me overhead as the stars peeked through the trees’ canopy. I lay with my fingers laced together at the back of my head, breathing in the dying scent of fall. The temperature chilled me, but it was nothing compared to the icy numbness I’d been living with for the past year.
The moment Gray drifted off into a deep slumber, I rose from the cold, hard tundra, sneaking back into the thicket to meet with my contact regarding the information surrounding Forest and his plans. They also needed to be informed about the portal and the beastie-bear.
Afterward, I found a small clearing in the woods, and sprawled on the leaf covered dirt, basking in nature. Serenity nestled deep within as I meditated, feeling whole and content. Gratitude expanded my chest as I felt the best I had in years.
Time seemed to suspend as I lay in solitude, unsure how long I’d been there. I took this time to just…be. To be myself again with my own thoughts and emotions. I knew it could be ripped away at any moment, and I wanted to cherish the moments of lucidity I had been graced with.
I felt her before I heard her.
“You make it a habit to lie in the woods alone?”
I didn’t say anything as I patted the spot beside me in a gesture for her to join me.
Gray’s steps were careful as she sat down on my left before reclining onto her back. For several minutes, neither of us spoke. I rolled my head to the side and caught the silhouette of her side profile. Her glamoured white hair glowed from the moonlight, and for once, she bore a relaxed expression.
“What woke you?” I asked.
A long pause strung out the silence, leaving only the crickets and frogs to respond in her wake. Finally, she said, “Nightmare.”
An ache in my heart had me almost lifting my hand to cup the side of her face, but I refrained. “They don’t ever really go away.”
A nod. “I figured.”
“I know where we’re going goes against everything you’ve been taught about Elementals, but you won’t be alone anymore. You’ve never truly been alone.”
Gray shifted to meet my eyes, then rumpled her brows with a slight pinch. “What do you mean?”
I offered the smallest of smiles, wishing I could tell her the whole truth about everything. She deserved to know, but I couldn’t bring myself to flip her world over again just yet. “You’ll see.”
“You’re so fucking cryptic,” Gray retorted with an eye roll. “Do you have any guesses as to how that beastie-bear came here? Or where it came from?”
“Beastie-bear?” A chuckle slipped out at the nickname I bestowed upon that thing.
“Yeah, that’s what you called it, right?”
I mulled over her question, then nodded. “I’ll claim that as the official term. It’s settled.”
“Well?”
I hesitated. Unsure what to reveal just yet. “We’ll figure it out. You’ll get your answers soon enough, Princess.”
I prayed we returned to the Hollow before the Tempest could expedite Forest’s plans. I needed to get Gray trained in both her Kinetic and Elemental abilities and fast while also figuring out this connection that we seemed to share.
Perhaps together, we could put a stop to it all.
Gray had no idea how much power lay at her disposal. I felt it myself all those years ago. The king had taken the opposite approach with her as he had with me, probably because I was male. He’d kept her suppressed—mentally and magically—in his attempt to control her and her power.
I decided we needed a subject change. “Tell me about him.”
“Who?”
“Slate.”
A long pause followed. I didn’t think she’d respond until she said, “He was my light. Always trying to protect me when I didn’t even need it.” Gray chuckled, “He’s the one who gave me the backbone to earn respect, even if it was misguided in the way of fear. But that’s the Kinetic way. Respect by fear.”
A lump formed in my throat, making it hard to swallow. “I’m sorry he’s gone. I remember him. He was a good guy.” I heard Gray sniffle beside me, and I felt her heartache as if it were my own, felt her longing. “I believe it was a set-up by Forest in an attempt to have full control over you.” It was the only bit of information I could give her at that point, despite my yearning to divulge it all.
“I’m not even surprised to hear that anymore. That was my theory back at the tattoo shop when you told me about…everything.”
I nodded, keeping my gaze fixed on the shadowed leaves blanketing us from above. “He took someone special to me, too.”
Gray sucked in a sharp breath. “Peri,” she whispered.
That lump formed in my throat again, just thinking about the periwinkle hair and beaming smile. Her big hazel eyes always filled with warmth and acuity that she hid from my mother and Grim so well.
My silence dragged on, and neither of us spoke as we sat in the pain of our losses at the king’s hands.
“So, the Elementals,” Gray said, breaking the quietude. I angled my head to meet her icy gaze filled with anxiety. “What’s to stop them from locking me up upon our arrival? Why would they trust me?”
I understood her concern. “You’re valid in that fear. I would know because I experienced the same thing when I arrived there a few years ago.” Treading the line on what to reveal to her, I chose my words carefully. “Like you, I was brought there. After I fled the King’s Palace five years ago, I was lost. Living amongst the humans and doing everything in my power to chase away the pain. The Chrome of legend no longer existed. I was a fallen hero. Because how could I have been a hero if I had been serving the wrong side all along? I hated myself, and I wanted to be rid of that version of me, even if it meant my own self-destruction.”
I sighed, allowing those memories to surface for a brief moment. “As we all know, I held the record for killing the most Elementals. So why would they take me in?”
“And?” Gray asked, her voice hoarse with emotion and barely above a whisper.
I smiled to myself, remembering how Orion had given me little choice in the matter at the time. “They believe that we’re the best they have to fight against Forest. The best chance to stop him from his plans and to restore a sense of peace to this world. In doing so, it would stop the persecution of their people, and we could live freely once again with the hope we could coexist with the Kinetics and humans alike.”
