Page 44 of A Touch of Gold and Madness (Celestials of Arcadia #1)

Chapter 43

Cotton

T he guards escorted the Kinetic woman with earthy green hair from the metal table in the interrogation room. Obviously, she hadn’t been lying; the thermal signature in her chest and other areas would’ve lit up bright red if she had been.

I wasn’t sure how much longer I could pull this off. Every day for the past month, King Forest had me interrogating everyone who’d ever come into contact with Princess Gray, hoping to catch the culprits responsible for aiding in her escape.

When the king questioned me about being seen with her down in the training room, I’d made out that I had been apprehending her to bring her in but she’d overtaken me and fled. It went against everything inside me to lie like that, but it was the only way to protect Scarlett and Hazel. Because Gray and I had never been close, he bought it. But his sights had been set on Hazel and Scarlett since Gray’s disappearance, and I’d been running a very risky game in interfering with the investigation.

The chair scraped against the concrete floor as I pushed away from the table, rising to hand over my report of the most recent interrogation. It said the same as all the others: no connection with the princess .

I couldn’t ignore the lead weight in my stomach telling me that King Forest was running out of patience.

Thankfully, the king decided to do away with cameras after Devolution Day. We had plenty of Kinetics with the capabilities to run them, but the king said it was a waste of our energy to do so. Instead, he relied on our magic to keep a tight grip on the King’s Palace.

I needed to check on Scarlett, my oldest and dearest friend and the one person who had stayed by my side when I stopped speaking. She knew something traumatic had happened but never pressured me to tell her. I’ll forever love the shit out of her for that.

The King’s Palace was quiet today, which was odd. Usually, people were busy milling about or rushing to get to one place or another. For it to be calm felt eerie. Ominous. I popped my neck as I straightened my suit jacket, a nervous habit.

I knocked on her door, shoving my hands in my pockets. Glancing over my shoulder, a pair of eyes burned into my back, watching and waiting. Or perhaps I was just being paranoid.

After a beat, the door swung open. Scarlett stood with her ruby hair pulled up in a messy bun. She scanned the hallway, clearly feeling the same foreboding as I was. I stepped inside, and she pulled me into a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around her tall frame, relieved to see her alive and well.

“How much longer do you think we have?” Scarlett asked, pulling back to meet my eyes. Her blue gaze swam in worry, searching mine for any answers.

I shook my head, scanning the suite over her shoulder with a pinched brow. Angling my head, I lifted my shoulders in question.

We broke apart and I stepped further into her suite’s foyer. After softly closing the door behind me, we moved into the living area where I continued to look around, searching for Hazel.

“I don’t know where Hazel is. She hasn’t been by today,” Scarlett said, deflated, crossing her arms over her chest. “She’s not in her suite. I can’t shake this horrible feeling, Cotton. ”

Over the years, Scarlett had learned to be able to read me as if I were speaking out loud. Forest was such an asshole, never providing any support for my disability in speech. He said no one else in the Royal Domain was mute; therefore, he shouldn’t have to make accommodations solely for me. Besides, there was no one else around who knew sign language. It wouldn’t have mattered if I knew it anyway. The king wanted me silent, so he’d never make it easy for me communicate with others.

Having Scarlett understand me on a level where I didn’t have to struggle to communicate was the best reprieve I’d been granted since all those years ago. I had to protect her at all costs.

“What do we do, Cotton? Run? But where to? We don’t even know if Gray is alive.” Scarlett began to pace, her bare feet wearing a path on the white carpet.

I closed the distance between us, grabbing her by the shoulders to force her to look at me. I wish I had something more optimistic for her, but I didn’t. We had to run.

Holding her gaze, I bit my bottom lip and angled my head for the door, searing her with an intensity conveying my intention to flee. Scarlett’s eyes widened before she inhaled a sharp breath. With a reluctant nod, she took off to her bedroom, throwing shit into a bag and grabbing any weapons available.

I leaned my shoulder against the doorframe and arched a brow.

She halted. “What?”

I moved my gaze down her body with my lips twisted in skepticism at her cotton shorts and cut-off tank as if to say, You’re going to make a wild escape wearing that?

Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Shut up. Obviously I’m gonna change. Keep your judgy shit to yourself over there, okay?” she retorted as she returned to tossing her belongings haphazardly about.

An amused grin teased the edges of my lips as I snorted, shaking my head .

Aggressive banging on the door made both of us freeze. Scarlett’s eyes blew wide for a moment before reaching for a knife. She tossed me a dagger, and I straightened my spine, tucking the blade up my sleeve.

Giving her a pointed look, telling her to remain in the room, I turned on my heel and strode with faux confidence to the door. My heart pounded a harsh rhythm, adrenaline and fear singing my veins as I looked through the peephole, hoping it was Hazel.

My stomach soured to see that it was not, in fact, Hazel.

Fuck .

Tightening my grip on the hilt of the dagger up my sleeve, I steeled myself for what awaited behind the door. Defeat choked me despite the numerous escape plans running through my mind.

With a clink, the door opened to three stoic guards. “Inquisitor Cotton Sjodin and Emissary Scarlett Kittle, you are under arrest for committing high treason against the Crown for assisting Princess Gray Monroe in escaping her punitive justice for her crimes.”

“Cotton, move!” Scarlett shouted from behind me.

I sidestepped just in time to avoid the knife that embedded in the throat of the guard before me.

Shit. Fight our way out, it is, then.

The other two guards lunged, and I swiped my dagger in a clean slice along one’s jugular just before he dropped to the floor. The final guard went on the offensive with a dagger of his own, arm raised high and poised to come down on top of me.

I was prepared to fight him off when a blur of red sped by; the guard went slack as Scarlett embedded a knife into the side of his neck.

“Fucking run, Cotton,” Scarlett growled, blood coating her hands while splattered all over her arms and neck.

I jumped into motion, grabbing her wrist and dragging her along with me into the hallway. Where the fuck was Hazel?

As if she heard my inner thoughts, Scarlett said, “We need to find Hazel. ”

I nodded and took off to the elevator en route to Hazel’s suite. Scarlett and I didn’t speak on the ride up, casting nervous glances at one another.

The elevator jerked to a stop. We held our breaths as the elevator door slid open to reveal Grim Valor on the other side with a hungry sneer. My stomach twisted as both of our magics winked out, leaving me cold.

“Don’t even bother. Hazel is already down in the prisons, rotting away with the rest of the filth.” Grim took measured steps toward us. “Drop your weapons. You can’t win this fight.” A sinister grin slowly spread up his pale face. “Unless you want one? In that case, I’ll be happy to oblige.”

No, we’d find another way out. Somehow, for now, we only had two weapons and no magic. Surely, the guards surrounded the perimeter at this point. We didn’t have Hazel, and there was no way we were leaving without her.

I gave Scarlett one last look. A look that said, we don’t have a choice, followed by the dip of my chin. I tossed the bloody dagger on the floor at Grim’s feet, never wavering from his predatory and sickly stare. Scarlett followed as we held our heads high, not allowing ourselves to see this as a defeat.

We’d find a way out…with Hazel.

I lifted my wrists before me, and within seconds, the magnetic cuffs clicked into place before I was blindsided in the eye with a hard blow, making the world go black as I crashed to the floor.

Distantly, I heard Scarlett’s scream before I succumbed to nothingness.