Chapter 35
Slate
Loose pebbles on the rooftop crunched beneath my black combat boots.
Dawn painted the Atlanta skyline pale pink and purple.
Spring was in full effect in the south, the warmer breezes melting our frozen bones and colorful blooms splashing the landscaped shrubs nearby.
Even so, an iciness flourished inside me.
I took my usual spot on the ledge, stupidly expecting Chrome to take his beside me.
I fought back the emotion that choked me, trying to puzzle out how everything had gone so badly so fast. Chrome, Peri, and nearly half of the Warrior Guild were all dead.
The king claimed it was Prince Griffin Silas’s doing.
But Chrome was Griffin. So, did that mean Chrome was actually alive?
What really happened yesterday? I had my theories based on what little information I had, but there was so much that still didn’t add up.
I watched the flow of cars grow with each minute the sun peaked higher in the sky. Time lapsed in a void as I sat, my mind racing with the endless questions while the guilt deflated me.
I sensed Onyx and Hazel approach me from behind. The pair of them took a seat on either side of me. Hazel wrapped an arm around my shoulder, resting her head on it.
“Onyx has some things he needs to talk to you about,” my sister said, her voice so gentle it sounded like it’d break.
I glanced to Onyx on my right, lifting a brow.
“It’s been chaos since…everything. Haven’t had the chance to talk to you yet,” Onyx explained, nerves making his words tremble just the slightest. “But uh, you should know—” He sighed, dragging his palms over eyes. “He’s still alive.”
I jerked my head toward him. “What?”
“I helped him get out. But it wasn’t pretty,” Onyx said, his amber eyes haunted. “The Warriors’ deaths…He did that.”
I stared at him, shocked, for several seconds as I processed what he said, refusing to believe him. But it made sense. A hundred Warriors in the training room and Weapons Room were slaughtered by an Elemental blade. “Why?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.” Onyx shook his head. “But I watched it all and couldn’t do anything to stop him.
He could’ve just escaped after he incapacitated everyone, but he got an Elemental sword—which he told me to ask you about, by the way—and drove it into every single one of them before we snuck out through the side doors. ”
My heart sank, and I closed my eyes. That didn’t sound like Chrome at all. He would never kill innocents like that in such a merciless fashion. “Gods—”
“He said anyone who stood with the king would die and then gave them half a second to make their choice with very little explanation before he started in on the carnage…” Onyx explained, clearly still shaken from the bloodbath.
“It makes sense now why the king’s blaming the mythical Griffin Silas for this.
How bad would it look to have our legend turn on us like this?
Plus, he can’t have the truth come out that he’s a hybrid because then people would start asking questions, which would inevitably lead back to him.
It’s just easier to put the blame on Griffin, say Chrome died, and use the story as a reason to start the war with the Elementals that he’s been wanting.
” The more I verbalized my thoughts, the more I realized that yesterday played perfectly into the king’s hands.
Hazel sniffled, and absentmindedly, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder to offer some comfort in her loss.
Peri and Chrome weren’t just our cousins; Peri was as close with Hazel as Chrome was with me.
Chrome was more of a brother than cousin, but I failed him when he needed me most. I should’ve been down in the prisons that day when he went in search of the Endarkened.
But no, I had been kissing Gray—another betrayal.
“What about you?” I asked Onyx. “Did anyone catch you helping him escape?”
Onyx inhaled a deep breath before he blew it out. “I don’t know. There was so much going on. Chrome fucked up all the cameras, but who’s to say that they didn’t catch me beforehand?”
My eyes widened. “Shit. Onyx—”
“I know,” he said, dropping his chin. “I just got sworn in as the King’s Guard in the Guilds…”
“Yeah, I know. And you’re the most elite of them of all. You know that, right?” I asked, panic trembling my words.
Onyx rolled his eyes. “Because of my dad. He’s trained me. But that won’t mean shit if they find out I know the truth about Chrome and aided in his escape. They’ll probably punish my dad, too.”
I met my friend’s eyes, sad resignation dimming the light amber as we both understood what this meant for him.
His orange currents clashed against his warm brown skin as they slithered languidly up his neck.
The white specks dotting his black hair seemed to glitter a bit less than usual. He nodded. “I know what I have to do.”
