Chapter 33
Chrome
“Up. Let’s go,” Grim ordered, snatching me to my feet. He slapped Elemental and Kinetic restricting bracelets to my wrists before unlocking the shackles, ensuring my magic remained cold in my veins.
The torture disfigured my bones, filleted my mind, and fragmented my soul. I couldn’t remember what it felt like to not be in agony. Grim hadn’t given me a chance to heal, and I wasn’t sure how I was even alive from my blood loss and collapsed lung.
Magic depletion incessantly slivered away my brain matter, or so it felt.
I didn’t remember when I last ate. My stomach was desperate for crumbs, while I tried to conjure any saliva in my mouth to moisten my throat.
Blood sometimes helped. My body had shut down, incapable of any function.
I was essentially on a razor’s edge between being catatonic and completely feral.
Thoughts of anything other than feeding my magic didn’t exist. The physical anguish had disappeared after some time.
Must replenish.
In a blurry haze of being dragged across the concrete hallway of the prison, I muttered unintelligible words to myself.
Every so often, a beautiful girl with white-and-black hair that swirled together in a way that reminded me of marble appeared in my mind’s eye.
Her blue eyes held so much pain, yet a hidden fire flickered in their depths.
My heart squeezed whenever she appeared, as if she were important to me.
What was she?
From the depths of my mind, I could hear the squeal of a door open and shut. I was dropped to the floor on my back again, a fresh wave of torment flushing through my body. “Well, now that Slate has confirmed Chrome killed Kale, we can move forward.”
Frigid fingers wrapped around my limp and disjointed arms, pulling me to where I sat slumped in a metal chair. A sharp and bruising sting cut into my cheek. “Wake up, half-breed.”
One eye slit open only a fraction. Grim’s garish silhouette blurred my vision.
“Why were you in the prisons with the Endarkened?” he asked.
I couldn’t remember if I ever went down there.
And I didn’t know what these Endarkened were that he spoke of.
I just needed to stop my brain from being spliced into fine, tangled shreds.
I desperately needed water, even if it was just a drop.
And I needed an aura to feed from. I needed the power that slumbered in my veins.
And for fuck’s sake, I needed Grim and Forest to quit mutilating my body with blades that set my blood on fire.
I mumbled something. Not any words, though. Another blow to my face jostled me.
“Why were you in the Endarkened block?” he asked again.
“Fuuuuggg you,” I slurred, my head dropping to where my chin hit my chest, sending an acute pain down my neck and broken spine.
Bony fingers latched onto either side of my jaw, digging in and jerking my head back up to face him. “Answer me, boy.”
Raspy, broken breaths came from my throat as a warm liquid trickled from my lips. My tongue swiped for it. The metallic taste wasn’t what I’d hoped for, only teasing me instead.
“We’re going to need to present him with more motivation,” Grim said over his shoulder, presumably to the king.
“Unfortunately, I believe you’re right,” he paused. “Bring in the next person. Remember what we discussed if we reached this point?”
A heavy pause suffocated the room, until Grim broke it with his outcry. “What!” he exclaimed. “No! You can’t be serious—”
“Did I ask for your lackluster fucking opinion?” the king snipped. My hearing began to cut in and out. “Celanea insists…” Even without a warped mind I wouldn’t have known who that was. “If he can resist the call…”
I tried to open my eyes, but they were too swollen and heavy. Gods, I’d do anything to replenish my magic. Anything to fix my body. And drink some water.
The only reason I even knew who Grim and Forest were was because they’d been torturing me relentlessly for however long, never letting me forget their names when my mind started to wane.
Footsteps clipped across the floor, stopping just before me.
“If he’s so strong and powerful, he’ll be able to control his Elemental side at his worst—especially for her, no matter how dismal his state is.
Both sides have to be depleted. That’s what she said.
Then he’ll be ours to control to get into Arcadia.
And the Seraphite Stone will then be ours to wield. ”
“What if he doesn’t refrain from it, though?
He’ll kill her,” Grim said, fear leaking into his voice.
It was odd hearing anything besides putrid arrogance coming from him.
It didn’t belong, but I loved the sound of him scared.
And I really loved the fact that I was the one responsible for that.
It made me hungrier to survive. If only to kill him slowly.
“He will.” Forest said confidently. “I’ll order a squadron of guards in here just in case.”
Grim released a heavy sigh, hesitating before agreeing. “Fine. Bring her in then.”
