Page 66 of A Reign of Chromes & Shadows

“Yes, they can. And they have.” Jay stepped forward, trying to grab Rain’s arms to keep him close. “I can’t go to the authorities. It’s political. The governors would probably treat me worse.” He swallowed. “And you can’t do anything either. That would make it a million times worse. We’ve all agreed to travel together from now on. And we made some new friends from Blue today, they said they’d have our backs if anything else happens.”

Rain bit his lip and shut down his channel, pulling back from Jay entirely.

“This is my fault,” he said quietly. “I’m putting you all at risk by association. Especially you two.” He gestured to Wren and Jay. “Jay, we can’t—”

He stopped. The vulnerability in Jay’s eyes froze the words in his throat. He looked around at the team, seeing the same worry etched into every face. He couldn’t bring himself to walk away from them so bluntly.

“Right.” He cleared his throat, “Let’s get off the street and train. We have a real competition to prepare for.” He turned and walked ahead,unable to voice what he thought was best. Selfishly, he didn’t want to give up this part of his life either. Not yet.

He led them through the gates toward the half-pipe. Jasmine jogged up beside him, questions buzzing around her energy.

“Hey,” she said. “Our Prince announced his engagement to the Green Princess this morning. Everything okay in royal-land?”

“Oh. Yeah, that happened.” Rain shrugged. “Ivy’s no longer my betrothed. She’s engaged to Julian.”

“What? How did that happen? Aren’t you two supposed to be the glue holding the Blue–Green alliance together?”

“That was the agreement.” Rain sighed and turned, leaning back against the twelve-foot half-pipe. “I’ll tell all of you now, so I don’t have to repeat it. Ivy developed feelings for someone else. And… so did I.” His eyes flicked to Jay.

“It all came to a head on Velday at the ball. She made this dramatic entrance—purple dress, obnoxious engagement ring, Julian on her arm like a trophy. All the theatrics she loves.”

“What? That’s an act of war,” Jay blurted, the historian in him outraged.

“Yep. Ivy didn’t think it through. Julian, ever the simpleton, thought it was a great idea. He was too focused on attacking me personally to realise the political fallout. They forced my hand; I had to announce in front of everyone that I’d broken off our betrothal, and she was free to marry whoever she wanted.”

The group gasped, hooked on every word.

“Then what happened?” Emily asked, practically vibrating.

“Then I congratulated them on their engagement and got incredibly drunk.” Rain snorted. “Well—more drunk. You lot had already drank me under the table before I even found my way home.”

They all laughed.

“Don’t remind me,” Jasmine groaned. “I was hugging the toilet for hours. My friend didn’t know what to do with me.”

“And don’t forget the PDA sessions I had to break up,” Wren scolded, pointing between Rain and Jay. “You two seriously need to get a room.”

“To be fair, you wouldn’t let us get a room,” Jay said. Rain glanced at him, then looked away when Jay tried to offer a flirty smile.

“Stop changing the subject,” Emily huffed. “This is fascinating. We never get real royal encounters. They’re always mysterious and out of reach. And here we have our very own resident royal spilling the tea, and you’re too busy flirting.”

“Wooow,” Rogan and Sean said in unison.

“Way to objectify Rain,” Rogan added.

“No! I didn’t mean it like that,” Emily sputtered, face turning beet-red. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s fine.” Rain waved it off. “It’s nice to be able to speak openly with you all. I have my sister, but I try not to burden her with more worries. She’s had to endure enough of my downfalls. Other aetherials always have their own agendas. But with you guys… I trust your judgement. I respect your opinions.”

They all looked at him with something like honour. Rain didn’t need his channel open to know what they felt.

“My father hasn’t reacted to the announcement yet. I expect he’ll be furious. I don’t want to scare you, but there are a lot of changes coming and I’ll be at the centre of it. I want you to know I’ll do everything in my power to protect each of you. You’ve shown me unconditional friendship and support I’ve never experienced before. I hope to repay you however I can.”

“You do realise unconditional means there’s nothing to repay, right?” Daphne said.

“Yeah, you don’t owe us anything, mate,” Thomas added.

Rain smiled his first real smile of the day.