Page 43 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

Her jaw ticked, “Then maybe you shouldn’t go around starting wars you can’t fucking finish.”

That familiar rush of anger surged through me, but this wasn’t incited by my evil companion. This was all me. In the blink of an eye, I stepped in front of her, making her halt to avoid running into my chest. I towered over her and worked to control my anger.

I needed her.Harsh breaths huffed through my nose at her lies.

In a single swift movement, she dropped down and swept my feet from underneath me. I crashed to my back to join the dirt and leaves. Before I could move, she had already pinned my hips between her thighs, had stolen a dagger from my belt, and was now holding it firmly against my throat. “Remind me again why I shouldn’t kill you?”

I smiled, craving her violence. “Go ahead, Princess. You’d be doing me a favor.”

Her eyes narrowed and shifted back and forth as if she was trying to piece me together. Her high cheekbones and dainty chin contrasted against the fierce little savage who sat on me. A silver scar marred her right cheekbone,catching my eye. Since we healed, we shouldn’t have been able to form scars unless it was prevented.

I was beginning to like the way it felt to have her straddle me, but my main thought was maybe she’d grace me with another memory while we were down here.

And damn, she was beautiful as the savage little princess I knew lurked within her. Maybe a part of me that craved my equal wanted her to come out to play. A warmth I hadn’t felt in far too long spread through my chest, thawing the ice a fraction that had numbed me many years ago.

Wrinkled skin above her brows appeared as she scrutinized me further. She blew a fallen strand of white-blonde hair from her line of sight before scoffing, “Nah, I’d rather make you suffer.”

I hummed, my smile in place. “I’m pretty sure you’re doing that right now,” I said and cast my eyes downward to where she straddled me.

For a brief second, hunger lit her eyes before her upper lip curled in disgust. A tug on my heart vibrated at the same time a wave of lust struck me in my lower stomach, and I didn’t think it belonged to me. “I’d rather fuck an Endarkened,” she said, but I got the sense there might’ve been a slight hesitation in her tone as she climbed off.

I rose to my feet and swiped the debris from my cargos, forgetting about the anger and struggle to maintain just a sliver of my sanity. That brief interaction with the Kinetic princess was the first time I’d felt like my true self sinceshehad been alive.

I held hope that Gray remembered me from all those years ago. Because even in my madness, I felt this drive to protect her. I couldn’t control it any more than I could control the darkness that made me its bitch.

I held my palm out for her to return my dagger. “You had your fun. Now, give the grown-up toys back to the adults.”

Gray’s glower affected places in me it shouldn’t, but it fueled the masochist in me to bring out her inner beast. “I should’ve slit your throat,” she said.

“I would’ve let you.”

“Letme?”

Ilaughed. “You think you won that round?”

Her nostrils flared, and she looked down at the Elemental blade in her grasp before she sighed in disappointment. “Wouldn’t have killed you anyway. Would’ve been a waste of my energy.”

“Hmm. At least you’re practical.”

Gray slapped the hilt of the dagger in my palm with more force than necessary and then said, “I’m a lot of things, Griffin, but being your personal Angel of Death is at the top of my list.” Her fingertips grazed my palm when she pulled her hand back and stormed past me.

Like last time, the contact prompted another memory to surface, reminding me of another person the darkness had attempted to steal. I gasped, more and more pieces of my past falling into place. Sadness gripped my heart at the personal connections I’d been forced to sever.

Moments later, as I watched Gray pointedly tip-toe over a branch and then shot me a scowl, I arrived to the conclusion that my demon—what else do you call it?—chose to take the important people and moments that served as my tethers. Meanwhile, the affliction left behind a plethora of painful memories as motivation to succumb to its manipulation…to take away my hope.

My mouth opened the slightest in awe as I looked at Gray, still not understanding how she was able to do this. But gratitude had me lifting my eyes to the sky as I gazed up into the canopy of trees. She’d never understand. And in her misguided anger, I didn’t expect to get the chance to tell her. But my head was clearer than it had been in too long. The call of death and destruction was muted, although I could feel it lurking on the outskirts in the background.

I couldbreathe.

Whatever she was doing to me, I didn’t know. But I needed to stay near her in order to come back to myself fully. This mission was more than the king’s death. I’d known there had been more, but I couldn’t remember why or how until now.

An unusual lightness filled me, and liquid warmth burned my eyes at the foreign feeling I hadn’t dared touch sincethatday.

Hope. Just a flicker, but even the tiniest of cinders was all I needed.

Chapter 18

Gray

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