I swallowed my anger at being talked about as if I weren’t standing right there. Never mind the fact that I was the last one threatening to corrupt Peri.
“It’s late, Dad.” My sister yawned. “We’re going to go to bed.”
“Okay, pumpkin. See you in the morning,” Grim said, and I felt him step closer, presumably to give her a hug goodnight.
I took that as my dismissal, not willing to stand in his presence any longer than needed. Walking as quickly as I could, I reached my room, unable to get away from him fast enough. Once inside, I leaned my back against the door and gasped for air, pressing my palm flat against my chest.
Beads of sweat raced down my forehead and temples, my hands sticky from clamminess as I fought off the onslaughtof memories—old and new—that I wished I could permanently banish from my mind.
Chapter 20
Chrome
“Chrome,” Peri hissed from beside me.
I blinked in my desk, jerking out of the memory of Gray’s kiss, her soft lips, and the way her body fit perfectly against mine. Her scent hadn’t left my nose in the past week, and it was all I could do not to track her down in the palace every day since to kiss her again.
The constant tugs of emotional longing on my heart from the cord that connected us told me she had been feeling the same. And fuck, I wished I could go to her.
“Hmm?” I met my sister’s eyes, so similar to my own, but in the warm shade of honey.
Our Physics of Kinetic Abilities teacher, Tealia, languidly spoke from the front of the classroom. I’d been homeschooled since the playground incident in fifth grade, the king having deemed me untrustworthy to mingle amongst humans. Since then, Peri demanded to be homeschooled alongside me.
Tealia’s voice had long since disappeared in the back of my mind, becoming background noise as she explained the subtledifferences in infrared and thermal waves and how they affect the Kinetic’s ability to use them. Why I was being taught this again, I wasn’t sure.
Wake me up when we get to the lecture about determining a fetus’s predisposition for which energetic power they’ll receive based on their parents’ abilities.
Peri gestured with her eyes to my desk.
Glancing down, I startled at a piece of paper that hadn’t previously been there. I narrowed my eyes, subtly opening the folded piece of notebook paper to reveal her neat and elegant handwriting.
Stop daydreaming about the princess and pay attention, oh legendary one.
I shot her a sarcastic grin to the side as Tealia cleared her throat, clocking onto our silent conversation and pausing her lecture until she had our undivided attention again. Our teacher swished her turquoise fringe to the side so it was no longer in her eyes, her bob bouncing in its healthy fullness.
I dipped my head in acknowledgment, a slight apology for our rudeness, to which Tealia continued with the scientific complexities within our magic’s energetic origins. I propped my face in my palm, my elbow resting on the desk, and slowly singled out my middle finger at my sister for not using her sound abilities to mute our interaction from our teacher.
The rest of the lecture went on with no more interruptions, and once again, my mind wandered back to Gray and the kiss we shared on the rooftop the other night as I continued to relive it over and over.
The princess’s longing, compounded with my own aching heart, made the drive to find her that much more unbearable. The day for her to be fully trained couldn’t come quickly enough. I needed to know she could protect herself if Slate or I couldn’t be there.
As soon as that thought trickled into my mind, her longing suddenly switched to terror, snatching on the cord and jolting me upright in my seat. My hand clutched my sternum as I gasped for air just before I reached for a blade in my weapons belt.
The princess’s panic was more tangible and solid than usual. Instead of feeling like an echoed emotion, it now felt like an extension of my own. Just out of reach, but right there and stronger than ever.
“Is everything alright, Chrome?” Tealia asked, concern lacing her bunched-up features as her hand froze in the middle of writing a definition on the dry-erase board.
Peri straightened in her seat, searching my eyes for answers. She always knew how to read me.
“I…I need…need to go. Excuse me,” I stuttered urgently, almost knocking my seat over as the panic continued to rise in my chest, clawing up my throat and clouding my brain.
I wasn’t sure where I headed. All I knew was that I needed to find her. I needed to get her to safety. All rational thought vanished from my mind as I followed the tether drawing me to her. Gray was terrified and in danger. She needed me. Nothing else mattered.
The cord pulled me to her like the snapping of a rubber band, guiding me as I stormed through the palace halls and to the stairwell. There was no way I’d wait on the slow-ass elevator. My adrenaline wouldn’t handle it.
I charged through the stairwell door, taking the stairs two at a time as I climbed thirty flights to the very top of the King’s Palace. During my trek, I unsnapped both of my magic-inhibiting bracelets, ready to take on any threat that came at my princess. In my blind rush, it didn’t even register that my skin shimmered gold and my eyes swirled molten quicksilver. I wouldn’t have given a shit, anyway.
Once at the top, I was slightly breathless as I summoned a dagger to one hand. Slowly, I exited the stairwell leading to the King’s Suite where the invisible cord tugged me. I kept my senses wide open and vigilant as I stalked to the door.
