I nodded, trying to work through what that could possibly mean. I didn’t know what it meant for me regarding my connection to her. I assumed it was because we were both hybrids, even if she wasn’t aware yet. But Slate wasn’t a hybrid, and he now felt a pull toward her, too?
My head swirled. I needed answers, and I had no fucking way of getting them. Valik popped into my mind. I didn’t know where he’d come from, but he seemed to know things. He’d mentioned some type of bond in his ridiculous ramblings, but I hadn’t really thought much about it since then because I was more focused on getting through the punishment. But Grim had mentioned something about a bond too…
But what if whatever connection Slate shared with Gray meant…more? Where would that leave me?
“We’ll figure it out,” I sighed, scratching the back of my neck. “But use that. Protect her at all costs without blowing the plan.”
The muscles in Slate’s jaw rippled as he nodded. “Got it.”
An Elemental’s energy triggered my senses. I whirled around, looking behind me just before jumping to my feet on the roof’s ledge. Three Elementals surrounded us as they approached. I retrieved two daggers from my belt, one for each hand, as I faced the incoming threats cloaked in shadows.
“Chrome Freyr,” one of them called out, the breeze carrying his voice away.
I tilted my head back, not giving any confirmation. I felt Slate’s vigilance as he took arms beside me, wielding a Kinetic dagger and knife.
The two of us remained on the ledge of the building as the three Elementals closed in from different angles.
The ruddy hues of dusk settled over us. Shadows cloaked them from the dying sun, but I could see that the Elemental directly before us had blond hair, while the man to the left had skin that could’ve blended with the shadows if it weren’t for the gilded gleam coating it. The third stood on the right, and he was excessively bulky. I kept my eyes poised on the one in the center, who I presumed to be the leader.
“We didn’t come to fight,” the blond said. His hands outstretched in a gesture of peace. “We came to talk.”
I snorted. “Talk? Is that what you do when your kind depletes humans over and over?”
“We’re not doing that, Chrome,” the leader said placatingly, as if he was familiar with me.
“Don’t talk to me like you know me.”
The blond dipped his head. “Very well…Griffin.”
My face twisted in confusion, and the world began to slow as my mind rejected the possibility. “Griffin?”
“Yes,” the blond Elemental confirmed. “You’reGriffin Silas.”
The air in my lungs bolted, refusing me the chance to breathe. Valik’s words once again haunted me. “What?” I whispered.
The blond man took another step forward, exposing his gilded face in the light. “You’re the son of King Jonas,” he said, his turquoise eyes softening, confirming Valik’s words only four days ago. “Your Elemental birth name is Griffin Silas.”
A ringing sounded in my ears. Until now, I could convince myself that Valik had potentially been lying that night.
I can’t take any more right now. Make it all stop.
“You’re lying.” I couldn’t accept this. Not now. If I was truly Prince Griffin Silas, that meant that Forest was indeed lying about the Elementals depleting humans on the Elemental prince’s orders.
The man shook his head. “No, I assure you I am not.”
“And whoareyou?” I asked, wondering who this man was to seek me out to tell me such things.
The man offered me a soft smile. “I’m your uncle. Orion Silas. Regent King of the Elementals.”
It had been one thing to have the stranger in the bathroom of The Phantom tell me of my questionable origins, but an entirely different beast to have Orion Silas tell me himself.
Slate cleared his throat and stepped beside me. “Chrome’s father was an Elemental who abandoned him when he discovered that he knocked up a Kinetic woman. The King’s Hand at that—”
Orion huffed. “That is a sack of lies if I’ve ever heard one. But naturally, they can’t be honest about Chrome and the princess’s true origins. Might raise some questions.”
My cousin and I flinched at the mention of Gray. “What do you know about her?”
The hulking guy on Orion’s right stepped beside him, arms crossing over his chest as the Regent King rubbed his jaw. “She is the same as you.”
