Page 60 of A Touch of Gold and Madness (Celestials of Arcadia #1)

Chapter 59

Gray

T he pieces of my shredded heart drifted to the ground with the ash that rained upon me. The landscape was a barren wasteland. What had been a deserted and ruined city was now reduced to rubble. It was difficult to see through the thick cloud of dark debris blanketing the sky, but I could see enough to know the city blocks were gone. The abandoned skyscrapers were gone. And all that remained was my wrecked body and tattered soul.

I couldn’t breathe as I remained glued to the spot Chrome had left me, watching his silhouette disappear into the early morning rays of dawn. My jaw trembled, and the ringing in my ear wouldn’t relent. Gasping for air, I clutched my chest, wishing I could reach inside and snatch it out. I’d do anything to make the pain stop.

I refused to accept what had happened. I couldn’t. I couldn’t accept that he was now Endarkened, even though dark gray veins protruded from his warm, golden skin.

Even more, was the fact he sacrificed himself…to save me. And I really wished he hadn’t. This was exponentially worse than when I lost Slate.

The memory of how he looked at me just before the kiss, so much love and regret shone in his metallic eyes. Yet, he couldn’t hide his shame or his broken heart from me, no matter how strong he tried to portray in those final moments.

The explosion was nothing like I’d ever known was possible for a single person to be capable of. The depths of his power were terrifying. I wasn’t even sure how far the blast reached, but there was nothing for miles.

Unable to withstand the weight of my agony, my legs collapsed, my knees catching me in the pile of rubble. I felt cleaved in two. But I couldn’t give up on him. I wouldn’t.

Something rustled in the debris. Snapping my head to attention, I scanned the shaded area, the falling ash and dust blocking out the morning sun. I didn’t have much left in me. I was beyond exhausted. I wasn’t even sure how I’d get back to the Hollow. I was almost drained, but I had enough of my magic reserve, thanks to the antidote Chrome gave me to fight off a threat if needed.

Rising to my feet, I crunched across what, minutes ago, had been the interrogation room. Since it had been underground, the blast had leveled the ground to give a new elevation for miles to see.

I felt lightheaded, and my entire body ached, but nothing compared to the anguish in my soul. I shut down, numbing myself in order to seek out the threat. Wiping the wetness from my face, I noticed my hand came away with black liquid smeared on it.

My poisoned blood from Forest’s sword.

Chrome saved me. He sacrificed himself and the world to fucking save me .

My heart twisted into a tight knot as I struggled to swallow the onslaught of my devastation.

A muffled cough rang out nearby in the rubble, snagging my focus. I stumbled to the source. A flash of green clashed against the graying landscape. Unrepented wrath replaced any sense of shock and grief.

“You’re too late,” Forest coughed out, trying to rise to his feet. How the fuck did he survive that blast? The only reason I did was because of my shield that Chrome managed to reinforce with his power. “Once again, you failed. ”

“How are you still alive after that?” I approached him, determined to make him give me answers before I killed him…slowly.

“That book has so many wonderful secrets forgotten in Arcadia. One of which included creating a shield composed of the magic weaved into the veil between our world and Arcadia. That shield could only have been broken by a magic powerful enough to destroy the veil. And because the shield was part of the veil, it, in turn, destroyed the veil.” Forest laughed, wheezing as he straightened his spine. Covered in gray soot and ash, he looked comical. Had it been any other situation, I would’ve laughed.

The world spun to stop, registering what he’d said. “What does that mean?”

Brushing off his sleeve, Forest smiled, blood trickling down his temples. “Arcadia is here, merged with our world.”

“Why?” I whispered, unsure of what that meant. Dread sank further and further into my gut the more he spoke. I almost decided to kill him already so I wouldn’t have to hear anymore. But something told me there was more I needed to know.

“Why else, Daughter? Power. There’s an ancient object of great power in Arcadia, and I want it.” Forest shrugged. “The only way for me to get to Arcadia was for me to destroy the veil altogether.”

The stone?

In my silence, he continued, clearly proud of himself. “My end of the bargain is complete. With you two now bound to Arcadia and Terragard, nothing can stop me.” He puffed his chest out and ruffled his hair, looking far too happy with himself.

I scrunched my face in confusion. “What the fuck is Terragard?”

Forest rolled his eyes, annoyed. “Our world. It’s the name of our realm.”

“How are we bound to the different realms?”

