Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Cotton
“So you’re leaving?”
Scarlett followed me back through the courtyard and up to Nell’s office. “Yes. Valik said Gray is in the Wind Kingdom with the Druids, and I need to get to her.”
“The Druids? But how?”
“I don’t know, but I’m leaving as soon as possible. Be ready soon,” I said, keeping my focus forward as I weaved through the few remaining Elementals. They spoke with Mystics who’d been dispatched to the courtyard to help retrieve them and get them sorted into their accommodations.
“Cotton…” Scarlett said, regret tinged in her voice.
I stopped walking, pinching my brows in confusion as I met her saddened gaze.
“I don’t think I’m gonna make it on this one.
” Running her fingers through her hair, she averted her stare.
She waved an arm outward as she continued.
“I just found Cardinal. I thought he was dead. He’s my only family left.
He told me that Granite is dead. We don’t know what happened to our dad, but we think he’s either dead or in another domain.
Mom died in battle.” Scarlett chewed nervously on her bottom lip, grief shining in her eyes.
“I think I should stay here. Process everything that’s happened, ya know? ”
I swallowed. My heart ached for her, and I felt like such an asshole for not even thinking about her perspective before setting off on my own side quest, expecting her to come with me. Anything to put some distance between Onyx and me.
Reaching out, I pulled her in for a tight hug, smoothing the back of her hair with my fingers. “Of course. Stay with your brother. I’ll come back with Gray.” I kissed my dearest friend on the crown of her head. “Take care of yourself, Scar.”
Scarlett sniffled into my chest. “You, too. Please be safe out there.” Then she raised her head to look at me. “Wait, you aren’t going alone, are you?” The worry glistening in her stare yanked on my heart.
I pursed my lips, reluctant to give her the answer that she didn’t want.
“No. He’s not.” A voice I thought would never grace my ears again cut through my soul like an energetic surge. Except now, it was deeper and richer than before.
I stilled, my heart in my throat as I internally panicked.
Scarlett, noticing my reaction, peered around me. Her eyes squinted before going wide. “Onyx? Onyx Valor?”
I refused to turn and face him. There was no way I could look at him without giving everything away in a split second.
“Where have you been? We thought you were—”
“Dead,” Onyx finished for her. “I know. But surprise, I’m alive after all.” Because I knew him on a deeper level—or at least used to—I could hear the faint falsity in his jovial tone. “I’ve been with the Elementals, though.”
I clenched my jaw, angry that he’d chosen to ally himself with our enemy all this time. He’d just left one night with no word. Nothing. Nothing but a hole in my heart that no one else could ever fill.
“I’ll see you before I leave. I need to find Tali,” I told Scarlett before pushing past her. I couldn’t breathe. Air. I needed air. Even though I was outside, it felt like all the oxygen had evaporated.
I stormed away, not really sure which direction I was heading in, just anywhere away from Onyx.
A strong hand clasped my shoulder and spun me around, forcing me to come face-to-face with his unwavering expression.
“Cotton. Hear me out,” Onyx pleaded, his eyes hopeful but determined.
I shook my head and stormed off in a different direction.
Fuck. I can’t do this.
“Fucking hell, Cotton,” Onyx growled, sending sensations through my body that I hadn’t felt in a long time. “Listen to me.”
I kept walking. There was nothing he could say that could make me forgive him for the shit he pulled.
Onyx’s footsteps followed behind me, quickly closing the distance between us. In a move I wasn’t expecting, he hooked an arm around my chest from behind and spun me around.
I’d managed to lead us down an isolated path on the perimeter of the Solace Grotto.
No one was around. “I’m sorry,” Onyx whispered in a desperate plea, his eyes glistening from unshed tears, before colliding his lips with mine.
Calloused palms gripped the sides of my face as my lips betrayed me to return the kiss.
Gods, I missed this. I missed him. It felt like no time had passed between us at all, but regardless of my anger toward him, my heart clung on.
Despite kissing him back in a frenzied and dazed state, my body remained stiff.
What the fuck? How did I end up here?
“Fuck, I missed you.” Onyx’s voice had dropped even deeper, raspy with need as his teeth scraped against my bottom lip.
With a groan, I latched onto his bottom lip in a challenge, wanting to bring him some pain. But the moan that caressed my skin snatched me out of my fervor. Shoving his shoulders, I gasped for air, my face wrenching in confusion as I swept my fingers through the roots of my hair.