As if I hadn’t experienced enough loss, another wave of grief washed through my chest. I cleared my throat, trying to hide the emotion from my voice. “You think he’s alive out there?”
Onyx shrugged. “I have to believe he is.” He laced his fingers together in his lap, studying the orange currents over his skin. “And I pray to the gods that he doesn’t spiral worse. Enough people have died.”
“We’re at war now, Onyx,” I said, the reality of what that truly meant slamming into me. “This is only the beginning of the deaths. I will be sent out there on behalf of the king…” There would be so many things I’d have to hide from him. Pretty convenient that I was good at keeping secrets.
No one spoke aside from Hazel’s muffled whimper as she buried her face into my side.
It was clear she was only here because she didn’t want to grieve alone.
My heart crumbled for her. While I received news that my best friend still lived, even if it wasn’t under pretty circumstances, her best friend was still dead.
Kissing the top of my sister’s head, I tugged her closer to me.
Although yesterday’s events made more sense after talking to Onyx, a few things remained unanswered.
I remembered something else I needed to talk to Onyx about. “So, Royal admitted she had been reporting our movements to the king about our rooftop outings,” I said aloud.
Onyx snorted, shaking his head. “Yeah, she admitted so much to me yesterday before everything went to shit.”
I genuinely wasn’t shocked, having never trusted her in the slightest. But what threw me the most was why she was so proud of it. “Why, though?”
With a sarcastic chuckle, Onyx responded, “Why do Kinetics do anything around here? Power. Respect. She was born amongst the lower ranks to a single mother. She wants in the Guilds and to have favor with the king.”
“I assume you guys are officially broken up now?” I asked with a smirk despite the darkened mood.
Onyx shrugged. “Yeah, she was never really my type anyway.”
“What? Crazy?” I teased.
“Sure.” A sadness crept into his eyes as he dropped his gaze to his lap before he quickly recovered and looked up to stare at the buildings across the street as traffic grew impatient beneath us.
“I’m going to have to dip out, Slate,” Onyx declared. “For good. I can’t risk them finding out I helped Chrome.”
I pushed past the knot in my throat. “Where are you going to go?”
“I don’t know.” Onyx shrugged. “But I’ll try to find him.”
Hazel sobbed into my side at his words.
“So will I,” I said. “I’ll figure out how to regroup with the insurgency and continue with another plan.”
“There is no other plan, Slate,” Onyx said. “Chrome was our only chance. I guess there’s the princess, but what are the odds we can recruit her to our side without the king finding out?”
I refused to believe that everything we’d done was for nothing. That it was over. There had to be another way…
Several ideas began to circulate in my mind. But one thing was for certain: the insurgency as we knew it needed to die out. It was too risky to keep going as it was. Perhaps it was time to do the unexpected.
Itapped my knuckles against the white wooden door to Amethyst’s office, keeping my senses open for any potential witnesses. I hadn’t seen my aunt since the ‘attack’ yesterday, so I could only hope she’d be holed up in here.
My heart bolted at the thud that sounded on the other side of the door, but the lock held the doorknob firmly in place, barring my entrance.
I didn’t want to draw attention to the situation, knowing the sensitivity of this visit, so I did what I’d promised my mother years ago that I would only do in an emergency: I used the code to Amethyst’s office.
No one knew this code except for Grim and my mother.
I didn’t doubt Peri had known it as well.
My breath caught in my chest at the thought of my cousin.
The news of her death had sent tremors throughout the Royal Domain.
The reality that I would never have another secret night out on the rooftop with Chrome or our sisters made the tightness return to my throat that I once again had to stuff down.
I couldn’t believe they were both gone, and not knowing the truth of what happened nearly drove me to do something stupid in search of answers.
Which brought me to Amethyst’s office…
The electronic lock clicked, and I pushed the door open, finding a sight I never thought I’d see in all my days.
In the center of the office, Amethyst sat collapsed on her knees on the cold and shiny floor. Her hands covered her face as her shoulders wracked with full-body sobs. Her sleek braid was pulled loose at the roots as if she had been running her fingers through it, tugging the strands free.
Amethyst’s heels lay scattered on opposite sides of the room like she’d kicked them off recklessly. The curtains were pulled taut, not allowing any light to filter through, leaving her in near darkness.