“Your questions are getting on my nerves. I feel like I’ve given you more than your insolence deserves,” Forest drawled, bored.

I was weaponless. With the blast, there was no way of me even having a slither of hope of finding one. As I processed all the information he’d just told me, everything clicked into place .

“You orchestrated everything that just happened? You wanted him to become Endarkened so that he’d be powerful enough to blast through the veil. And you knew you had to make him snap in order for him to…” My head began to spin at the level of cunning in my father. Even I underestimated him. He couldn’t have played us more perfectly if he’d tried. All the way down to the attack on the Hollow and sending in Cardinal, who had a familial bond with Scarlett. He'd lured me in with the threats on my friends, knowing Chrome would follow.

Reeling from the total mindfuck of it all, I reared back and punched him in the jaw. His head rocked to the side, but he simply smiled, rubbing the spot my fist hit. “You’ll never win.” His deep laugh ignited another roaring flame in my chest.

“Watch me.”

As I went to summon my element, Forest’s hand lurched out, wrapping his cold, thick fingers around my throat. “The Tempest will be so pleased to finally meet you.” He tightened his grip, squeezing my airway and blocking off my ability to breathe.

The pressure in my head built while I beat on his forearm, trying and failing to land a blow anywhere on his body. He had me trapped any way I moved, threatening to break my neck. A smile continued to pull up the edges of his lips, his triumph gleaming brightly in his dark eyes.

As my vision began to wane, I called on my element again and summoned my Kinetic volts to my palms. The blue electricity flickered to life, struggling to gain strength, but I managed to latch onto his wrist.

Forest flinched enough to loosen his hold, giving me the chance to increase the power of the electricity circling my hands. I electrocuted him, and finally, he dropped my throat. I gasped for air and summoned my element, allowing it to soothe my lungs, bringing me comfort with it.

My dwindling magic reserves begged me to deplete him, his strong aura enticing me to take it for myself. Remembering the gray veins on Chrome’s body and everything he’d sacrificed for me, I forced the urge away despite my nihilistic mood .

Once again, I commanded air, shoving an influx of oxygen deep into his lungs. A silent gasp came from him as his hand grasped his diaphragm. I watched as his face turned red from the pressure that streamed into his lungs, inflating them like a balloon.

He wheezed, trying to pull in a breath that wouldn’t come. Forest’s eyes bulged from his head as he clawed a desperate hand at me. I took another step back, dodging his hopeless attempt.

Gritting my teeth and feeding on his suffering, I sent all that remained of my Kinetic magic at him, encapsulating his entire body in a voltage low enough that wouldn’t immediately kill him. I wanted to drag this out as long as he could physically withstand it.

I felt nothing but pure euphoria as I watched him collapse to his knees. “You’ve taken everything from me! My mother, a decent childhood, my freedom, Hazel, Slate!” Tears welled in my eyes, my throat constricting. “ Chrome .” My voice broke on his name. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hear it or say it in the foreseeable future. How the fuck was I going to get through this? Again? This time would be even worse than the last.

I surged another burst of air into his lungs. Unable to fight back with his magic, Forest rolled over onto his side, hugging his chest as his mouth gaped wide. He suffocated on the amount of air I overstuffed him with as I denied him the chance to exhale. I slowly kept increasing the flow, reveling in his suffering. It would never be enough.

Whispers of Chrome’s touch taunted me in my mind. I imagined that smirk, hearing“ little savage” roll off his tongue in a way that only he could deliver. I’d finally found a semi-healthy place of peace within myself, opened up again. Began to love again. Only for it to be snatched away. “Now bow before your fucking queen.”

Conjuring my element, I lifted Forest from the rubble, and positioned him on his knees before me, forcing his ruby face and convulsing body to kneel.

I sneered down at him, white hatred filling my heart like the air that filled his lungs. “Long. Live. The King. ”

His eyes widened even more as I sent a final surge of air into his lungs, about to implode them from the inside out within his ribcage. An agonizing pain sliced through my chest. My heart chakra felt like it was being singed—poisoned—by a blackness that doesn’t exist in this world.

Something was happening through the bond, and the torment was blinding, bringing me to my knees with a throaty scream that tore through the wasted land.

The chord felt like it was dissolving. No, not dissolving, but morphing. The nature on the other side twisted into something evil.

Chrome .

I was losing him. Not in the flesh, but everything that made him who he was. Each second that passed changed the essence of our soul bond, turning it into something darker. Chrome was still there, alive and present. I couldn’t place his location, but his essence was black.

