Page 47 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

My foot broke through one of the brittle arms, snapping it in half. “Sorry,” I whispered to the remains with a grimace. I picked up the jagged bone and crept to the door. It wasn’t the ideal weapon, but it would be adequate, I supposed—at least until I could find something better.

Darkness engulfed the empty hallway, and every step screamed with the loudest of creaks. With my back pressed against the wall, I crept along in the direction of the growing voices.

“Justshut.Up! Shut the fuck up!” It was Griffin’s voice disturbing the cryptic silence of the house.

I was hit with the sudden urge to run to him. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt pulled to aid him for some reason. It made no sense. I told myself it was for self-preservation and not for his safety. If someone was threatening Griffin, then that could only mean they’d be a threat to me, too.

Upon hearing his voice, I tip-toed to the doorway it came from. Damn, I needed my magic.

Fuck it…

Against my better judgment, I made a decision I hoped I wouldn’t regret. I needed to know what I faced before I charged in there with only a bone as a weapon.

Shoving the bone between my knees, I scrambled to remove my bracelet. The latch popped loose, and once it was free from my skin, energy rushed through my veins. A burst of electric blue from my currents illuminated the dark hallway, casting a cool, eerie glow against the ruined walls. The magic bombarded me…overwhelmed me, almost. It felt angry for being shut down for so long. I was fighting to silence my heaving breaths when Griffin’s unhinged words had me freezing on the spot.

“You won’tfuckingtouch her! No, no, no. Gray is…Gray ismine. You can’t have her!” Griffin’s voice, usually deep and strong, cracked on his last words.

A knot twisted in my stomach. Pushing aside his bullshit claim on me for now, I absorbed the energy waves from his voice into my aura to fuel my magic.

I stuffed the bracelet into my pocket and grabbed the bone from between my knees, shoving off the wall with my shoulder. Peering around the edge of the doorframe, my heart stuttered as I tried to make sense of the scene before me.

A manic Griffin stood in the middle of a little boy’s room. Like the rest of the house, it was utterly wrecked.

I scanned the room, but Griffin appeared to be alone. “Enough!” he roared. Griffin’s breath came in harsh pants as his hunched shoulders rose and fell. His feline-shaped eyes burned wildly in sheer panic. With his hood pushed back, his obsidian hair hung astray around his jaw. It was a frenzied mess as if he’d been pulling at the roots with his fingers—fingers that shook on unsteady hands. Nothing remained of the composed and calculated killer I’d grown accustomed to seeing.

“Griffin?” At the sound of my voice, he stumbled backward as if I’d struck him. Spinning to face me, he shook his head, his expression twisting in shocked horror.

“No, Gray,” he said, breathless in desperate urgency. “Go back to your room. It’s not safe in here.Please.”

I took a slow step forward.

“Listen to me. Just…just go back. I can’t…” he begged. His body trembled harder, and his skin’s deep tan was so pale that he didn’t even look like the same person.

Adrenaline thrummed through my veins as I took another step into the room. “What’s going on? Who are you talking to?” I asked, hiding my rising panic with a soft tone. I scanned the moonlit wreckage for the source of the second voice, but I still couldn’t find it, even with my magic.

Griffin stood amongst the broken toys and furniture in the darkness. A small skeleton clothed in faded blue pajamas on the bed caught my eye, and my heart squeezed.

Griffin shook his head again before he dropped his chin to his chest in defeat. His voice was soft and defeated when he said, “No one. I…just leave.” He lifted his head to peer at me through his dark lashes with the look of a shattered man. “Please.” His voice broke again, cracking open a part of me that resonated with it.

I took another step, slower this time. “If there’s a threat, then you need my help.”

“You—you can’t help with this threat.” Turbulent waves crashed behind his crystal-blue eyes as they pleaded with me to go back to my room.

Something within me softened. I knew it shouldn’t, and it was probably the wounds of my traumatic past egging me along, but I couldn’t help it as I allowed myself to be pulled toward him. Seeing someone of Griffin’s caliber breaking in front of me weakened some of the defenses I’d carefully constructed all these years. Because on the inside, I was broken, too.

“I can try,” I offered, my voice coming out softer than intended. I took another step closer to my sworn enemy, the man who’d taken so much from me. What the hell was I doing?

Griffin didn’t speak as I took one slow step after another, each step seeming to ease the tension in his body while he watched with trepidation. I approached him as if he was a panicked bird, ready to take flight if I made a sudden move. The closer I got, the more his shaking decreased, and his panting slowed. He was calming down.

What the fuck was happening?

“Tell me you remember. You remember, don’t you?” Griffin asked, his tone almost a whisper, laced with pain-filled hope.

I cocked my head to the side with pinched brows. Confusion clouded my mind at his sudden shift. “Remember what, Griffin?”

“The playground. Those kids. Our magic…” He paused. His eyes gleamed with unabashed vulnerability at his prompting. But with his words, a long-suppressed memory broke through. “We touched and…and…”

“Yes,” I answered on a breath that vacated my lungs. The image of warped and ruined metal on the playground flashed through my mind.

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