Hidden Enemies | The Prime Archives #2 ✓

fourteen

Goosebumps rose against Chase's skin. The air around him seemed to drop ten degrees. The cold pricked his skin like a needle. It was almost like Frost was using her abilities to unsettle him. But he knew that wasn't the reason. Her cell was built to prevent her from even conjuring up the smallest snowflake. It must've been a draft somewhere in the prison.

But still, he couldn't shake the cold slithering down his arms and back.

"Who's Victor?" Frost asked coyly.

"Apex," Chase spat. He pursed his lips at her. "Don't play dumb."

She stepped up to the glass barrier between them. A mischievous glint passed over her icy irises. "What makes you think I know where he is?" She gestured around her containment unit. "Thanks to you, I've been stuck in here for over a year."

"Not thanks to me," he countered. "Your own actions landed you there."

Kissing her teeth, she placed her hands on her hips and looked away from him.

"Where is Victor?"

"I don't know."

"Sure you do. You two worked together—"

"Exactly. We worked together," she interrupted. "We weren't friends. We barely knew each other."

He frowned. That hadn't crossed his mind before. He figured she would've been well acquainted with Victor during their time together in Kismet. Then again, the guy didn't seem like he was the most open person—and for good reason too. Kane had done something to him; something that had changed him forever.

That was part of the reason why he wanted to find him. Victor needed help. Even though he'd done some terrible things, it wasn't entirely his fault. He needed help, and Chase was determined to anything his power to make sure he got it. 

"I met the kid when he was eighteen. We knew each other for about six years. You'd think you would know a guy after that, but no. Victor was...he was complicated. Troubled." She shivered. "Kane...he did things to that boy that no one should ever have to endure."

"Then why were you on his side?"

"I believed in his message." She looked down at her hands. A wistful—almost regretful—look passed over her face. "He told me I was a goddess; that I was more powerful than these people who wish to silence us. He told me I was tested to rule over these peasants by his side."

Chase narrowed his eyes at her.

"I was a poor and hopeless when he found me," Frost explained. She sat back down on her bed and hung her head. "He told me he saw something inside of me that only he could bring out. So, I went with him. We did things I'm not proud of. But I always told myself it was for the greater good."

"You're crazy."

"I was naïve!" she snapped. The look in her eyes was cold enough to freeze Hell itself. "You can't fault me for that."

He said nothing in reply. He didn't know why she was telling him her story. Did she want him to feel sorry for her? If she did, it was working. Sort of.

But he didn't come to her to hear her sob story. He came for answers.

"Well, if you don't know where Victor is," he said, "then where could he be? I'm sure you guys had safehouses all over the world."

She laughed. "We do. Or...we did, at least." The humor vanished from her face as she cast her gaze back to the ground. "I don't know where he is. I thought...maybe he'd come back for me. Maybe he'd come rescue me. But it's been over a year and he still hasn't come." She looked up. An aura of sadness surrounded her dreary frame.