Page 71 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

I lifted my hand to halt the conversation. “Hold on,” I said. “Combat training? You realize I’m…”

“Yes, but there’s more you could learn. Void has a particular skill-set that will prove advantageous for you in the future,” Chrome explained. “Seeing as you have so many enemies now, you might want to jump on the offer.”

I slumped back into my seat. “Fine.”

“Well, isn’t she just full of rainbows?” someone chimed in. A younger male sitting a few spots down from Void. He looked at me with bright eyes that danced with amusement. Those eyes glowed orange like an Elemental blade. They contrasted with the Native-brown skin gleaming beneath the gold, and the silken black hair pulled into a loose bun. The mischievous grin he wore promised this wouldn’t be our last interaction.

Chrome snorted a chuckle. Everyone looked around the table, eyes shifting in confusion at his reaction as if it were an unusual thing for him. “You have no idea.”

Chapter 27

Gray

“Wait. So, y'all work with humans? What about the militia?” The concept that humans willingly worked with one of our kind weaved even more of a tangled web of questions in my mind.

Orion nodded. “We’ve established cordial relations with some of the human militia in the surrounding areas,” he said, rubbing the stubble on his jaw absentmindedly.

I leaned forward with my forearms resting on the table, fingers interlaced together.

“The humans blame us all for Devolution Day. For losing their loved ones and their entire way of life. As you know, Forest revealed our kind and blamed Elementals for the attacks leading up to that day. Humans turned on us, while they viewed Kinetics as the more benevolent race.”

Before my escape, that was my truth. I’d never doubted Elementals had been responsible. But everything I’d ever believed was a lie. So, what was theactualtruth?

“In actuality, it was theKineticsmaking attacks onus. Forest ordered false-flags upon us in order to manipulate everyone to support his planned declaration of war. He needed a reason to escalate a conflict. It would cause turmoil if he didn’t. Not only with the humans coming at him withweapons of mass destruction, but also with us, too. Between our numbers and the humans’, he didn’t stand a chance. So, he created a reason for the public to back him. He knew the humans would be scared and would turn on the people they were told were responsible. They’d never really made it a habit to think for themselves with those types of things. So, it wasn’t hard for Forest to accomplish.

“What he didn’t expect was that Chrome, or Griffin, would survive his escape. He didn’t expect Chrome to join forces with the Elementals and become their leader. And he didn’t expect Chrome to have built silent networks amongst the human militia in order to fight back.”

I closed my eyes as acidic guilt ate my insides. All those Elemental lives I’d taken… Was it for nothing? I was no better than the humans who’d blindly taken my father at his word. I’d been too wrapped up in trying to make him proud that I never stopped to think, to ask questions.

Orion’s eyes softened, sensing where my thoughts were leading. Everyone at the table slid their attention toward me, assessing me. I didn’t like the feeling…at all. “It’s okay. The situation you were under is understandable. No one wholly blames you for your actions while under your father’s manipulation. Had you not complied with his orders, you would have been killed.”

My throat felt like sandpaper as I took a deep breath and then nodded, urging him to continue.

“We work with the humans in the sense that we help them fight back against Kinetics and Endarkened. In turn, they lend their information on Forest’s movements and aid us with supplies we might need.”

I tilted my head to the side. “You mean you aren’t self-sufficient here?” I asked, confused. They used magic to grow their own food and functioned as if the world had never collapsed. Why would they need supplies from humans?

Orion’s blond hair wisped back and forth with a shake of his head. “No, no, you misunderstand, dear. We don’t get food supplies and weapons from them. At least, not for the Hollow. When we’re out on missions, we might require someplace to stay, food to eat, and the likes of that. But it’sthe information they provide us that’s the most valuable. They give us the times and routes of the trains, the locations of scorses where there might be an important drop, and the intelligence their spies are able to obtain.”

And that’s when it clicked why Chrome was talking to Jesse at the speakeasy and why he insisted on getting to the nearest scorse. But when we arrived, the Guild ambushed us.

I looked at Chrome. “If you are working with the rebel militia, then why were we attacked when we arrived at that tattoo parlor?”

He shrugged. “Someone in that network turned against us, probably Jesse. He either gave us the wrong scorse location, or it was all a lie to begin with, knowing the king’s forces would be waiting.”

“That kid, Ash…”

“Dash,” Chrome corrected.

I rolled my eyes with an added huff. “Dash. So, you know him? He’s militia, then?”

Chrome’s intense gaze fought off laughter. “Yep.”

Ifuckingknew it.

“So that’s how he could take down that Endarkened? You told them about black crystal’s lethality to an Elemental, which also kills Endarkened?” I asked, feeling slightly betrayed. The Elementals must’ve been helping humans forge their bullets with black crystal. Which meant they probably had bullets forged with redfern, too.

These were well-hidden secrets from humans and for a damn good reason. They werewaytoo trigger-happy, especially with people and things they didn’t understand.

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