Valik’s fingers dug into my skin, our angelic powers glowing brighter from our hands. Thankfully, his glamours were next level, so I didn’t worry about Kinetics nearby witnessing.
“Now, repeat after me.” The threads continued to weave and stitch, locking my soul into a bond I would forever be a servant to.“I, Slate Helair…”
“I, Slate Helair,” I repeated, jumping from the burn that began to singe my arm.
“Accept my Guardian Bond to the True Queen of Arcadia and, by default, her Twin Soul.”
I repeated the line, the stitches cinching tight while the rest continued to weave into place.
“I will do everything in my soulful power to protect them, no matter the means necessary,”Valik stated.
The words grew harder to speak, as if my mouth was full of lead, but I forced them out. My heart rate picked up from the burn on my arm, the heat more penetrating than the brands I received. “I will do everything in my soulful power to protect them, no matter the means necessary.”
“And, so it is,” the intoned voices coming from Valik said. “You are bonded.”
Valik didn’t let go of my arm as the buzzing at the nape of my neck morphed into a full-blown vibration running the length of my spine. The steel glow from my hands spread to my shoulder and then my entire body, encasing me in my angelic power.
Everything hurt. My essence felt like it had been undone and sewn back together while my arm scorched with a white-hot agony that was pure at its core.
I cried out, trying to jerk it back from Valik’s grasp.
“No. You must let the process complete. It’s nearly done,” Valik ordered, squeezing my arm even tighter.
Thatwould bruise.
After what felt like hours of being cocooned in my light, it dimmed, receding back into my body. Valik loosened his hold on me as the burn started to cool, soothing itself, while the pain in my essence began to wane.
Exhaustion claimed me as I slumped forward, my body shaking from the soulful transformation. “Now what?” I asked, breathless.
Valik squatted down until he sat eye-level with me. “Now, we train you. In more ways than one.”
Chapter 38
Chrome
The Kinetic Warrior’s cheekbone crunched beneath my fist. He stumbled backward on the skyscraper’s rooftop.
I matched his steps, following up with an uppercut beneath his chin.
The Warrior’s glowing blue blade clanged to the gritty surface.
Taking advantage of his disorientation, I landed hit after hit to every sensitive area of the body I knew would incapacitate him: liver, kidney, temple, nose, and throat.
The Warrior’s partner lay feet away, unconscious and near death from a dagger lodged close to his heart and a deep slit in his throat. I didn’t have long before he began to heal enough to remove the dagger from his chest.
If only I had an Elemental blade. The ones I’d grabbed from my locker two weeks ago were gone. One resided in a river in North Carolina, another buried in the smoking pile of rubble of a building in Philadelphia, and the other ruined by New York City traffic after plummeting from a high-rise. All lost during fightsand no time to retrieve them. For now, I relied too much on my abilities to keep me going.
I shoved the heel of my boot into the Warrior’s chest, striking him to the ground.
Violence claimed me. Nothing less than death would suffice. I kept my Kinetic magic suppressed with a bracelet to prevent the palace from detecting me. However, they didn’t have my Elemental energetic trace yet.
It was morbidly poetic, really. I’d give Forest credit in that regard.
Chrome Freyr died with Peri. And by suppressing my Kinetic side, I happily embraced Griffin Silas. Soon, my black hair would be long, and the gold skin would throw people enough to keep my true identity hidden. Especially since it was widely believed that I’d died. No Kinetic that saw me in passing would assume that Chrome Freyr was a hybrid who still lived to terrorize his people.
The urge to deplete the Warriors tempted me, much like the nicotine that constantly whispered to my brain to feed it again. Except the drive to deplete was multiplied by three. The withdrawal symptoms had already begun in recent weeks, starting with the shakes and sweats.
“Wh…why?” the Kinetic I faced gasped from beneath me, his hand clutching his throat. Even through my Elemental traits and glamoured Kinetic appearance, he recognized me up close.