Onyx stumbled back several steps, glazed bewilderment glossing over his blown pupils. He swiped a hand across his mouth as it dawned on him what he’d just done. “Holy shit. I didn’t mean…”
I held up a hand to put some distance between us, dropping my other arm at my side as I worked to catch my breath. “You don’t get to do that.”
Onyx stiffened, stunned. “Did you just speak into my head?”
I wasn’t sure how I was suddenly able to communicate with him without having to manually connect with him.
Still, I didn’t have the mental capacity to figure it out currently.
With a shrug, I added, “You disappeared. Left me behind with no word. You can fuck off coming here, acting like nothing ever happened. A lot’s happened, dickhead. ”
He wielded the kicked puppy dog look that used to work on me, but I was too pissed. “I’m sorry. If you’d just let me explain—”
“No. I don’t have to do shit for you. Just like you didn’t have to give me the decency of a goodbye. I want nothing to do with you.”
Onyx’s expression fell, his heart splayed out in the open for anyone to see. We stared at each other as the distant voices from the others in the courtyard carried on behind us. Everything that had been left unsaid between us from over a decade ago hung in the air.
At last, he broke the silence. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ve proven that I can do just fine without you.” I shrugged, turning once again to walk away.
“Wait!”
I paused, focusing my attention on the trees straight ahead of me. I wasn’t sure why I stopped. Probably because he’d demonstrated he’d go to extreme lengths to get my attention.
“I’m coming with you wherever you’re going, especially since Scarlett is staying behind.” Onyx’s tone sounded firmer than I expected after the broken expression he’d just given me.
“I’ll be fine. Just leave me alone. You’ve done that well enough all these years.”
“Shut up. I’m going. Don’t care where or what the mission is. You can fill me in on the way. I’m useful, and you shouldn’t be going out there by yourself.”
I tilted my head back, lacing my fingers at the back of my neck and searching the sky for help from anyone or anything. “I don’t need help here, Onyx.”
“Well, that’s cool because I do. So I’m tagging along.” Onyx walked up beside me, not touching me this time. He flashed that bright smile he knew always got him his way. “So where are we going?”
After searching all the major places for her, I found Talitha in the Healer’s Hive. Funny, she’d been there all along after I spoke with Valik. If I had known that previously, it would’ve spared me from running into Onyx and now having him forcefully tag along with me.
Talitha was in the air healing ward, speaking to injured Elementals who were associated with the element. I assumed having them on a ward belonging to their specific element allowed them to heal faster. I honestly didn’t know how it all worked, but I tried to make sense of it, nonetheless.
When I found her talking to a young woman in a bed, Onyx piped up beside me. “Aella,” he said under his breath, relieved.
I raised a brow at him as he walked right into the room uninvited.
The woman’s eyes lit up with recognition and joy, igniting a roar of jealousy in my chest. “Onyx, there you are! I was wondering where you went.”
I ground my teeth, annoyed that he not only was forcing himself along with me, but he’d just overtaken me.
Not to mention, he’d just brought up so many emotions that I had no intention of ever feeling again.
He’d made it hell for me when we’d been teenagers, having kept our relationship secret from everyone.
Meanwhile, he’d paraded around with Royal as his disguise, all while earning his reputation as a playboy.
Now, it had been all of thirty minutes, and here he was doing it again. Fuck that.
I walked into the room behind Onyx, studiously ignoring him as he gently rubbed his hand on Aella’s biceps in a comforting manner, seemingly lost in their conversation.
Talitha spotted me and offered a tired smile. “Cotton, how are you? I’m sorry, with the Elemental’s unexpected arrival, until I can get everyone settled and situated, I won’t be able to help you much at all, I’m afraid,” she said regretfully, a little wrinkle cresting above her brow.
I wasn’t sure how I had connected so easily with Onyx outside telepathically, but I figured I’d try again with Talitha to see if it had been just a fluke or if something had evolved in such a short timeframe.
“I understand, and I won’t keep you long. But I spoke to Valik,” I tried. When her eyes widened, and she smiled, I knew it had been a success.
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Cotton!”
“No, I mean in his sleep. Not even an hour ago. He said I need to get to the Wind Kingdom. Gray is there, and he said that I might be one of the few who can reach her and bring her here. I just need to know how to reach the Wind Kingdom.”
Talitha crossed her arms, glancing back and forth between Onyx and Aella and then to me. “Let’s take this out in the hall.”