The transformation was excruciating. “No!” I screamed, hardly registering that it was my own voice. “Chrome!” My head swam, my vision tunneled, and I begged for reprieve. I couldn’t live like this. I didn’t want to live in a world without him . “Come back,” I whimpered, my wet cheek pressed into the soot.

A shadow loomed over me as I lay curled in the fetal position. The brutality tearing through my chest didn’t allow for me to move despite how hard I tried.

“Unsurprisingly, you failed again,” Forest grunted. I wished the fucker would just die, but I missed my chance.

A sharp pain pummeled my ribs from the hard kick he landed, cracking the bone and robbing my breath. “Go…fuck…yourself,” I wheezed.

“I wish I didn’t need you alive, but Celanea insists.”

Celanea? Must be the infamous Tempest.

“She’ll be along shortly to collect us. Thankfully, she was able to get all the Endarkened before Chrome wrecked my home,” he grumbled to himself.

Thankfully ? Since when did he give a fuck about Endarkened ?

I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut through the pain, wishing I would just black out already. For what would come next, I didn’t want to be conscious.

Sliding his forearms beneath my torso, he jostled me, making my broken ribs scream. I was depleted, unable to heal to fight him off. But I’d fucking try. I squirmed, throwing every bit of energy into a kick.

“Stop, you little bitch…” my father growled and then dropped me when I clamped my teeth hard on his bicep.

I collided with the hard ground. More pain. Another blow, this time to my jaw, before he snatched my head back by the roots of my hair, forcing me to meet the black depths in his eyes. Fuck, he was gonna take a chunk of my hair.

I bit my cheeks until they bled to deny him the satisfaction of my cry.

His hot breath stung my nostrils as he leaned in close, his voice just as poisonous as his magic. “As soon as Celanea is finished sucking your magic dry, I will personally rip out your throat and make Chrome watch with a smile on his face.”

Another blow to the ribs, this time with his fist.

“Touch another fucking hair on her head, Forest, and see what happens…”

I must’ve been hallucinating because there was no way that voice was here. Not now.

Forest stilled, fear briefly flashing across his features. His eyes widened as if he’d seen a ghost. Perhaps, it was.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” he seethed.

A knife whizzed over my head and embedded in Forest’s shoulder, knocking him on his ass. He scrambled to get away.

“Close your eyes, Gray,” the deep voice said from behind me. No problem. My eyelids were so damn heavy. Too much today.

Through my closed lids, a bright light illuminated. Light Kinetic. Who the…

No. That’s not possible .

“Back the fuck up, Forest.”

That voice again. I couldn’t process everything happening.

My body jostled again, this time in gentler arms with a familiar scent. One I’d almost forgotten, bringing another onset of tears to my eyes.

“Slate?” My voice broke as I cracked open my eyes.

“Nice to see you again, Princess,” he said, his tone soft as he scanned my abused body with a grimace.

“How?” I whispered, scared if I spoke too loudly that it would all come to an end. Surely, I’d blacked out and was dreaming. This couldn’t be real.

“Long story. But I never died.”

My heart couldn’t handle anymore. What the fuck did he mean he never died? Where the fuck had he been? And why did he abandon me like that?”

“Shh,” he said, struggling to reach into his pocket. He came up with a small tin canister. “Chrome just gave me this. Said you would need to take it so you can fade us back to the Hollow.” Gently, he adjusted me in his arms, as desolation consumed me. “Forest took off. We need to go.”

Chrome? Excuse me?

My already ravaged world tilted over the cliff, careening out of control. He might as well have just stabbed me twice more in the heart with as much of a betrayal that was.

“I can imagine you’re pissed but I’ll explain everything once we get the fuck out of here. Celanea will be here to collect you. We gotta go.”

He dropped the pinch of Mushweed on my tongue, and kept scanning the barren wasteland anxiously while we waited for it to take root enough for me to fade. Once I felt cognizant enough to realize that this was not a horrific nightmare and that Slate had been alive this entire time, I envisioned the Hollow.

“I’ll never forgive you for this,” I forced out through the tears steadily trailing down my cheeks. My throat was too tight, making it hard to breathe.

I felt my body begin to disintegrate, catching the flash of hurt in his eyes.

“I know,” Slate whispered. His words were carried away on the wind as we turned to ash, drifting through time and space while leaving my mangled heart and beaten soul in the rubble of the King’s Palace.