Page 52 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

He sat with his head hung to his chest, his breath haggard. “I’m fine. Just need a recharge,” he slurred. The large hood from his cloak blocked his face from view as I rounded him.

I squatted in front of him. The rough stubble on his jaw pricked my exposed fingertips as I lifted his head to focus on me, but he refused to open his eyes. A golden sheen illuminated his skin; the tale-tale sign of an Elemental gleamed in the morning sun.

“How in the actual fuck did you just do that?” I whispered, awestruck by the man in front of me. I never stood a chance against something as extraordinary as that. He had gone easy on me that first night in the speakeasy.

Griffin couldn’t hold back the weak chuckle but refused to look at me. “Didn’t you know?” His voice carried the weight of a darkness that threatened to pull him permanently to its depths. “I’m a legend,” he added with a shrug and a humorless chuckle.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” I rolled my eyes. Although the Elementals considered him a legend amongst their kind. Now, I could understand why.

“Mhmm…” was all he could manage in response.

“Griffin…” I said, concerned that he’d pass out on me.

“Chrome,” he mumbled, barely audible.

“What?” I furrowed my brows, thinking I’d misheard him.

“My name isn’t Griffin.” He slowly lifted his eyelids, meeting my gaze. But it wasn’t the crystal-blue eyes I’d grown used to, and not the glamoured pair I remembered from my childhood. “It’s Chrome. Chrome Freyr.”

Chapter 21

Gray

Chrome Freyr might have been a legend amongst our people, but he had always been an obscure and untouchable entity when he’d been alive. He was sixteen when my father announced his death, a little over ten years ago. Most cultures wanted to immortalize their legendary figures, but there were very few photos of him throughout the King’s Palace. And the ones that existed never showed his face clearly, almost as if Forest had been trying to hide him, for some reason, which I’d always found odd. The main defining trait he’d had was his short, metallic hair, the color of chrome…a trait Griffin lacked.

My heart lurched. Griffin’s knowing gaze locked onto mine. All of his previous humor had completely vanished. They were no longer the rich blue I’d come to appreciate. Now, his eyes were molten metal, swirling like liquid silver paint as they had been the first night at the speakeasy. And a gold-flecked layer of skin illuminated him in the sunlight.

“That’s impossible. Chrome is…”

“Dead?” he finished for me. A deep chuckle vibrated his body, but there was no amusement in it. “Nope. As you just witnessed, I’m too dangerous for the king to let live.”

“But… but,” I began, struggling to wrap my mind around his claim. “Chrome was a Kinetic. You’re not.”

Griffin or Chrome—I didn’t know anymore—offered a sardonic smile. “I’m not? No, I suppose Forest and my mother kept that little secret locked up tight down in the prison with all the rest.”

“If you’re truly Chrome, and you’re a Kinetic,” I started, leaning back to rest on the heels of my feet. “Then show me. You’d have currents and…” I focused on his black hair and his chromatic eyes.

Griffin took a deep breath before shifting to pull up the sleeve of his hooded cloak. By exposing the gold skin of his wrist, a silver bracelet with embossed Kinetic sigils stood out against his complexion. I’d never noticed it on him before. With shaking fingers, he unclasped the latch.

The black cloak followed, revealing his inked arms for the first time. More white lines marred the tan flesh beneath the golden sheen, indicating more scars, but I caught the distinct signs of a specific type of mark. Raised welts in the shape of Kinetic symbols were barely perceptible through the tattoos and gilded skin. Brands. So many of them. Dozens of kill marks lined the entirety of both his arms, from shoulders to wrists.

In the stretched silence, I questioned whether I was having a mental breakdown, but the truth was there before my eyes.

Griffin gasped.

I watched as his black hair morphed from pitch-black into metallic, shining chrome. The color was reminiscent of the chrome bumpers on a car. It was unlike any Kinetic I’d ever seen. His golden skin and quicksilver eyes remained, but I stood transfixed as silver currents pulsed from his fingertips and up the sides of his neck. They made the familiar path downward before darting up again.

I tried to wrap my mind around what I was looking at. How could someone encapsulate both Kinetic and Elemental traits and abilities? I backed up a few steps, shaking my head in denial. This wasn’t possible. There was no known account of this happening. The cognitive dissonance was real. Not only was Griffin Silas the boy who’d protected me all those years ago, but he was also Chrome Freyr, who was supposed to be dead.The guy I’d always in some way fangirled over for his accomplishments. Someone I’d always aspired to become.

I wondered if my father knew. Of course, he did. But what was Amethyst’s role in this?

“How…”

Chrome shrugged. “It’s a long, fucked up story.”

“So, I’ve been committed to killing the most revered legend in our recent history?” My mind was a tangled mess. I didn’t even know where to begin processing this revelation, but that seemed like a solid place to start.

“Yeah. Funny, right? You loveanddespise me,” Chrome said, one side of his mouth curved upward. “But I’m one and the same. Kinetic and Elemental. Griffin and Chrome.” Griffin’s—or should I call him Chrome?—gaze burned with an intensity that said he was fighting back another truth, but he held his tongue with a clench of his jaw.

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