“Also, I had to cover your ass last night,” Onyx said, worry lacing his tone. “Dad asked where you went off to. He said Forest noticed you leaving. I told him you weren’t feeling well. Not sure if he bought it, but we can’t afford Forest having attention on any of us for any reason.”
My chest constricted. “Fuck.” I ran my fingers through my hair as I sat back in the chair. “I hope he bought it.”
Onyx swallowed. “Me, too.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it,” I said. “I’ll come up with some kind of explanation.”
“I got your back. You know that.” Onyx flashed a smile. “I have a shift later. But afterward, I’ll find you.”
“Cool. Until how late?” I asked, referring to his track to become a guard. Onyx wasn’t training to be an average guard within the Guilds. He was training to step into the most prestigious role as guard: The King’s Guard. The idea of being around Forest at all waking hours made Onyx want to stab himself in the eye with an Elemental blade, but we also knew that he would be the best person to gain inside knowledge to use against the king.
“I’ll be finished around seven,” he said through a mouth full of potatoes.
The first bell to signal the end of lunch sounded. Not having much appetite, I winced at my nearly loaded plate, knowing I’d be hungry in about thirty minutes.
I turned, heading for the garbage can, and locked eyes with Princess Gray.
Gray’s stormy gaze widened in shock as our eyes connected. I froze, offering a gentle smile, and she looked around uncomfortably before straightening her spine to hurry off in the opposite direction.
Chapter 7
Chrome
Adull pain shot through my head at Grim’s punch. Blackness swarmed my vision from the repetitive blows.
It’d been two days in a row of his punishment for being caught with the princess. Even with the magnetic cuffs chaining my wrists and ankles to the floor in a prison cell, Grim exerted his magic to absorb mine, ensuring I had no way to fight back. It was standard procedure. And if I tried to retaliate physically, he’d get a guard—paying him off for his silence—to bring me to the brink of death using their energetic power.
With my magic suppressed, I was annoyingly slow to heal. Not as slow as a human, but significantly slower than if I had access to both my Elemental and Kinetic power. I groaned, lolling my head back against the wall. Blood gushed from the corners of my mouth as I cackled, the shattered bones in my cheeks making me want to scream.
Thankfully, Grim was always careful not to knock out any teeth or permanently damage my body, considering I was a public figure. They couldn’t have their perfect warrior bedamaged on the outside—might weaken my credibility. But it never stopped him from causing me unbearable pain to a point of no return.
I heard Grim’s shoes scuffle across the concrete floor toward me, and my laugh intensified, making my entire body rage in protest. Several ribs were broken, and I was convinced I had ruptured an organ somewhere. I didn’t care.
My breath whistled from my throat as I struggled to drag in air. “You’re going easy on me, old man,” I rasped. “Tell me you’re not going soft in your old age.” I coughed out.
Another blow to my diaphragm had me doubling over. White overtook my vision as I sputtered out more coughs.
“I’ll ask you again, boy: what were you talking about with the princess?” Grim demanded, his voice just as oily as his hair.
“The…” I coughed again. “Fuckin’…” Cough. “Weather.”
Fingers clutched my hair by the roots and jerked my head up, sending agonizing pain slicing down my neck. “We’ll keep this going until you tell me what you were doing with her. You know the godsdamn rules.”
“Fuck. You.” I gathered all the bloody saliva in my mouth and spat it at him with every ounce of my strength toward his voice. Judging by thesplat, it landed true.
Grim’s other hand latched onto my throat, fisting it until the little bones began to give. A Kinetic knife drove into my side, wedged between two ribs. Fire erupted from the black crystal immediately swarming my bloodstream, igniting every inch of living tissue. “You never learn to shut your fucking mouth.”
Between his vice grip on my throat and the knife plunged into my ribs, I felt myself falling to the edge of consciousness. I’d developed an extremely high pain tolerance over the years, and Kinetic blades weren’t new to me.
“Let’s see how long you can stay conscious. Think you can beat your previous time?”
I couldn’t breathe, much less speak. The only way I was even upright was due to Grim’s grasp on my throat.
“We’ll keep going until you give me an answer.” His voice began to fade, my body deciding it was time to shut down, to preserve itself.
“Why were you with the princess?” Grim’s voice was all but a faint echo in my head.
I shook my head. At least, I thought I did.