Another tug on my heart, followed by a spike of doubt, struck me. The emotion wasn’t mine, so I looked at Gray. “I know. It’s all so much. And you won’t be alone anymore, so it’s not all on your shoulders.”
“But why would they trust me?” The way she asked reminded me of the little girl on the playground—scared, broken.
“Because they know that if I’m bringing you in, then it’s for a good reason,” I explained. But her doubt, flickering as it was, still coursed through me, so I said in a firmer voice, “They also know that everyone who serves the king is brainwashed by his lies. While you may have served him proudly, they understand that you didn’t do so without your own wounds to show for it. That if you’re seeking asylum with us, then you truly have nowhere to go. They aren’t hardened like Kinetics; you’ll see that for yourself soon enough. They’ve been waiting for the day you come to us.”
“Really?” Surprise lit her darkened expression.
“Yeah, they look to you for hope, Gray. They’ve just been waiting for you to break free of his control.” Before it’s too late.
“That’s…” she mused aloud. “Really fucking weird. And perhaps a little misguided.”
I chuckled. “No,” I murmured, the muscles in my face softening. “They believe in you, even when you don’t believe in yourself.”
Another gentle tug that hummed moved through me. I felt a warmth ignite in my chest, and I couldn’t tell if it was mine or hers. Maybe both. For the first time since I met her, she seemed shy, and it was endearing.
“What? Weren’t expecting big, bad Griffin Silas to have…a heart?” I joked.
Gray scoffed. “I wasn’t expecting Griffin Silas to be Chrome Freyr, for starters. So, the identity change has been quite an adjustment, to say the least.”
I held her gaze, which softened from playfully annoyed into something more tender. Her lips parted, and her eyes dilated. My chest constricted as I fought to pull air into my lungs. I needed to touch her, hold her close to me. Kiss her. The way the glamoured iced-blonde strands draped across her face gave her a wildly seductive pull that fed the inner beast within me.
Before I knew what I was doing, I sat up on my elbows and rolled to one side, bringing my mouth inches from her jaw. The scent of lavender and vanilla rushed my senses, making me want to take what I felt in my tattered soul was mine, even if she wasn’t aware of it yet.
Gray didn’t breathe as she lay locked in a frozen state as if she were my prey, waiting me out.
The tips of my fingers caressed the column of her throat before they wrapped around just the slightest, applying a little pressure. Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I let out a husky chuckle in her ear. “I fucking love it when you say my name. My real name.” Sliding my palm from her throat to cup her jaw, I said, “You always say it like it means something to you.”
I pulled back and met her eyes that burned with so much fire, a fire that had me hardening against her hip. “It’s always meant something to me,” she said, her voice raw and unstable as her gaze dropped to my lips.
If I didn’t return to my previous spot beside her, then I was going to fuck up everything. Pulling in a deep breath, I sat up, dropping down in my place on the hard earth. A silence enveloped us as we tried to process whatever the fuck that was between us.
“Were you one of my fangirls? Please tell me you were one of my fangirls,” I broke the silence at last with an attempt at humor.
Gray scoffed, her voice still shaken. “I most definitely was not one of your fangirls. I wanted to be you.”
If only she knew the truth of what I had to endure and was forced to be. “I hate to tell you this, but the persona I put on was all a lie.”
“What do you mean?”
I cleared my throat. “The valiant Chrome Freyr that everyone knew, was only a mask concocted by my endearing mother and stepfather. This is the real me.”
“Well, I assumed as much. I mean, I created my own. But no, I wanted to be powerful and skilled like you. Untouchable.”
A bitter laugh escaped me before I realized it happened. “I wouldn’t say untouchable.” The stars glittered through the swaying shadowed leaves as she seemed to process that statement. Their whispers to one another were carried by the cool, crisp breeze.
It was Gray who broke our comfortable silence. “What brought you out here anyway?”
“Just…” I said. “Just felt called to this spot for some reason. Perhaps it’s the Elemental in me.” Guilt settled in at the lie, knowing my real purpose had been to meet up with my contact.
Gray hesitated, thinking over the possibility.
I hated the acidic feeling sinking in my stomach, twisting at my dishonesty. She hadn’t earned that trust yet, seeing as only a few days ago, she wanted me dead at her hands. Some things would take time.
Gray didn’t speak her thoughts, but I could basically hear the gears turning in her mind at a high speed. Her fierce scowl was back in place, but it looked more like she was deep in thought, not murderous. I couldn’t tell if I liked that fact or not, sending my mind spinning at a high speed of its own in a direction it had no business going.
We continued to lay side by side in our separate bubbles. For how long, I couldn’t say. We were simply sharing the space together and just being—nothing more, nothing less. Lost to our thoughts and everything they could possibly mean, it surprised me how easy the companionship felt.
I reflected back on my time with Onyx earlier: how, for the first time in a very long time, I could be around him and not force a smile or a laugh. It all came naturally because I could feel again. I remembered our meaningful times. I remembered me.
The more time I’d spent around Gray, the more distant and silent the affliction’s voice grew. At last, I was granted a true sense of peace. And that alone was attributed to the girl beside me, the one I’d been saving since she was eight years old, whether she knew it or not.
The notion didn’t escape me that it was her turn now.
Her turn to save me.