Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It isn’t until I nearly walk straight into Kalden that I realize I must’ve subconsciously followed the ever-present pull of his energy. He steadies me with a hand on my shoulder, pupils flicking to Gem, who halts a few paces behind, before returning to mine.
“Are you okay?”
My raw, red-rimmed eyes lift to his through the shadowed lens of my helmet, and I again wonder how he’s able to see past the deep, polarized tint. I shake my head, the only answer I can give right now.
Not pushing for clarification, he keeps his steadying palm on my shoulder. I lean into it, into him, knowing I probably shouldn’t let my guard down around the man who intentionally misled me. But Kalden’s not alone in his deception. At least he chose to lie to a stranger, not his best friend.
I’m so lost in the spiraling thoughts that it takes me another minute for the scene to register.
Standing next to Niles is quite possibly the most striking woman I’ve ever seen.
Like her companion, the woman’s attire is borderline indecent, with a thin iridescent band of fabric stretching across her breasts and a second, slightly larger band wrapping across her waist. The sun bathes practically every inch of her well-endowed figure in mesmerizing patterns of gold, tracing from her bare feet up to her short black curls that hang over the side of her angular face, framing large upturned eyes straining to focus on the Pyre kneeling before her.
Its feral black-and-gold gaze glowers at the ground, but it makes no attempt to free itself from the hands that clench either side of its head.
My mouth falls open at seeing the charred creature’s submissive posture.
Predicting my questions, Kalden explains, “Joss is skilled at controlling certain electrical signals. She can temporarily disrupt the pathways between the brain and the body to immobilize an opponent while sifting through the electrophysiological activity corresponding to specific memories.”
“In simpler terms, she can read minds,” Niles clarifies with an eye roll from Joss’s side, holding one of his hands atop hers while the other rests on a pair of cuffs dangling from his back pocket.
Kalden’s jaw twitches. “There’s more to it than that.
Joss sees the frequencies almost like a static montage.
Not every memory is as clear and whole as others.
It takes immense effort to weave through all the signals and form a coherent image of what the bearer of the memory truly experienced.
That type of mental energy can quickly burn through her borrowed power, which is why Niles is lending Joss some of his own. ”
I blink slowly, trying to wrap my mind around the revelation that Sols can read memories. “Is it safe for her to be that close to the Pyre?”
“As long as she maintains control, it’ll believe it’s restrained. But I got these, in case things get a little feisty,” Niles says, tapping on the cuffs.
“What memory is she looking for?”
Niles lifts a blond brow, letting Kalden take the lead.
“There’s been a significant increase in both Sol disappearances and Pyre sightings.
It’s not uncommon to lose a Sol or two a year to burnout.
Though most of us learn from a young age to recognize the signs that we’re nearing that edge and how to deescalate, there are some who take on more than they should and ignore the warning until it’s too late.
But in the past fifteen or so years, the annual number of Sols succumbing into Pyres has shot up to a couple dozen.
This anomaly seems to be localized to the villages surrounding Caligo.
That’s why I went there in the first place. To investigate—”
The high-pitched whistle of an object cutting through the air silences Kalden. He barrels into my side, sending us both toppling into the sand and narrowly avoiding the missile arcing towards Joss, Niles, and the Pyre.
Niles’s eyes go wide. He tugs on Joss’s hand seconds before impact, and a translucent aura of gold pulsates out from them. But the two Sols aren’t fast enough to escape the thick bloom of smoke that explodes from the missile as it strikes the Pyre’s skull.
The black particles ascend into the sky, rapidly expanding into a cloud of false night, pluming over Kalden and me.
The dense nightstone air is like prickling ice.
It crawls down my throat and settles on my bits of exposed skin, intent on extinguishing any trace of the sun’s warmth.
Pushing up on all fours, I heave out a violent cough, struggling to breathe past the claustrophobia of the nightstone merging forcefully into my lungs.
Kalden does the same at my side, spitting out wads of black-tinted mucus while limping into the heart of the smoke, where his friends last stood.
A minute passes, and the fog begins to lift, revealing three motionless bodies in the sand.
The first is the Pyre, or what remains of it, which isn’t much beyond a mutilated lower half.
Several feet away lie Niles and Joss. Their once-beaming veins flicker as the nightstone eats away at the sunlight’s energy.
