Iridescent Chaos (Enchanted Chaos 3)

“True.” Still, I feel like there’s more to it then what he’s saying.

Apparently Max thinks so too because he says, “You’re withholding something. I can tell.”

Hunter blows out an exasperated sigh and dramatically plops down into a chair. “Well, I didn’t want to bring this up because I know it’s going to stress everyone out more, but clearly you guys aren’t just going to except my easy answer.” He sinks back into the chair. “While it could very well be the power source, I couldn’t help but think about how Foster and East mention that when the god of darkness showed up in that portal, he said something about Sky belonging to him… That she always has. And that she would be his queen again, like she had been his queen before.”

“But I haven’t,” I assure him. “I didn’t even know this world existed until a few weeks ago.”

“According to your mind, you haven’t,” Hunter says to me, absentmindedly twisting a ring that’s on his finger. “But as you’ve probably caught on already, almost anything is possible in this world, including memories being erased and altered. In fact, if someone was powerful enough, they could plant the idea of an entirely fake life into a creature’s mind and they’d believed that life existed, even if it didn’t.”

A pucker forms at Max’s brows. “Are you seriously trying to say that you think Sky’s been around for a while, but someone wiped her mind clean and made her believe she’s been around for only seventeen years.”

“You of all creatures should know the power of mind controlling abilities,” Hunter says.

Max gives a silent, distracted nod. “Yeah, you’re right.” He mulls it over with a worried look on his face, making my worry deepen.

“I’m not… There’s no way my life could be fake,” I try to protest.

Hunter eyes me over with a strange, curious look on his face. “Honestly, this is just a theory I have and I have no proof to what I’m saying. I was just merely making a point that while we can say the power source is what caused Camille to sense an oldness from you, there’s a ton of other options.”

Max grows quiet, trading a worried look with his brothers. Even Porter looks a bit concerned, which makes me even more worried.

“No.” I shake my head, panic flaring through me. “There’s no way the life I thought I lived is fake.” Although, would it really bother me if it was?

No, probably not. But that doesn’t mean I like the idea of my mind being tampered with, or that I may have been the god of darkness’s queen at some point in time.

Max takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Relax. More than

likely it’s just the power source, but we’ll have my parents look into it just to make sure.” He laces his fingers through mine. “If the god of darkness was a king at sometime, they’ll be able to find out.”

I nod, hoping Hunter is wrong, that I was never the god of darkness’s queen. I’m hoping that everything will be okay, but I have a feeling this is just the start to a very long, complicated, and emotional breaking journey.

Easton

I don’t have to search very far to find Foster. He’s sitting on a log right in front of the tree house, staring up at the lightning blazing across the sky.

“Is that the world doing that or you?” I keep my tone light as I take a seat beside him on the log.

He lifts a shoulder. “Does it really matter?”

“It does if you don’t want the fey to find out what you are,” I say, stretching out my legs in front of me.

He grinds his teeth, then looks away from the sky, the lightning fizzling.

Silence stretches between us, but I wait for him to speak first because that’s the way it needs to be right now. Yeah, we’ve both been through some tough shit and we’re all dealing with this whole altered link thing, but it’s affecting him more than us—I know that.

“This isn’t fair,” he mutters, kicking at the dirt.

“Life never really is,” I mumble. Pain clenches at my chest as memories of the past creep up on me, but I hastily shove it away. “Look, as much as this sucks right now, at least you know Sky is protected. And like Max said, it won’t be like this forever… Eventually, after we find all the power sources and fix the world and all that hero shit, things can return to normal.”

He rests his arms on his knees and lowers his head. “You know as well as I do that nothing is going to return to normal. The altered link is already affecting all of you.”

“A little,” I admit. “But I think you’re making it a bigger deal than it is.”

He lifts his head and narrows his eyes at me. “Maybe you should stick out your palm and say those words to me again.”

I curl my fingers inward to hide the icy mark on the palm of my hand. “The only reason I made the blood promise with Sky was to try to help her deal with Brody’s death.”

“By bearing some of the pain for her,” he stresses. “You’ve never been so selfless before, so what else am I supposed to think other than maybe you do like her more than you’re letting on. And that blood promise is permanent.” He sits up straighter, his glare deepening. “And does she even know what you did? Or did you just feed her some bullshit like you normally do?”