one another ever so gently, just before I brushed my lips against hers. I did my best to stain the sensation permanently in my brain, an infinite tattoo.
Gray whimpered, slackening on the bed and trying her best to pull me down to join her. And gods, as much as I wanted more than anything to indulge her and get lost in her, I refrained. That wasn’t why I was here.
This was goodbye. She knew it as well.
Cupping both sides of her cheeks in my palms, I focused on the electrical waves coming from her brain. Searching through her mind, I found the area I knew best. It was one of the most powerful parts of the brain, the amygdala. It controlled our sex drive, emotions, motivations, and memories. Lighting up her amygdala with a kiss made it that much easier to locate since it was such a small area within the brain. The electricity firing in that spot was powerful.
I dove in. Allowing my magic to sift through any of her memories that involved me, including this one, and absorbing them. Every single memory of us. Even clear photos of what I looked like that hung throughout the palace. Surely, the king would have them removed after the fiasco down in the interrogation room, anyways. I took them all, except for the day on the playground. I let that one remain so she had a thread guiding her back to me one day.
Gods, it flayed me to do this again. I had only been ten years old last time, forced by the king to take away her memory of awakening her abilities down in the interrogation room on the day we’d met on the playground. I hated myself for it then, but it was nothing compared to the repulsion I felt now. At least I had vastly developed this ability since that day, so it wouldn’t be painful for her this time around.
Tears leaked from her eyes, and her lips slowed against mine, confusion settling in as to why she was kissing a strange guy in her room in the middle of the night. Reluctantly, I broke the kiss. “Stay strong,” I whispered. “Allow yourself to be happy with Slate,” I murmured against her lips before placing one last kiss against her forehead. As I did, I absorbed that memory, too, before I stepped back quickly.
Gray’s forehead was wrinkled, and her eyes glazed from confusion as her brain reconstructed to suit its new arrangement. I took that time to swiftly exit her room, prayingSlate had truly distracted Forest long enough for me to enter the living space where Valik’s portal would reappear.
It had been years since I’d been inside the King’s Suite. As I waited for the portal, I caught sight of the painted portrait of the woman with pale pink hair above the fireplace. Beautiful as she was, something pinged inside me at the sight of her eyes. I’d never seen her before, but I presumed she must’ve been the king’s former lover from a time before he’d been crowned the ruler of Kinetics. Imagining the king loving anyone besides himself was a joke.
A mixture of relief and utter heartbreak warred with one another within me. No longer would the princess know me. Those few and rare moments that we did share—that gave me life—were gone. I was truly alone. Even Slate couldn’t really help me. And that was okay; I didn’t want to risk his life, either. He and Gray would make a great fit. I was just mad at myself that I didn’t see that pairing coming sooner to prevent the pain that arose from it.
I bounced on my heels, growing worried that the portal had yet to appear, when a bright light blinded me in the darkness of the king’s living room. “Thank fuck,” I whispered. With my Kinetic magic unrestricted, it was only a matter of time before someone detected me. Each second brought me closer to another fresh wave of hell that I was sure to endure at the king’s orders and my stepfather’s hands.
As soon as a split opened wide enough for me to step through, I took the chance, not willing to risk Gray walking out in her confused stupor.
