Page 121 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

“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.

Chapter 44

Gray

Amonth had officially passed since my arrival at the Hollow, and I still hadn’t read the letter that Orion gave me all those weeks ago.

I held my mother’s letter, rotating it between my fingers. My heart raced at the idea of finally opening it.

In my lap sat my sketchpad and a pencil, a drawing in progress of Chrome. Shamed soured my stomach as I glanced at it, reality hitting hard how it wasn’t Slate I was drawing. Pages and pages of Slate’s face filled my sketchpad, especially since his death. I drew him to make sure I never forgot what he looked like, to ingrain his face in my memory. Each one had a tiny bit more detail than the last.

But here I sat, drawing another man. I felt sick.

Slamming the sketchpad shut, I dropped it to the floor.

Out of sight, out of mind.

I leaned forward in my cozy chair by the built-in bookshelf of my room, elbows resting on my knees as I studied the envelope and my Elemental name in elegant script. I slid a finger in the sealed lip’s gap, moving to slide it across. But I stopped.

I couldn’t do it. Fear wouldn’t let me.

Jumping from my seat, I raced through the dimly lit hallway to Orion’s office. I needed to know more about my mother. I wanted her only words to me to mean something, to feel tangible. And Orion was the best source for that.

I beat my fist on the door, the letter clutched in my other hand. Orion swung the door open. His face twisted in confusion. “Gray, what’s wrong?” he asked, dropping his gaze to the envelope in my hand.

“I can’t open it,” I said, breathless. “I can’t fucking open it.”

A look of understanding crossed his face as he ushered me inside. “Come in.”

I dropped my shoulders and let out a breath before entering his office. “When I open this, I want to feel connected to her, ya know? Like I can imagine her saying the words written here. Once I read it, I can’t read it for the first time again. So, I want to make it right.”

“I completely understand. I’m glad you came to me.” He moved behind his desk and reached for the framed photos that sat there, facing him. “As I’ve said before, she was very beautiful,” he said, his voice almost a whisper.

I walked over to him and took the frame, studying the three individuals that were the focus. It was the one I saw the first night of my arrival. A slightly younger and much happier Orion was in it, as well as a man I presumed to be King Jonah and then my mother, Queen Lilliana.

She had light blonde hair and blue eyes. Aside from her gilded skin, her eyes were electric blue with white zig-zag lines within, resembling lightning strikes. “She was a highly skilled storm wielder. A very rare elemental ability,” Orion explained.

“She could create storms?”

“Yes. Only the most powerful and skilled water elementals can create rain. But nothing else outside of it.” Orion rubbed his freshly shaved jaw, giving him an even more youthful look. “But your mother? She could summon lightning with high winds. She could even rain down hail and shards of ice.”

“What about her and Jonah? Were they happy together?”

Orion smiled, but it was pained. “They were. Jonah loved her with his whole heart. He cherished the ground she walked on.” Longing filled his sea-green eyes. “As she did with him.”

My heart squeezed as realization hit me. “You were in love with her, too. Weren’t you?”

Orion looked hesitant, then gave a resigned nod. He exhaled. “Yeah, I was. She never knew. She had always been destined for Jonah, ever since we were kids.”

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