The ensuing pain of being completely drained began to gouge deep welts in my organs. A hunger pang of power snaked its way to my mind, lashing at my brain, flaying it to shreds for magic. I groaned, the sting of my nose pressing into the floor a long distant sensation in comparison to my body begging for the essence it needed to survive.
Both Kinetics and Elementals never truly allowed their magic to be completely depleted. It was an unspoken rule, at least as far as I knew, for both races. To be completely drained meant that we had no control. We became desperate because the excruciating pain was too much to bear. It was usually what drove Elementals to accidentally deplete humans. It was bad enough for a Kinetic to be drained, which was a difficult task for us to do in our modern age that boomed with technology and electricity. If I stayed completely drained of magic for too long, I would feel the beginnings of madness start creeping in.
The shackles on my wrists and ankles prevented me from replenishing as I lay in the barren shell that was my body. Clenching my jaw, I focused on Gray. On her ice-blonde hair. I wondered how often they kept her magic repressed, while doubts crept in that I would I ever be able to get to her. All I could hope was that Slate would be able to train her.
I focused on her stormy blue eyes, which held all of her emotions, imagining a day when I could grab her hand and infuse her with the love I suspected she’d been deprived of.
“If you answer my question, the princess won’t have to suffer for your disobedience.” Grim’s rancid breath turned my writhing stomach as he leaned into my ear.
I jerked away from him in a weakened attempt, struggling to prop myself up on my palms. Amidst the invisible beast shredding my insides alive from magic deprivation, unmatched rage soared through my bloodstream. I wheezed, ignoring the tightening in my chest to force out, “Don’t touch her.”
Grim chuckled. “Ah, I see the bond is pulling you to her again.”
Bond?Didn’t Valik mention something about a bond?
A frustrated growl crawled up my throat. “No. No bond.” I gasped for air, desperate to turn him away from the idea. I didn’t want them to have any more ammunition. “I thought it was…she was…was a threat.”
A booming laugh deafened me as it leeched any hope of escaping his notice about the supposed bond. “A threat?” He laughed again. “The girl is weak. A fucking defect. You know this. You were the only one who turned out to be worth any of our efforts.”
The memory of Valik in The Phantom’s bathroom flashed through my mind. Forest and my parents had never shared the story of what Valik had divulged to me that night, so I had to play dumb. “What efforts?” I grunted, willing my leaden body to a sitting position as I leaned my back against the wall.
Through my hazy vision, I could make out Grim’s pallid features, his crooked nose only inches from mine. “The effort of taking you in as my stepson. Raising you. Training you,” he lied, to cover the truth of their “efforts” being that they’d strategically bred Gray and me.
My nostrils flared as I fought the lightheadedness promising to pull me under and put me out of the agony that stripped my soul to pieces.
“She is useless. No spine. No wits. Nothing. But that power buried in her veins will be useful one day. But that’s all the more reason to keep you two far from one another.”
I clenched my jaw, reality setting in. “What happened to her?”
Grim chuckled. “Oh, she had her punishment, too. No worries. She’s pretty used to it by now, as well.”
Red filled my vision amidst the hazy fog. “What. Happened. To her?”
“She’s fine now, but let’s just say the king wanted to make an example.”
“An example?” I whispered, the air fleeing my lungs.
The outline of Grim’s profile angled. “Well, you didn’t think you’d be getting special treatment, did you?”
I remembered feeling her undiluted fear squeeze my heart in a vice grip not long after I was brought to the prison. It was always present. I never knew what caused it to strike, but I assumed it was just her father being the asshole that he was. He wouldn’t actually hurt her…right?
Grim cleared his throat. “Well, now that you’re all emptied, it’s time for the fun to begin.” My vision still hadn’t cleared, but I knew what was coming. I slammed the back of my skull into the concrete wall behind me, hoping to black out. No such luck. The wrenching of my insides increased, and my brain felt like it hung in strips.
“Get on your stomach.”
With feeble effort, I spat at him. The next thing I knew, my face was shoved into the floor. I stared into the darkness, and dove down into the deepest recesses of my mind. The further I went, the better, creating a happy place for myself to escape to.
The playground. Except this time, we weren’t young children, and we sat on the undamaged swing set.
There was the distant feeling of my pants being jostled, but instead, I studied the way the breeze swept her unglamoured hair into her face. Gently, I brushed it aside as she giggled, lightening my heart from the weight of whatever happened in my distant reality. My breath hitched, struck speechless by her ability to see through me.
“It’s going to be okay, Chrome,” Gray ensured with a comforting smile. “We’ll find each other. I promise.” Her fingertips grazed my cheek, wiping away the tears I didn’t know I’d shed. “Until then, just stay with me. We’ll hide away here together.” The princess’s tender palm cupped my cheek. “You’re not alone. Never alone.”
Chapter 8
Chrome
“Get up.”
