As his voice continued to wane, I managed to hear him say, “What a fucking waste.” Just before I fell into unconsciousness, the blackness consuming me in its void.
Iawoke, still chained to the cold, decrepit floor of the prison cell. Time didn’t seem to exist here, but it only seemed like a few hours had passed. Pitch blackness and absolute silence dominated the cell. Forest had Kinetics who could control light and sound for my sensory deprivation.
A groan escaped me as I rolled onto my back, knowing I’d already healed. It was the same every time. Bring me to death’s doorstep, take off the cuffs long enough to allow my magic to heal me from mortal danger, and inject me with the antidote. Seconds later, Grim would slap the cuffs back on before I could awaken.
My chest felt like a train had plowed over it at high speed while my raw throat felt bruised and battered. I sat up, shivering from the sweat soaking into my clothes, chilling me to the marrow with the prison’s frigidity. I’d grown accustomed to the odors of decaying body excrement and mold years ago.
“Well…” Grim’s voice came from outside the cell bars. He retrieved a key from his pocket and jammed it into the lock, sliding the barred door open for him to step through, joining meagain. Locking the door, he swiveled to face me. “It was the same time. We gotta work on that.”
Gray’s face crossed my mind. Icy fingers of fear froze me at the potential of Grim discovering what I recently learned. Granted, my knowledge wasn’t extensive, but it was more than I was supposed to know. That they planned to use the princess for Forest’s goals. It was the reason I didn’t fear these torture sessions anymore. I knew they’d never let me die. I was too needed.
But Gray? I couldn’t allow them to hurt her like they did me.
My heart seemed to stutter, robbing me of breath. What if they’d already been hurting her? All the terror and sadness I’d felt coming from her over the years… I’d always believed they just intimidated her, at the worst, ripped her to shreds with their words—which still pissed me off to no end. But would Forest truly go so far as to hurt his only blood daughter physically? Would he…
I sat up on the floor, directing my bitter rage at Grim, wishing more than anything I had these godsdamn cuffs off me already. They couldn’t keep me here forever, and they knew I knew that.
Motherfuckers.
One day, I would kill all three of them very fucking slowly. Then spit on their corpses before feeding them to the vermin to gnaw away at.
I sneered. “Let’s go again.”
From the faint light streaming in through the bars, Grim’s lips pulled back from his teeth before he chuckled. “What were you doing with the princess?”
“I already told you. We talked about the fucked-up Georgia weather. It changes more than you wash your hair.”
Grim’s tongue flicked out over his thin bottom lip. “Do you need another lesson in running your mouth?” he taunted, implying the worst form of punishment.
Nausea swelled, threatening a dry heave. I hadn’t eaten since before he dragged me in here…what was it? Two days ago?
“One day, I’ll fucking kill you,” I forced out through my teeth.
Grim sneered, approaching with predatory steps. “Is that a threat, boy? You know how much I love your threats.”
Beneath the magnetic shackles binding me to the floor, my magic stirred in my veins, both Kinetic and Elemental alike. Just like when I was ten on the playground. My element wanted to siphon all of the metal from his blood until he was a corpse on the cold cement floor. The electromagnetic power surged through my body, the static raising the hairs on my arms and legs.
I knew better than to do what I was doing. But what was to come next was the worst type of torture than any of the other shit my stepfather put me through. Both halves of my magic wanted to protect. My powers pulsed within me, begging to be unleashed on the King’s Punisher. Maybe I could get away with it this time…
Grim continued to approach me, and my magic continued to break through the restrictions. I remained fixed to the floor, vibrating from the exertion to contain my power within my body. I had a better grip on my Kinetic power, seeing as I had been properly trained to wield it from the age of ten. My Elemental power, however, was developed enough for me to get by.
The king and my parents only wanted me to use it to see what I was capable of. The best ways for them to wield me as their ultimate weapon. But the two had always felt like an extension of myself.
“Let it out, Chrome,” Grim murmured. “Release.”
I gagged, shaking my head to ward off his attempts to get his way. If I released my power, it was game over. I was well and truly done. He would just absorb it, emptying me of my magic reserves.
I shook, nearly convulsing to hold it at bay. “Fuck off.”
Grim stood toe to toe with me, towering above me with pride. “Release,” he purred.
I dry-heaved as my power purged from my body with my empty stomach. An electrical pulse expelled in an invisible wave, followed by a loud boom while my elemental magic latched onto the metal bars of the cell.
The moment my magic touched the bars, my entire well of power guttered out as Grim exerted his own to absorb it. I crumpled to the floor in a heap, completely depleted of all forms of magic.
Grim’s dark laughter echoed in my mind, moving ever closer to my ears as I stared blankly into the darkness. “You’ll never learn, will you?” he rasped. “You may be powerful. But that power isours.”
A familiar hollowness took root in my chest. Lifeless. Exhausted. Hopeless.
