Page 54 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

We sat inside the ravaged tattoo parlor on the front side of the building. We couldn’t continue to talk about these sensitive topics out in the open. I’d suggested having the conversation during the trek to our next location, but Chrome insisted there were ears everywhere. Nowhere could be trusted not to be overheard by the king’s spies. And I agreed.

Broken, filthy glass scattered all the surfaces while dusty items littered the floor. Light filtered in the space, casting shadows in corners of the shop where we cloaked ourselves from view.

I sat on an overturned stool. The ruffled dust caused me to sneeze, and every time I shifted my weight, the ripped and warped tattoo chair wobbled. My feet dangled above the ground as if I was a little girl, reminding me of all the times my father sat me down to scold me for hours.

Chrome lounged his back against the red wall in front of me, one foot crossed over the other as he gathered his thoughts.

“Okay. You said my father ‘ordered your conception through Amethyst.’ What did you mean?” I asked, picking up where he’d left off.

Chrome shrugged. “He captured Elemental King Jonas and forced him to impregnate Amethyst. Amethyst was all too willing for ‘the greater purpose’. Clearly, their attempts were a success.” Despite the look of abject horror on my face, he said it as if it didn’t bother him, but it was clear he didn’t care to elaborate. “Then, the king and Amethyst raised me to be their poster boy child soldier. They forced my abilities to awaken when I was only ten through high levels of duress.”

I cocked my head to the side. “By ‘high levels of duress’, do you mean they beat you?”

His molten eyes met mine. So much pain haunted him from their depths, causing my chest to tighten. “Something like that.”

I knew exactly what he meant.

Chrome cleared his throat, and the haunted expression in his mercurial eyes dissipated with the action. “So, anyway. They trained me in both my abilities from an early age, eventually forging me into a glorified warrior. On the outside, I was the face of the Kinetic race, but behind closed doors…” Chrome dipped his chin as he trailed off. “But they needed two hybrids. Whereas they trained me and kept me informed of my abilities, they hid everything from the other.”

Buzzing resounded in my ears as I sensed where this was going. My breathing came in shorter and harsher breaths, my hands beginning to quiver with anticipation. I wasn’t ready for the revelation Iknewwas coming.

“What are you talking about?” My voice betrayed me in its unsteadiness.

Chrome held my gaze, undoing what little resolve I clung to. “At first, Forest didn’t trust anyone else with his secret, aside from my mother, to partake in this task. This information was too sensitive to have it leaked. But he later enlisted help and captured an Elemental woman—a powerful one.

“He wasn’t pleasant with her. For two years, the king held her captive, torturing and debasing her in the worst of ways. The only time he’d released her from captivity was to force himself on her until she became pregnant. Once she’d successfully conceived the child, Forest eased on the torture…only so that the baby would be viable. When the baby was born, he killed the Elemental woman. And no one outside of his tight circle ever discovered what he’d done.”

Regardless of the wobbly chair, I was grateful to be sitting down. I stared at Chrome as he continued unraveling every thread of control I held. I begged the gods for this not to turn out the way I suspected. “What happened to the baby?” My voice was a whisper, the buzzing growing louder in my head.

“Forest raised her to be his own personal assassin.”

And there it was. The truth I’d been dreading to hear. The truth that would forever change everything.

I clenched my eyes shut. My head was a whirlwind, and I focused on my breaths until it sunk in.

Chrome continued, despite my despondence. “It’s never been a secret that the king wasn’t fond of his ‘adopted daughter.’ I’m sure you’ve always wondered why. And with you being an heir to his throne, he could never risk the knowledge of your origins becoming public. With his war against the Elementals, people could never know he’d conceived a child with the enemy. The fact you had Elemental blood in your veins disgusted him. Like me, you were merely a weapon to be wielded at his disposal. If or when you proved to be too much of a threat or liability, then he’d scrap the project.”

Everything began clicking into place. All the questions I’d secretly held over the years formed logical answers. My head spun, and the world began to drop away, leaving me swaying on the unstable stool.

I’d always known my father was a dick, but Chrome’s truth bombs only solidified him to be more monstrous than I’d ever believed possible. A part of me questioned the validity of Chrome’s claims. But inside, I felt the weight of the truth. A truth that was suffocating yet liberating.

“So, that’s why he made it my mission to kill you. He believed I was the only one capable of doing it,” I said, realizing how wrong my father had been. I’d just witnessed the scope of Chrome’s power and abilities, and I didn’t come close to that. I was one of the best-trained Kinetics, and definitely the most feared. But my power was only a fraction of Chrome’s.

It had been a suicide mission from the start. Perhaps he’d hoped we’d kill each other in the process, effectively taking out two birds with one stone. At the least, one of us would kill the other, minimizing his threats.

Chrome nodded slowly, letting me piece together the remaining details on my own.

“He must’ve known it was a suicide mission for me.” My head lowered to my chest, deflated.

“Not necessarily. I’m only as powerful as I am because I’ve been training both my halves since I was ten years old. You’re only at half the poweryou’re capable of because he’s suppressed your Elemental side for so long. Which is why I need you. I need to get you trained and ready to kill him,” he explained. He took a step closer to me before finishing, “Together.”

“How has he been suppressing my…my…” I stumbled over my words, struggling to voice aloud the fact I had the blood of both races running through my veins—something I’d always believed to be genetically impossible. It’s what my father had always instilled in us.

Chrome didn’t answer. He just simply looked down at the black crystal necklace that hung around my neck. The only sentimental object I’d had of my mother’s, or what I’d alwaysbelievedto be my mother’s.

On instinct, I reached for it and gripped it in my palm.

“That necklace is black crystal, correct?”

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