But it’s Joss’s arms that make my stomach churn.
Her forearms end abruptly in severed stumps of sinew and bone where her hands were mere minutes ago, now cleaved by the blast.
Kalden reaches his palms over both of their hearts and closes his eyes in concentration. The remnants of his magic flood to his hands before pouring into the Sols. Through their tarnished skin, thick golden cords wrap around the faintly beating organs, bolstering them with the borrowed power.
“Get back, Elle!” Gabe screams from somewhere behind me.
The relentless ice needling through my veins overtakes any relief I might’ve felt at the sound of his voice.
With no small amount of effort, I lift my head to see my ex-husband sprinting down the hill, a second missile in hand.
As he stokes the igniter, I’m hit with the sobering realization that he intends to strike again—except this time, there will be no chance that Kalden and his friends will escape the blast.
I can’t let that happen.
I crawl closer to the three Sols, banking on the hope that Gabe hasn’t yet realized that I’m one of them. And if he has, maybe his lingering feelings for me will be enough to give him pause.
Mercifully, Gabe pulls the igniter away from the missile’s wire, pocketing it before closing the remaining distance between us.
“Elle!” He doesn’t wait for me to respond as he grabs underneath my arms, hoisting me away from Kalden, Niles, and Joss.
“Let me go.” My words are a raspy mutter, but Gabe must hear them, because he stills.
“They’re Sols, Elle! Didn’t you see? They’re marked by the sun’s mutation!”
Jerking away from his slackened grip, I angle my body between Gabe and the Sols, slowly backstepping. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know the truth. Sols aren’t the monsters that your father and all the chancellors before him have portrayed them to be.”
“What are you talking about?” Gabe’s pitch heightens. “Did you not see how they killed those women back in the meadow? How can you defend that?”
“Pyres did that, not Sols.”
“Pyres?”
“Shadows’ mercy, Gabe! You can drop the act.
I know about the lies. How everything we’ve been taught about Sols is really a twisted truth about Pyres.
That exposure to the sun alone doesn’t take away a person’s humanity unless they channel too much of its energy.
That it’s all a ploy to keep us trapped below and your family seated in power. ”
“Did he tell you that?” Gabe asks, nudging his chin towards Kalden.
“He told me about the Pyres, but I pieced the rest together myself.”
Gabe huffs an exasperated breath. “And you believe him?”
“I do,” I say firmly, gaze narrowing on Gabe’s hand as it returns to the igniter in his pocket.
“He’s the one who lied to you, Elle. How can you not see that? I don’t know what kind of magic he’s been using to disguise himself as human, but just because he doesn’t look like the other abominations doesn’t mean he isn’t one.”
A spark comes to life at the end of the igniter, and I brace my hands on either side of my helmet.
If any evidence of my earlier exposure lingers on my face, it could either stoke the man into firing the second missile or force him to think twice about his demonization of Sols.
Hoping for the latter, I tug off the headgear, throwing it into the sand between us.
“If he’s an abomination, then so am I.”
Gabe falters a step, lowering both hands. “W-What did you do?”
“Found a way to survive.”
“No.” He drops both the missile and igniter before rushing forward to pick up my discarded helmet, dusting it off. “No, we can fix this. We have to! Before it’s too late.”
Without meeting my gaze, Gabe tries to hand me the headgear, as if I took it off by accident. I stare at the lump of anodized aluminum without accepting it and note my reflection in its cracked lens. Even beneath the false night, my usual amber irises are alight with a fading gold.
“Elle, please,” Gabe begs as I make no move to grab the helmet from him. “You can’t let them see you!”
“If you’re worried about the cameras, you’re too late. They’ve already captured my confession. And I have no intention of putting that back on.”
A tremor shakes through his clenched grip, though his eyes remain downcast. “You have to. I won’t let you destroy yourself like this. I can’t stand here and watch you become a monster.”
His fear is palpable, and I don’t think he’s faking it.
Which means Chancellor Bren has also kept the truth from his son.
“I’m not destroying myself. The reaction is temporary. Look at me, Gabe,” I plead softly. And when his head finally lifts, I give him a reassuring smile. “See? It’s already fading.”
“I don’t understand,” he admits on a shaky exhale.