Page 73 of A Reign of Chromes & Shadows

“Sorry. My bad.” He smothered a smile, unable to help himself.

He cleaned the blade again and sliced his own palm, repeating the process with far less ceremony. Snow kept her eyes averted until he finished.

“Done. Next, we need one of each Aetherchrome chip.” Rain wiped his bloody hand on his pants without a second thought; battle wounds were nothing new. He reached for the vials, then paused.

His hands were covered in both their blood.

“Okay, we need to wash this off or we’ll contaminate everything. Come on.”

They washed up, the water running pink before swirling clear. They wrapped their palms in strips of towel and returned to the table. Rainopened the vials and set eight colourful chips before each of them, the crystals catching the light like tiny stars.

“Let’s start with Blue,” Snow said, rolling the crystal between her fingers. “We know what should happen.”

“Yes, good idea, start with what we know,” Rain said, picking up his blue chip. They leant in together, lowering the crystals onto the first samples. The blood bubbled instantly, reacting to the Aetherchrome. Rain exhaled a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding.

“For a moment I worried we’d get no reaction and have to start asking Mother some serious questions.”

“Or you hoped,” Snow said, giving him a pointed look.

“Well, it would certainly unburden me if that were the case. Green next, right?”

“Mother’s blood, yes.” Snow lifted the green Aetherchrome, her fingers trembling just slightly. The crystal caught the lamplight, casting a soft emerald glow across her palm. They dropped them simultaneously. The blood reacted again; identical to the blue.

They stared at the samples. Then at each other. Then back again, as if the answer might change if they blinked hard enough.

“Okay… that is not normal,” Snow whispered. “But maybe it’s just blue and green. We don’t have other parents.”

Rain snorted, the sound sharp in the quiet room, but grabbed yellow. Snow mirrored him, their movements synchronised the way they always were when nerves ran high. They dropped the crystals.

The blood bubbled.

“Holy shit.” Rain swept the remaining chips into his palm, the crystals clinking like tiny bells, and dropped them one by one across the remaining samples. Every single one reacted. Snow repeated the process just to be sure, her breath quickening with each identical reaction.

All eight samples reacted to all eight Aetherchromes.

“That isn’t normal, is it?” Snow said slowly, eyes wild, voice thin with disbelief.

“Nope. Well—yes. For us. We just never knew.” Rain leaned back, mind racing, the weight of centuries pressing against his ribs. “We’re the ninth bloodline. Which means there is a ninth Aetherchrome—one that holds all the colours. Imagine the power we could draw from that.”

“How?” Snow demanded. “How have we gone hundreds of years—multiple generations—and never stumbled across Rainbow Aetherchrome?”

“I think the Gods are guiding me towards that knowledge,” Rain said quietly. His voice softened. “Guiding us. I’ve been shown the first twins; the first Royal aetherials. What did they say…?” He bit his lip, searching memory. “‘The first set of twins, born of the true royal bloodline. Only their descendants should sit upon the aetherial throne.’ Before them, I don’t think we had a ruling family. The twin mutation was created to help our kind support the realm bringing unity, order, balance. That is how I understood it. Though, I imagine our kind must have held an advantage over other bloodlines, we can channel all Aetherchrome, we can wield our power across the realms without weakening.”

Snow listened, nodding as she absorbed every word.

“Our bloodline came from the source Aetherchrome,” he murmured, the thought crystallising as he said it. “Each Aetherchrome must channel from the source too.” The truth of it settled heavily in his chest. He’d seen that iridescent Aetherchrome in his dreams for as long as he could remember—shimmering, shifting, impossibly alive. But lately… lately it had changed. Darkened. Shadowy tendrils creeping across its surface like rot.

The vines are growing.

The chant echoed in his skull, cold and insistent.

“Something happened a thousand years ago to our ancestor.”

“Queen Skylar,” Snow supplied.

He nodded. “Yes. Queen Skylar” Even saying her name felt like brushing against a locked door. “Something that made her close her entire kingdom, locking it behind a wall of thorns. I wonder if anyone is still living there; trapped. Anyway, her sons became the first monarchs of White and Blue. How were the other Kings determined?”

“Power,” Snow said. “That’s what we’re taught.”