Page 75 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

“Once everyone was incapacitated, including our king and queen, they took them. And they never came home. I became the new king, even though I never wanted the position. It was always meant for Jonas. He was made for it, and it was natural for him. I’ve never been one to make the hard decisions that came with the title. My strengths were in seeing the unseen, the hidden facets, and easing burdens when I could. Taking on all of it was…too much. I couldn’t rule an entire race spanning theentire continent. So, I did what I believed would ensure the survival of our people.” Orion took a more substantial sip of bourbon.

“I disbanded the monarchy and broke us up into smaller factions. I allowed all the Hollows throughout the country to rule themselves, but we all remained within a network with one another while going into hiding. I believe that move saved our kind from complete eradication.”

Chrome nodded in agreement. A mixture of wrath and anguish sharpened his features, the molten silver in his eyes swirling with fervor.

“Forest had too many resources. You know your father mingled in the human business world prior to Devolution Day, but he also secretly worked with the human government. They’d offered their help with their military weapons designed to kill both races. We stood no chance. Having us out in the open would’ve ensured extinction.”

I was speechless hearing the amount of carnage my father caused in the tale Orion weaved. Cinder blocks continued to pile on my chest, the weight almost too much to bear, making it hard to breathe. I stared at my hands laced in my lap, remorse burrowing deep in my soul for the lives I’d taken, all for the sense of gaining his approval and pride. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, unable to meet their eyes. “I didn’t know.”

Orion sat up, and Chrome straightened. Orion opened his mouth to speak, but Chrome beat him to it. “Stop it. What’s important at this moment is you’re free from his control and you know the truth. All we can do is move forward at this point to help atone for our actions of the past.”

The hard conviction in his tone forced me to meet his fierce gaze. He knew what I felt. He, too, had been a weapon for my father against Elementals, more so than I. And here he stood as their leader. I nodded and dropped my gaze to my lap again as shame swallowed me in its maw.

“You had no way of knowing any of this,” Orion said. His tone was much gentler than Chrome’s—calming even. “Your father kept this knowledge tight-lipped. Only a select few in his inner circle know the truth. And they were a part of that delegation.”

How could I never have realized the extent of my father’s depravity? He was the keeper of information for the Kinetics, so it made sense. He’d always been an utter prick—but this?

I realized I could never have made him proud. I didn’t think he was capable of feeling such an emotion for anyone, or anything, except himself.

I peeked upward through my lashes. “What happened on Devolution Day? Was he responsible for the EMP, too?” I asked.

A faraway look blanketed Chrome’s rigid exterior. I frowned, but kept further questions to myself.

“We don’t know for sure,” Orion answered. “We suspect he played a hand in it, perhaps with the human government. But honestly? That part remains a mystery, I’m afraid.”

I cut my gaze to Chrome again, who’d regained his confident air. Harried secrets—harbored in darkness—taunted me behind his mercurial eyes. They begged to be released from their burdening depths as if their weight grew suffocating.

The memory of Chrome’s vulnerable state in that abandoned house flashed through my mind. His washed-out complexion and trembling body had stricken me to the derelict floor. The wide eyes and mussed hair, the unsteady voice…his plea. “You remember, don’t you? Please tell me you remember.”It made my heart ache.

As I held his gaze, that plea still echoed through the silence. I remembered, but I couldn’t get rid of the niggling feeling that there were more secrets yet to be unearthed.

“You get a personal tour of the Hollow from yours truly. Many ladies would consider you lucky,” Chrome said from beside me, a smile peeking through. His hood was lowered and silver hair kissed his face as he led me along a maintained gravel path surrounded by falling leaves. The airfelt cleaner, fresher—detoxed from the negativity that contaminated the outside world.

I rolled my eyes, but a smile peaked at the corners of my lips. “So, you’re the leader here. You conveniently left out thatminorfact.” We strolled at a leisurely pace, and I scanned the beautiful shrubbery that lined the pathway. Floral aromas imbued my nose, lightening the weight on my chest a bit.

Chrome ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s not something I feel the need to boast about. It’s a duty and honor that was entrusted to me by a good man,” he said with a shrug.

My heart squeezed. Nodding, I asked, “So, my role here is to what? Help you piece together the Elementals again and rule?” The possibility of one day becoming a ruler had always been there—just not of the Elementals. Yet the idea felt so foreign.

Chrome tilted his head and stuffed his hands in his front pockets, watching crows take flight from a nearby tree as dusk fell. “In a sense, yeah. But mostly, we need both the hybrids to take down your father if we want our world to survive.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. The confidence and hope he and Orion held in me was unsettling. The fear of failing in such a monumental task bared its weight on my chest and sank. I shifted directions instead. “My father has hunted for this place for years. Every mission he sent me on held the hope that I’d come across it. You did well keeping it hidden.”

Chrome glanced down his shoulder at me. “I know,” he said, a slight grin playing at the edges of his mouth. “Although, I thoroughly enjoyed our little game of cat and mouse. I don’t know what I’ll do to pass the time now.”

My shoulder bumped his. “How do you know I’m not still planning to kill you and sell this place out to my father?” I raised my brows with a smirk.

“You won’t,” Chrome said, his tone not leaving any room for doubt.

“Oh? What makes you think that?”

Those molten eyes swirled slowly, sending my pulse spiking. His voice was husky with emotion when he said, “Because you’re finally home, Princess.”

Something twinged in my chest at that word.Home.The place I’d called home for twenty-four years had always been cold, distant. Hurtful, even. Would this place be any better?

I pulled away from the gaze that had me softening. I didn’t like it. It had only been a year and a half since Slate’s death. How could I look at another man yet? And Chrome was already starting to get to me. I told myself it was because I was in a vulnerable state, and I was seeking the comfort Slate had always provided. That wasn’t healthy. Especially when this man seemed to have his own demons to contend with.

A heavy silence fell between us, the sky emitting autumn colors in the sunset that draped over us. Chrome gently grabbed my elbow and directed me to turn off the path to the right. We walked through vibrant grass that belonged to summer and stopped about thirty feet away.

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