Gray’s glacial eyes clashed with mine. We held each other’s gazes in the darkness, a silence once again settling in the small gap between us.
I didn’t breathe, scared to break the moment. Just being beside her was enough. Despite the fact I wasn’t breathing, her presence alone brought a level of safety and peace I hadn’t felt…ever.
“I’ve never seen your face clearly before. Why is that?” she whispered. “How is it that they parade you around yet manage to keep you vague?”
I forced my lips to move up into a saddened smile. “Because they want to control me. They want to use my name for people to look to for morale. Yet, they don’t want me to have too much freedom. They especially don’t wantyouto know my face. Can’t have us teaming up together, right?”
Gray’s brows furrowed in thought as she dropped her gaze to the floor. “But why would we?”
“One day soon enough, it’ll all make sense to you,” I said, wanting nothing more than to whisk her from her father’s grasp.I had no doubt he treated her like shit. I only hoped that he had some decency enough not to physically harm his daughter, even if she was part Elemental.
With a quirk of her head, she narrowed her eyes at me. “Tell me now…please.”
Alarm shot up my spine at the Kinetic energy approaching us at the end of the corridor. I jumped to my feet. “I gotta go,” I said, knowing I’d have actual hell to pay if we were seen near each other like this.
Gray’s eyes widened. “Wait!”
“Someone’s coming…” I whispered, then glanced down at her braceleted wrist. “I hate they make you keep it on. Makes you so vulnerable.” My nostrils flared at the thought of something happening to her because she failed to sense danger before she could protect herself.
Gray’s eyes widened, her fear striking my heart along the vibrational tug. “I’ll find you again,” I promised in a hushed whisper. The presence was too close, and between her all-consuming fear, the nearing energetic presence, and my own sense of urgency, I didn’t realize just how close the presence had gotten.
I turned to leave, but pulled to a sharp halt. My nose came inches from a man’s chest. Knowing exactly whose head perched atop that chest, I raised my chin to meet the smug smile on Grim’s face.
Chapter 6
Slate
“Why are we here?” Onyx Valor asked from beside me, the white flecks in his midnight hair glimmered in the light of the low-hanging chandeliers of the ballroom.
I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine,” I said, pushing through the crowd to try and reach the front. “Come on, let’s get closer in case it’s something important. Don’t wanna catch any shit if we miss it,” I called over my shoulder.
Onyx rolled his eyes. “If it’s something important, my dad will fill me in.”
“Privileged,” I scoffed. “I mean, I could ask mine, too, but where’s the fun in that? What if it’s something huge, and we’re in the middle of making history?”
Onyx’s grin stretched wide, a sparkle of excitement. “Okay, fine. Can’t pass up a chance to witness history.”
I chuckled and squeezed through the excited Kinetics. Because this wasn’t a formal occasion, everyone was dressed in their everyday attire, many masking their vibrant currents from view.“It’s probably just an announcement about King Forest making another deal with the human government ‘on our behalf’.” I said sarcastically.
“Careful…” he warned under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear. The Kinetics who had the ability to manipulate sound and hear literally anything were surely listening everywhere on the king’s behalf for security reasons.
Onyx and I halted at the front of the crowd. Where a throne usually sat, a raised dais was in its place. The room had been cleared out to leave the floor bare for this event. The blue runner rug split the crowd on either side, while the bar to the side was empty. No revel tonight.
I wondered what type of announcement would warrant being called on a Sunday evening. I didn’t think any major news had come from the human government lately, so what could possibly be the issue? I wondered if this was about Prince Griffin Silas ordering the Elementals to increase human depletions by targeting entertainment events? My heart sped up at the possibility that this was related to Chrome and my failure three nights ago at The Phantom. The second Elemental still hadn’t been found and killed.
Once we sought a spot at the front, I glanced at Onyx, who’d scrunched his brows in confusion at the empty dais.
The audience closed in tighter around us, growing more claustrophobic by the minute. At least Chrome wasn’t here. His energy would be wound taut, and we’d be forced to move to the back. But he’d been absent since his branding ceremony two nights ago. He was usually stationed in front of the crowd set far enough in the back near the royal tapestries like a statue, where no one could really make out his exact features. He was our prize. Our hero. Untouchable.
Just a kid. In the twenty-first century. Didn’t they see how fucked this was?
I sighed, growing impatient at the wait while Onyx bounced on the heels of his feet. Nothing like the hurry-up-and-wait bullshit with the king. Typical.
Finally, the crowd began to quiet, facing the front as Grim entered the stage first, followed by Amethyst, and then King Forest.
Everyone, including Onyx and me, dropped to a knee and dipped our heads as the king strolled to the dais. The black suit clung to his broad shoulders and arms, accentuating the saturated verdant shade of his hair and beard. With his chest flexed in self-importance, he intoned, “Rise.”
Every Kinetic rose to their feet at once, which birthed his usual prideful grin. “Good evening, my beautiful Kinetics,” he greeted, scanning his eyes over the crowd, taking in all of us.
