Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Chrome
My shadows unfurled from my body the second my feet slammed into the stone floor of the Goshen castle. Seeing Shadow had not been in my cards for the evening. Nor did I expect him to be the prisoner that Gray had captured. Was he the reason why the wards had been down? Probably.
Either way, he’d surprised me. And that wouldn’t be happening again, especially now that I knew he’d grown in his abilities.
My heart beat against my ribcage, my breath coming in erratically as I clenched my fists at my sides. He should be dead. He shouldn’t have gotten to Gray before I did. She was mine.
And Slate. That two-faced shithead had always wanted Gray, always hellbent on taking her from me.
My entire arm burned from where he’d touched my shoulder with his otherworldly abilities. He thought he was special because he was different. I’d have to remind him otherwise.
A twisting guilt flared up inside me. No, I didn’t hate Slate.
He was like my brother. We’d been through so much together.
He’d given everything up to help me. I’d given him my grace to make Gray happy.
And he did. He kept her safe. He’d been loyal to the cause for years.
The murderous hatred I held for him wasn’t really me.
I began to hyperventilate as I battled myself internally. When I realized what was happening, tears welled up in my eyes. Even now, after what I’d just done, Slate was still looking out for me and Gray. He’d healed me from the Syphon Bond, bringing the real me back.
The Hollow was destroyed now, so the Elementals could no longer hide.
Orion. No…
My knees gave out beneath me as I bit my bottom lip to suppress the sob that locked up my throat.
Guilt, shame, and grief threatened to explode from my chest, which undoubtedly would send my shadows flailing throughout the room, destroying everything in their path.
But I didn’t want to destroy anymore. Everything I’d done since I turned Infernal repulsed me. I wanted out.
I cradled my face in my hands, letting my tears flow as I sat with what I’d done. “I’m so sorry, Orion. You were the father I never had. You didn’t deserve that.” My shoulders shook, and I sank further to the floor.
As much as the barrage of emotions agonized me, I welcomed them. Anything was better than the cold and heartless existence I’d been living.
Gods, I really hope Gray read the letter I gave her.
And as if she sensed my moment of weakness, Celanea’s summon gripped my mind. “Come, my sweet pet. Meet me in the throne room.”
I shoved my fingers into the roots of my hair, gripping the strands tightly with a groan. She always had such uncanny timing. At her call, Slate’s magic dissipated, and I immediately snapped out of it. I had to serve the queen who’d entrapped me.
I swiped angrily at my cheeks, disgusted by the tears I shed.
Slate would suffer immensely for this.
The moment she called me, my mind and body had no choice but to respond. Yet, I fought against the pull. I couldn’t go into the Tempest queen’s throne room full of rage. That never worked well for me. I needed to be strategic and in control.
I took a second to slow my heart through deep breaths, clinging to the image of Gray in my mind. Her black-and-white tresses whipped wildly around her, and her rainbow eyes glared at me in a challenge. Daring me to defy Celanea’s call.
The bond that Celanea had cast on my mind yanked as she grew impatient, dissolving my image of Gray, the salvageable pieces of my soul going with her.
When I entered the throne room, I was greeted by Celanea, Forest, and two other Tempests, standing on either side of their queen’s throne. Both Tempests were cloaked, their eyes sunken in and skin pallid.
I stood at attention, staring past Celanea while she crooned at my arrival. “Oh, my pet. I’ve missed you.”
Forest’s jaw clenched, his beard rippling like a breeze sifting through a meadow, but he remained silent.
As much as I hated Celanea, it made my heart swell to piss him off with her affection.
Sometimes I played into it just to get under his skin more, even though the idea of Celanea touching me was enough to make me want to heave.
“Are you familiar with the Wind Kingdom?” Celanea asked, her voice lilting with a creepy childlike innocence.
I shook my head. “No, my queen.”
“Ah, that’s so disappointing,” Celanea said, sighing. “There’s so much for you to learn about Arcadia. I didn’t think of the long-term consequences when I cast you out all those years ago.”
Forest stepped closer to her side, caressing his knuckles from her temple to her jaw. “There’s no way you could’ve known, beautiful. You’ve always had such brilliant foresight.”
Celanea kept her eyes pinned on me, pinching her lips together. “The Kingdom of Wind, led by Brecken, is where your answers about the Seraphite Stone lie. They protect it by hiding behind impenetrable wards.”
