Page 60 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

We reached the second to top floor of the King’s Palace, where our suite encapsulated the entire area. Once inside our home, Peri and I scanned the space for any sign of my mother and stepfather’s presence. They seemed to be absent, so she tugged me after her into her room where she closed the door and leaned against it. “Are you okay?” she asked again.

“I’ll be fine, Peri. Promise.” I offered a weak smile in an attempt to convince her, but she didn’t buy it given the deadpan expression she shot me.

“What happened today?” she pushed further.

I pressed my palms into my eyeballs in some sort of effort to rid the day’s events. “I don’t want to talk about it. The less you know the better. You’re only eight.” I released a sigh.

She stomped her foot, garnering my attention. A fierce little scowl planted on her face and arms crossed over her chest. “And you’re only ten! Not much of a difference, Chrome!”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t really ten, and she knew it. At least, based on my experiences. Thankfully, she hadn’t been forced to grow up as fast as me. Unfortunately, regardless of how much I tried to protect her, she still witnessed and knew things she shouldn’t. And she was sharp in piecing stuff together at times. But she had my mother and Grim fooled, as they saw only a sweet, innocent, and naïve little angel. “I—”

My words were cut off by a tug on my heart, vibrating like a violin string just before I was slammed with a fear so intense it knocked me back a few steps. Panic. I gripped a hand to my chest, my heart pounding in a riot as I looked at Peri for answers that she had no way of knowing.

Peri’s big honey-colored eyes widened further as she rushed to me. “What’s happening?”

My lungs felt restricted. No air. My hands shook as I searched for a way out of the room. From what? I didn’t know. I only knew that I was in danger. As quickly as the fear struck me, a sense of deflation chased it away, leaving behind a hopelessness I was well-acquainted with.

Yet, there was still a tiny fire burning within. A small flame that flickered out during Grim’s assault. That’s when I realized, these weren’t my emotions. How could they be? Everything was numb now. Frozen and accepting of the life that lay ahead of me.

So, if they weren’t mine, then to whom did they belong?

A slow simmer of power rose from the depths of my belly. It built and built until it consumed the desolation and fear. It blew through my veins like hurricane winds combined with high-voltage energetic waves, ready to explode.

As had happened on the playground, my feet remained planted to the carpeted floor. A vengeful, protective power was being forced to the surface. Just as it had been for me only a few days ago. This time, I experienced it as though it was second-hand, like an echo of the real thing but still potent all the same.

I could only think of the princess, and the pieces clicked into place.

Princess Gray was a hybrid like me. The king and my mother basically told me as much. They never told me who exactly was the other hybrid, only that they existed in the Royal Domain. Today proved everything that had transpired was due to both of our hybrid natures.

And the king was currently forcing her magic to awaken prematurely—like they had with me.

And if the princess was as powerful as me, then what was stopping her father from sending Grim to control her as well?

I had to protect her at all costs. It was an instinctual drive that I couldn’t explain…I just had to.

The memory looped in my head as Gray and I pushed deeper into the woods. Neither one of us had said much as we both needed to process everything that had happened back there with the bear.

Every touch of Gray’s presented me with a new vital memory. Sometimes, it didn’t involve her, but the ones that did had me reeling. The twisted nature of it all was that I had no way of knowing whether she knew of these events or not. The king did have ways of erasing memories, so it wouldn’tsurprise me.

“When did you say your magic awakened?” I asked, breaking the silence.

Gray’s brows pinched together in confusion. “When I was thirteen. Why?”

I shook my head and sighed. “No reason. Just double-checking.”

The familiar vibrating tug on my heart jolted again as a strong wave of suspicion washed over me. Confusion, too? Gray’s lips were pushed out as her eyes narrowed ahead while stepping over sticks and limbs in the woods.

Her emotions. Istillfelt her emotions.

With my returning memories, I remembered that I’d always felt them. Parts of my past were still murky, just out of my reach in a dark fog. I recalled all the times since I was ten years old where I would be struck with her intense feelings out of the blue—but only if I was in her vicinity.

Especially when it came to Slate’s death.

How much of the anger I felt during my mental spiraling belonged to me? The darkness? Or was it Gray’s? The night of her escape and my fight with the Guild crossed my mind. I’d been close enough to the Palace to sense it. Savage rage gripped me after she had just discovered her father’s attempt to kill her. That begged the question, did that rage ever truly belong to the darkness to begin with?

My thoughts went into a tailspin as we continued to walk through the woods. More pieces of my past clicked into place. I tried not to dwell much on the trauma, as I’d already healed those wounds years ago after my escape. It took many dark years to deconstruct everything I’d experienced as a child and teen. Had it not been for Orion and the Elementals, I would’ve succumbed to the affliction long ago. Besides, the madness left the traumatizing memories for me to dwell in while leaving none of the beautiful connections or moments for me to hold onto.

My mind latched onto the most pressing concern. Should I tell Gray that I had always felt her emotions when nearby since that day on the playground? She was only beginning to trust me. To reveal something that could be perceived as a personal violation could undo that. Too much was at risk. And now, it seemed my sanity depended on her nearness, which threw in another factor.

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