Echoes of the Gray (Betrayals Trilogy #2)

KALEIDA

[Proceed with caution. Contains spoilers for Betrayals of the Broken]

As the last storyteller alive in Sonnet, it’s a shame I wasn’t aware of what exactly plagued Eli and Ever all those years ago, the burdens they carried, the trials and suffering they would face. It would have been miserable, though—those two are messed-up. But I love them.

It all started when two Hollows appeared on the “wrong side” of the border hundreds of years after the Separation, which was particularly unexpected considering the Hollows’ water supply in Caldera was tainted with the elixir.

The potent drug dampened their free will and curiosity, creating obedient, painfully boring Hollows with zero desire to cross the border and discover the seriously dark shit happening in the magical realm of Sonnet—until Ever and Kelter.

The Centress, a total wretch and leader of the Vaile in Sonnet, was understandably distressed…

and a tad murderous. Fair, if Hollows could actually drain the magic from its storage in the plants and slowly destroy our world…

and their souls. But nothing was as it seemed.

The Centress insisted the “intruding” Hollows had stolen our magic, and she was set on extracting it and taking their lives after.

But Eli wasn’t about to let that happen to Ever after he made the grand, romantic effort to abduct her in the first place.

So he took her for himself. Yep. He saw magic in her that he’d never seen before.

So, like the slightly unhinged man he is, he locked her up in his castle—which was actually a basement—and pushed her body and emotions to their limits with triggers, all in an attempt to wake up that special magic in her, which turned out to be her essence.

The whole time I thought he kept her because, well, because he was Eli, but I later learned he wanted her essence to fix his broken immortality.

But the thing with essence is that it can only be extracted by death or with the removal of memories.

And Eli wasn’t going to let Ever forget about him.

Or kill her. Nope. His fascination with his “little Never” may have drifted into the realm of obsession.

Some would call it utter madness, but I have a thing for romance.

The Centress however, who quite unfortunately turned out to be Ever’s mother, was not so taken with her.

Maybe it was her freaky indigo eyes. But honestly?

She was the worst mother possible after sending her to another realm as an infant, imprisoning and torturing her, then trying to take her memories.

And she lied to the whole realm about Hollows’ abilities and the magic cycle while stealing magic from babies and sending them to Caldera. Who does that??

More magic was lost every day due to the Separation of the two realms, creating an imbalance in the cycle and striking the land with disasters. The Centress claimed her intentions were to replenish the lost magic, but in truth, it was all about a man.

Speaking of which… Ever’s hands were full enough with Eli’s troubles, but it only worsened. Kelter slit Eli’s throat, only for Eli to save his life shortly after—and merge them together. That’s two men in one, folks!

But clearly all that wasn’t enough to satisfy whichever storyteller controlled their so-called fates.

While Ever battled her visions of death and Eli fought to be seen beyond his curse, painful truths rose to the surface, all with a forced promise to never fall in love weighing heavy on their synced hearts.