I dipped my chin in acknowledgment. “What lies within the Kingdom of Wind, my queen?”
“The Druids,” she spat. “Or what remains of them. I figured their arrogance would’ve had them fully extinct by now, but their Elder stubbornly remains.”
“Where is the Wind Kingdom?” I kept my gaze planted on the stained-glass windows behind Celanea’s throne.
The Tempest queen waved a lazy hand. “Seek the wild cliffside overlooking the Crystal Sea.”
“Yes, my queen.” I didn’t have a clue where to start looking for that.
“Look at him, Forest,” Celanea crooned. “You’ve done such a beautiful job crafting him to be so compliant and responsive.”
Forest grinned, pride on display through his raised shoulders. “It wasn’t without its struggles along the way. Just makes it that much more satisfying.”
“Oh, he went through his little rebellious stages, didn’t he?” Celanea said as if I weren’t standing there.
I clenched my fists at my sides, remembering the torment he’d put me through when I’d been younger.
Had I been an Infernal then, detached from my emotions, none of that would’ve ever happened.
Forest would have died years ago. So that was my mistake for giving him and my dead stepfather the leverage to torture me the way they had.
Forest hummed in agreement. “He did. But thankfully, his little temper tantrums worked out in our favor.” Leaning down, Forest cupped Celanea’s jaw and tilted her face up to meet his.
“They led us back together again.” He pressed his lips against hers before she shoved her tongue down his throat in a public display of revolting passion. Or whatever it was they shared.
I rolled my eyes as I waited for the awkward moment to pass. The two other Tempests stood stoic, appearing unbothered by their queen’s love affair with a half-Celestial fallen king.
I cleared my throat, bored and ready to leave if we were done here.
Celanea pulled back, turning her attention to me, annoyed by the interruption. “Where have you been by the way, my pet?” Scrutinizing me, she added, “I’ve noticed you’ve been away.”
“I’ve been searching for any information about the Seraphite Stone, my queen,” I answered, clearly bored.
“Mhmm,” the Tempest hummed, stroking a finger along Forest’s exposed neck with her elongated nail. “Pray tell, where?”
“I snooped around the Elemental Hollow to see if Orion had discovered anything. Spoiler alert: he hasn’t.”
“Oh, you’ve been paying visits to your silly little friends, have you?” The air chilled with her mood shift.
Fuck.
Forest studied me as if trying to find any fault in my words. “Did my daughter happen to be there?”
Clenching my jaw, I said, “She was.”
“Ah! Are we any closer to having your Twin Soul join us, then?” Celenea asked, her tone perking up. “She must’ve been so thrilled to see you again.”
“She will be.” I’d learned that the shorter I kept my responses, the better.
Truthfully, the only reason I wanted Gray to join me now was so she could help me kill Celanea, then get the revenge kill on her father that she’d been robbed of two months ago.
But then I remembered the deep, soulful longing I’d felt for her not even an hour ago at the Hollow.
I would have gouged my hands and knees on barbed wire and broken glass, if that’s what it took, for her to spare me a glance that harbored the love it once had. And a part of me still would.
Internally, I shook it off.
“Bring her,” Celanea ordered, using the bond she forced on me to demand it.
Rising from her throne, she swayed toward me, her black lace dress flowing behind her.
She was lethally attractive now, but every time I saw her, I couldn’t help but see the desiccated and sickly version of herself from before she regained her strength by casting Syphon Bonds on the Endarkened prisoners from the King’s Palace.
“It’s her turn to join us, don’t you think? ”
“I do, my queen.” Celanea ran her fingers through my hair, scraping her nails along my scalp as she did. “Once I have both of you under my thrall, the worlds will be at our feet.”
Chills skittered down my flesh at the prospect.
There was no fucking way I’d be subservient to this woman for the rest of my existence, much less allow Gray to be either.
No, we were meant to rule together. Celanea was the interloper, and I wasn’t about to concede my power and control to this sorceress.
With a press of her lips to mine, she whispered, “Bring her to me. Let’s break her together, shall we?”
An hour later, I roamed the castle corridors freely, finding old relics left behind from the Goshen Kingdom.
From what I’d gathered, Arcadia had originally contained multiple Celestial kingdoms, all presided over by the High King and Queen.
Each different kingdom had their own culture that they’d preserved over time, very similar to the various cultures in Terraguard.