Page 154 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

I looked around the trees, noticing the sinking sun, the shadows growing darker and darker—definitely a bit duskier than they had been when I had arrived.

Tremors began to return to my hands from the panic about not being able to find my little savage when she most likely needed me. How long had she been gone? I could always just leave now and try to follow the bond, hopefully leading me to her.

I forced out a breath and planned to do just that when a throat cleared behind a tree near me. I slowly cocked my head in its direction, the predator rising to the surface. I took slow and calculated steps toward it.

The call to violence sang a beautiful song in my heart as I sensed the energy of a Kinetic hiding away. “Come on out…” I cooed. “I know you’re there.”

A silhouette stepped from the trunk into view. Bright ruby hair caught my attention. My steps hitched, remembering Cardinal from the battle. And Granite, who I’d had to kill. An old friend.

“I really don’t want to have to kill another Kittle tonight.”

Cardinal raised his hands in the air; no weapons were present, but that didn’t matter when he possessed magic. “I’m not here to fight.”

“Mhm…then why, might I ask, did you show up here at all if not to kill an entire Hollow of Elementals and your princess, Cardinal?” I drew closer to him, my Elemental and Kinetic magic on the tips of my fingers. I eyed him as if he were a mouse I was about to capture in my paws.

My control was seriously beginning to slip. I needed to fucking find Gray, and not just to keep me from going Endarkened. Because if something had happened to her, I would go Endarkened in a heartbeat. I didn’t give a fuck. Without her, I’d be lost anyway.

“I had to, Chrome. You, of all people, know that,” Cardinal said indignantly. “I didn’t kill anyone, though. Look, Gray needs you…”

My jaw clenched, and my nostrils flared. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know! She fucking disappeared into thin air!”

My breath froze in my throat. “She fuckingwhat?” I asked through clenched teeth. The tone that left my throat was low.

Cardinal took a step back, realizing I wasn’t the same Chrome he knew from back at the Kinetic stronghold. Like with Granite, I’d been friends with Cardinal, too. None of that mattered anymore.

“I was telling her about Scarlett, Hazel, and Cotton being held prisoner at the King’s Palace. They’re set for execution at dawn. And she just suddenly disappeared. But before she fully faded away, she told me to find you and tell you.” Cardinal’s words were rushed as he worried about my reaction. As he should.

“Fuck!” I yelled. She was at the King’s Palace. That’s why I couldn’t sense her. She was too far away. She did exactly what I’d done on the battlefield upon hearing the news about her friends’ imprisonment.

“I gotta go.” I closed my eyes, envisioning the grounds of the hellhole I’d been raised on.

“What? Where did she go?” Cardinal asked, his brows scrunched in confusion at my sudden mood change.

I bit my bottom lip, mulling over which information I should divulge to him. “To the King’s Palace.”

With the image of the Kinetic Palace grounds in my mind, I focused on my connection to Gray, wanting nothing more than to be next to her. I quickly felt my body begin to dissipate into ash, starting at my feet drifting off into the ether. I was weightless as I soared through time and space to my little savage.

It looked like the king’s expiration date came earlier than anticipated.

Chapter 55

Gray

The familiar stench of the King’s Palace prison made me nauseated. It burned my nostrils and throat as I fought constant gags.

It seemed that I discovered the same teleporting ability that Chrome had during the battle. Naturally, Iwouldfade all the fucking way to the King’s Palace and not just a few feet away for my first time like Chrome had. But since I was there, I decided to get Scarlett, Cotton, and Hazel out.

But the main question plagued my mind: if they were all locked up in the dank cells of the prison, then why did Chrome make me believe one of them was the scout who infiltrated the Hollow’s grounds? Who was the scout? And what was Chrome hiding? I wouldn’t let this go when I got back.

The complex system of cell blocks made it take forever to find where my friends were being held. I had already scoured every cell on every block for the past forty-five minutes, and I was no closer to placing them than I had been when I arrived. I didn’t have my bracelets on, so I was surprised I hadn’t been stormed by guards yet. Surely, my father and Amethyst knew where I was.

I tightened the cowl over my nose, but it did nothing for the stench of rot and death. If I didn’t find them soon, I would pass out from this shit.

I jumped at every creak and shuffle across the concrete floor, thinking it was guards who’d found me. When in reality, it was only non-Endarkened prisoners, sensing someone in their presence and eager to set eyes on a fresh face. I blocked them out, focusing on finding the energy of my friends’ auras.

A gentle breeze wafted through my hair, making me freeze in place. The air down here was as stifling as a thick swamp. I summoned two daggers to my hands with my element and called forth my Kinetic electricity as I dropped into a defensive stance.

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