Page 237 of A Reign of Chromes & Shadows

He obeyed instantly, lowering his hand.

Her opponent lay, half buried in snow between two trees, still breathing but incapacitated. He’d likely suffocate or drown if he remained unconscious.

Rain pushed off the fallen soldier and rushed to Snow, pulling her into a fierce embrace. Her shoulders relaxed as she hugged him back, relief softening her posture.

“Don’t you ever run off and leave me like that again,” she scolded, cupping his face and forcing him to meet her eyes. “We are strongertogether.”

Rain smiled, resting his forehead against hers. Her touch muted the cacophony of energies around him, quieting the battlefield’s psychic noise. The pain, the fear, the dying echoes; all of it faded under her grounding presence.

Only now did he feel his heartbeat settle into something steady, temporarily unburdened.

Her presence soothed him in a way nothing else could.

Rain squeezed Snow’s hand, guilt threading through his voice. “I’m sorry. I wanted to keep you away from the battle… and I couldn’t risk leaving Jay with Drazier a moment longer.”

Snow didn’t argue. She understood; even if she hated the truth of it. Relief softened her features as she laced her fingers through his, offering him the reprieve he wouldn’t take for himself. He would be too stubborn to keep his channels closed. Rain let her, letting her presence dull the overwhelming noise of the battlefield as they turned back toward Jay and Jacklynn’s hiding place.

“You’re safe to come out now,” Rain called, his voice steady but edged with fatigue.

Jay and Jacklynn emerged slowly from behind the snow mound, their movements stiff with exhaustion. Their faces were flushed from cold and fear, eyes wide and glassy as they took in the aftermath around them. Jacklynn clung to Jay’s arm, trembling, her breath coming in thin, uneven puffs

Rain tried to offer Jay a reassuring smile; a silent promise that the worst was over, that he had them, that they were safe now.

But Jay didn’t smile back.

His gaze didn’t even land on Rain.

It slid past him.

Past Snow.

Past the settling snowflakes.

And his expression changed; drained of colour so fast it was like watching the life leave him. His pupils blew wide, his lips parted, and for a heartbeat he didn’t breathe at all.

Rain felt it a second later; a ripple in the air, a wrongness threading through the energy around them. Snow stiffened as if she felt the same. Her hand in his rid him of the sensation, her presence nulling the psychic noise, but something still pressed at the edges of his awareness. Something cold. Focused. Intent.

Jay’s voice cracked through the stillness.

“Rain behind you!”

The words weren’t just shouted.

They were ripped from him; raw, terrified, instinctive.

Rain’s stomach dropped.

He tore free from Snow’s grasp and spun. A gunshot cracked through the air. Instinct surged; a shimmering wall of energy erupted between Snow and the incoming bullet, deflecting it with a violent ripple.

Rage detonated inside him.

A figure stepped into view; cloaked in burgundy, dark curls framing elongated ears, eyes black as obsidian. Rain felt the presence of two more manipulators hidden just out of sight, their intentions slithering into his mind. They were aiming for Snow and Jay. Their emotions twisted, erratic, but he could still sense them preparing to strike.

The robed male lifted his arm, a wicked glint flickering in his gaze; a glint Rain felt more than saw, a ripple of intent slicing through the air like a blade.

“Rain, watch out for his power—!”

Jay’s voice cracked, raw with terror, as he sprinted toward him.