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Amethyst reached for the bronze bowl from the tabletop to catch the flow of blood in its belly. I could feel my life force fleeing my body, but just as quickly, the cut stitched itself back together now that the redfern was being cleansed from my system.

Once the wound healed enough to the point it no longer provided a strong blood flow, Amethyst stood. Although, not before she swiped the blade across my cheek in a stinging gash.

With a victorious smirk, she sashayed with her cunning prowess to her son’s side. I grunted and nursed the cut she gave me, letting out another slew of curses her way, knowing she did it for no other reason than simply because she could.

Feeling an unfathomable rage set my body alight, I cast a sideways glance at Chrome. He fumed with a deadly silence, never veering his furious gaze from my chanting father. He knew they had us at a disadvantage and was simply biding his time until we could get out of the cuffs. Chrome didn’t put up a fight against Amethyst. He sat there as she sliced open his arm like she did mine, refusing to let her see him struggle.

When she stood, she stared at him, her expression trained on her son longer than expected. The tightness around her eyes softened, and her throat bobbed as if to swallow a fleeting emotion.

I narrowed my eyes at the momentary lapse I didn’t think she was capable of feeling. But she had. Rage burned through my body.Nowshe felt remorse for what she did to her son?

Fucking bitch.

As if she knew I’d caught her, Amethyst cut her eyes to me and curled her lip into a wicked grin before spinning to join Forest. He continued his chant, dropping a few small items from the table into the bowl. One by one, stones of varying shapes and colors, along with herbs I couldn’t identify, thunked into the bowl of our blood.

Smoke billowed from the surface, and my panic set in. Whatever he was doing couldn’t be good if it included our blood and began to smoke like that.

I didn’t know what else my father needed in order to complete this ritual, but my mind raced with potential escape plans.

My thoughts immediately went to the bond that Chrome and I shared. We didn’t know much, just that it connected us on a spiritual level and allowed us to do what other Kinetics and Elementals couldn’t, such as feeling one another’s emotions and taking control of one another’s magic. Oh, and opening a portal to an entirely new fucking world. No one really knew the full extent of the bond’s power yet, but maybe it could help right now.

Perhaps our bracelets only suppressed the magicwithinour bodies? The magic never left, it only laid dormant. But what if there was a literal tether connecting our souls? And what happened to that tether once we had sex and our magic seemed to intertwine?

I stared at Chrome’s devastatingly gorgeous profile as an idea formed. It was a long shot, but maybe it could work just this once. If I could free him somehow, then he could wield his metal element to set me free in return. I closed my eyes, trying to find a place of peace in the chaos.

He’d told me when he took control of my magic that he’d latched onto my aura, so that’s what I planned to do. I opened my eyes, ignoring the gut-wrenching signs of him accepting defeat, and focused on seeing the faint light surrounding his body instead.

Feeling the energetic fields around others had always been easy for me since I awakened my magic, but seeing them wasn’t common. Even amongst our kind, my vision had been superior. Now, knowing that I was a hybrid, I understood why.

The energy was bright around Chrome, yet swathes of shadows on the edges swallowed that light. My heart sank. He was on the edge, so close to letting the Endarkening process consume him and take what it was owed.

I shoved the fear away as I searched for a tether binding the two of us. Forest’s chant wound down as his voice rose in volume. I focused on the space between us, desperate to findsomething.

There was nothing at first, just air. The more I focused, the more frustrated I became. So, I pivoted to a different tactic. I remembered a technique I’d learned while meditating. Exhaling a heavy breath, I closed my eyes again and searched for the inner peace within me, grounding me while waiting for the anxious thoughts to move along.

I released all resistance and shut out my surroundings.

Opening my eyes once more, I held onto the blank state I was in. Without the energy of my thoughts and emotions clouding my sight, I spotted a faint chord of light connecting our heart chakras.

I dove back within myself and sought my well of magic. In my heart’s center, it sat nestled in a shimmering ball of blue-and-white light. I guided it to the entry point of the chord and gave it a sharp nudge, sending it down the bond to Chrome, shocking him from within with a pulse of my electrical energy combined with my air element.

Chrome gasped and jolted upright, his eyes wide with confusion. By sending a bit of my magic through the bond to him, it shocked his well of slumbering magic awake, even with the magnetic cuffs on. I could see the euphoria set in as he tried to hide the effects of feeling his magic return. It would be temporary, so he needed to act fast.

He turned to face me. A mixed expression of surprise, gratitude, and determination settled on his defined features as relief washed through him. His customary dark grin inched up the sides of his face as the cuffs connecting his wrists to the chairs clicked open.

Then mine followed.

Forest chanted, lost in a trance to whatever perverse language he guttered out with harsh breaks. Amethyst….

Amethyst was gone, no longer standing at his side.

Chrome rose to his feet with calculated restraint. No doubt, he’d already concocted a plan the moment he arrived at consciousness.

His black hair had returned to its natural chromatic state, as had the golden skin and the ignition of his silver currents.

Standing from my seat, I startled as a sharp point poked the skin on my neck, right above my carotid artery.

I stilled. Icy fingers slithered around to cup the back of my neck. “You do anything stupid, son, and she dies. It’s a full syringe of redfern and black crystal combined.”