“Very well,” the king announced before shifting his attention to a guy at the door. “Inform Guard Commander Kittle to assemble some of the best for the interrogation room.”
My wheezing breaths rattled through the room, the only sound as we waited for our newest guest. My mouth salivated at the thought of the newest aura they presented me with.
I couldn’t remember or understand why I’d been so resistant to feeding off their energies before.
Tingles warmed my body as I imagined fueling my magic.
The door clicked open, my heart leaping, ready to set myself free with the newest arrival.
King Forest directed his voice at me. “Now, the rules are simple,” he started, the sound of a lighter set of feet entering the room.
“Once your bracelets are removed, you can either answer my still-waiting question about the Endarkened or deplete someone dear to you.”
“Chrome!” a girl’s voice screeched, cutting through the king and I’s one-way conversation. “Oh, gods.” Her voice trembled in horror.
Ignoring the girl’s outburst, I guttered out to the king, “I don’t…have anyone…dear to me.”
“What happened to him?” the girl sobbed. “He needs a healer!” Her wails pouring into the room nudged something inside me, and I didn’t know why. I supposed I looked pretty horrifying, but I didn’t expect someone to have that reaction at the sight of me.
My mouth moistened at the anticipation of feeding from her magic, giving me something to swallow besides blood.
“If you answer the question, I’ll send her out of the room to safety. If not, well then…” Forest trailed off. “Consider yourself Failed Experiment Number Two.”
Blood garbled in my throat as my dangling and grotesque limbs twitched at my sides.
Forest taunted me. “All this time, you thought you were untouchable.” His breath heated the shell of my ear, a sensation I wasn’t familiar with.
The warmth made me flinch away. Too much heat—my body rejected it.
“And here I am, reminding you of what you are—a monster. A half-breed.” He fisted my hair, pulling me close to his voice again.
It came past my ears now. I couldn’t even guess when the last time I’d had it trimmed.
“A weapon. My weapon. And you’re about to see for yourself just how much of a monster you truly are. ”
Still unable to open my eyes and get a full view of the room, I had to rely on my hearing.
“Come on, baby doll. It’s okay,” Grim encouraged in a soft voice I didn’t think him capable of. As if speaking to a small child. Soothing the girl, he cooed, “Shh, it’s going to be okay. Just stand right here and—”
“No! Help him!” I could barely understand her through the tears and panicked breaths. The shuffling of feet squeaked on the floor, as if a small skirmish had broken out. “Let me go! Don’t touch me,” she growled. “Chrome!”
“Take off the bracelets,” Forest ordered someone in the room. Possibly a guard like he’d alluded to earlier?
My palms began to sweat and my heart beat to a war drum in my chest. Thinking of the impending rush of power had me gasping for air, my adrenaline picking up in anticipation.
“Chrome!” the girl screamed again. A pair of feet ran toward me, only to be stopped. “Gods! Someone help him!”
“Restrain her!” Forest demanded, his voice cold and undeterred.
“Pumpkin, you gotta stand still. He’ll be fine,” Grim tried to reassure her.
“No!” she sobbed, her sniffles loud. “Chrome,” she whimpered, her voice breaking. “I’m so sorry.”
Masculine hands gripped my wrists, unclasping my bracelets.
Immediately, my feral essence lashed out.
Both my Kinetic and Elemental sides sought out their necessary sources.
The lights flickered in the room as I pulled from the electricity fueling the fluorescent bulbs.
The power of the entire building whirred in and out as I pulled from it, feeding my Kinetic side.
I reveled in the wild maelstrom of my magic. Fuck, I’d missed it. Second by second, my muscles grew stronger. The shredding in my brain ceased, my body going limp in euphoric relief.
I needed more. So much more.
“Get back!” Forest ordered, his voice growing in concern.
“Chrome!” the girl’s voice broke through again. “I’m here!” she declared. Then, on a quivering exhaled breath, she whimpered, “Take from me.”
Tentatively, a strong essence approached me like an offering, and the starved Elemental part of me pounced, ensnaring it under my control.
I absorbed her soul’s energy. Ecstasy soared through my chest, a warmth that chased out the frigid depths that burrowed in my bones and tissues.
The familiar essence of comfort wrapped around me in a fierce embrace of steel and sorrow.
The foreign emotion of love nestled into my heart, offering a knitted balm for the interwoven ache that held me prisoner to the darkness.