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“How noble of you.”

“I needed to know what to believe…” he started, brows furrowing. “But seeing Chrome alive kind of confirmed my fears.”

I tilted my head to the side, not trusting him for a second. “And?”

“And I talked to Scarlett.”

I tensed. “Is she okay? Is she…”

“She’s alive. For now.”

Air lodged in my throat. “Fornow?”

Cardinal nodded. “Not for long. Which is why I’m here.” My best friend’s big brother ran a hand through his hair, just a shade of red brighter than Scarlett’s. “The king…he…” he stuttered.

“Spit it out.”

“After you fled, he conducted an inquisition. He put Cotton on it with his ability. Naturally, Scarlett and Hazel were at the top of the list of suspects. He tried to cover for them, but Grim caught on. They’re all in the prison, set for execution at sunrise for treason.”

No. No. No.

“I swear to the gods, Cardinal, if you’re just telling me this as a ploy to get me back in my father’s clutches…”

He clenched his jaw tight when he said, “I’m not. I swear. I just lost my brother. I can’t lose my baby sister, too.” Cardinal’s eyes shone from unshed tears.

My heart squeezed as I mulled over his words. I was unsure whether to believe him, but I could risk my friends’ lives by wasting time. “Prison, you said?”

He nodded. “Yes, I can sneak you onto a train and into the palace if we leave now.”

“I need to tell Chrome.”

Cardinal inhaled a breath, thinking it over before nodding. “Okay.”

Fear and adrenaline pulsed through my body once again. I imagined Scarlett sitting in the disgusting prison cells of the King’s Palace, disheveled. I saw Hazel curled in on herself, waiting in the darkness, with bruises on her face. And Cotton, unable to speak or cry out.

I couldn’t let it happen. They couldn’t die because of me. No.

As I hyper-focused on the dramatic images in my mind, my body began to feel lighter, as if the particles that constructed my life force and physical form were separating and floating away on the breeze. Except there was no breeze.

Black pieces of ash drifted in front of my face, just like when Chrome disappeared with Onyx. Starting with my feet, my body disintegrated into ash.

Cardinal’s eyes widened. “Gray! What’s happening?”

I couldn’t respond. By the time I opened my mouth to tell him to find Chrome, my throat and mouth were fading in the wind. Then the world went black as I drifted away into nothingness, being pulled through the ether to the unknown.

Chapter 54

Chrome

Freshly showered now, I stared at Onyx with my fingers laced in my lap. He lay unconscious, his deeply tanned skin pale against his orange currents that raced at a regulated pace. At least his breaths were even.

Blood and dried mud caked his face and hands, the remainder of the gory battle lingering. A bandage wrapped around his abdomen from where he’d been stabbed by Royal. Fucking bitch. I never liked the deceitful girl. Not to mention how she’d try to fuck me to use me to raise her standing in the Kinetic Palace.

Dread sat heavy in my stomach as my mind raced with questions. However, my main question was:Why did a Kinetic blade affect Onyx?Had Forest figured out a way to make Kinetic weapons lethal when wielded by Kinetics?

A healer walked into the room with herbs, natural concoctions, and valuable sanitizing items like rubbing alcohol on a tray. “He’ll be okay, Prince. It’ll take him a few weeks to fully recover, but you got him here in time. Had you not, it would’ve been too late,” the blonde Elemental named Jude assured me. Her gentle smile reminded me of Orion, who was no doubt handling the clean-up of the attack.

The tension hadn’t left my body, even knowing that Onyx would be fine. “Is there anything else I can do?”