7. Scotlind
SEVEN
SCOTLIND
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Tezya broke the silence the next morning. We’d barely spoken since Kallon first portaled us back, and other than him telling me to take the bed later that night, this was the first time he was talking to me. He must have sensed with his ability that I needed space, needed time to sort out my feelings, and even though we were alone, I wasn’t ready.
I had thought about talking to him numerous times throughout the awkward silence-filled night. I even played out various conversations inside my head, but I never got the courage to speak.
And when I wasn’t thinking about being alone with Tezya and what to say to him, I was worried sick for Peter and Dovelyn. Kallon should be relatively safe since she was waiting outside the trench—not that swimming in frigid water was easy, even with Dovelyn’s protective shield. But if Peter and Dovelyn got trapped inside the prison, if they didn’t make it out… I couldn’t think about it. It’s the reason Kallon wanted to stay close to them and not just portal back after twenty-four hours. If something went wrong, she needed to know right away .
I’d been sitting on the edge of the bed with my back turned to Tezya since I’d woken up. Even with the sheer curtains pulled shut, I could still make out human figures moving about and starting their day.
I barely slept throughout the night, even though Tezya left the bed empty. He stayed awake, staring at the motel door, just as anxious about what was happening as I was. His sister went in with Peter, and as much as I didn’t particularly care for Dovelyn, I knew she meant a lot to Tezya, and she was risking her life because of it.
I turned my head to look at him. He was still leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His shirt was off and his black pants were rolled past his calves. I had used my abilities to pull the water off of us last night, before changing into warmer clothes, and Tezya had created a small floating fire above us until the embers wore off. But we recovered from the hypothermia of the trench way too quickly. The mortal territory we were stuck in was humid and smothering, feeling more like we were trapped in a ball full of steam than a room. And the worst part of this place was that Kallon told me it was close to the end of winter, meaning it only got worse as the months dragged on. Lux was hot, but without an air user’s shield, the humidity of this place felt like a whole new world.
“Is that really necessary?” I asked him, gesturing to the shirt he had tossed over the bed. Even though it was boiling in here, and my own clothes were soaked through, he didn’t have to take his shirt off.
“It’s hot in here,” was all he said.
“Aren’t you worried about a mortal seeing you through the window?” His black Luxian markings were on full display, appearing over his skin through the sweat.
“Dove put a shield over the window and door. If anyone looks in, the room will appear empty. No one can see us. ”
I swallowed. Hard.
“It’s another reason we’re heading north today. We won’t have to worry about the heat or the constant rain that happens here. The humans will start raising questions if our markings appear out of thin air.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t know where to begin. I could barely focus without his shirt on—I hated that I couldn’t stop staring, that he looked way too hot half naked and covered in sweat—so I turned back around.
A long moment passed, and I thought we’d go back to ignoring each other, but then he said, “I’m sorry, Scotlind. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He must have sensed my emotions, had known that my own thoughts were still lingering on him. There were more important things to think about right now than our relationship, or lack thereof. But I couldn’t help it. Being stuck with Tezya all night had my thoughts drifting to him just as much as it did my friends.
“You promised me,” I started, turning back around on the bed to face him. “You promised me no more lies.” My mind whirled on everything he kept from me. I didn’t know if he was ever honest with me—from being the prince, to the prophecy, to what I’d overheard from his conversation with Dovelyn. Had he known the entire time why I was sent to Tennebris? He told me about my real parents after Yule. Had he known it was his sister’s fault that they died?
Tezya’s crystal blue eyes met mine. I could just make out the specks of silver in them from where I sat on the bed. Some days, I swore the specks grew and took over the coloring. “I know, and I regret it.” He rubbed his finger over his palm, over his scab from where we created our bond.
“Do you regret not telling me, or do you regret that I found out?” I didn’t pause long enough for him to answer before I continued, “Would you have ever told me? If you hadn’t needed to use your compulsion to get us past the guards that day, would you have told me the truth?”
“It’s complicated, Rumor.”
“No, it’s really not.” When he didn’t respond after the first millisecond, I added, “Forget I said anything.”
“I don’t want to forget, please. Let me try to explain.”
“No.” I turned back around to stare out the window. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
A moment passed, and I didn’t know if he would press further, but then he sighed, “You can bathe if you want. They have a shower here, not a tub, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Okay, well I’m showering.”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to think about him bathing. My mind kept replaying being in the bath with him after he finished his punishment for keeping my ability a secret. It was the first time I’d been able to go into one since Kole.
I was thankful I now had a positive memory, that Kole wasn’t consuming my thoughts, but I couldn’t get rid of the hurt I felt from him not telling me the truth. I trusted him fully, so stupidly, foolishly fully. That night when he said no more lies , I believed him, and I never looked back. I gave him blind faith when I barely knew him, only to find out he kept the biggest secrets of all from me.
I felt stupid.
He made me believe the prophecy was about me when it was about him all along . He warned me to stay away from Sie, that a child with him would become the chosen one. It gave me conflicting thoughts. I didn’t understand why I was so attracted to Tezya if I was destined to be with Sie, because that’s how I interpreted what he said to me. Why didn’t he just tell me? What was the purpose of me thinking it was about Sie?
The sound of water came from behind me, and a second later, I felt it in my veins. Now that I was learning to master my powers, I noticed it everywhere. It called to me, begging me to wield it—drops of sweat dripping down someone’s back, to the lingering dew over the morning grass. Everywhere water was, it sang to me, begging me to manipulate it. And whenever someone else was using their abilities, my enhancement called to that, begging to merge with whatever power they were using.
I instantly regretted my decision to not bathe. I missed the way water used to soothe me. Before everything happened, back when I was at school in LakeWood, soaking in the tub was my go-to way of calming down. Now, I was an anxious mess, and my emotions were all over the place.
The room we were stuck in was sticky. My clothes were clinging to me, adding to another layer of my anxiety. I focused on my own sweat, moving the liquid as I guided it off me until my clothes were dry and a small puddle formed at my feet, but I knew the smell lingered. It was another reason why I regretted declining the shower, but I wasn’t about to admit that now.
I needed to do something other than just sit here. I was terrified for my friends and doing nothing was only letting my thoughts fester. I didn’t think they’d kill Dovelyn or Kallon. They were too important to the King—Dove because she was the princess and Kallon for her portals—but they were still committing treason. They all were in order to help us.
But Peter… he wasn’t important to the crown. If he got caught, he wouldn’t be held to the same standards as them. He was the one I was worried about the most. He was also the most likely person to do something unplanned in order to save Sie.
I kept picturing Peter’s body hanging limply from the ceiling, with his dress in shreds and his back in ribbons. I shook my head, feeling my heart rate accelerate. He went through all of that just to be my maid, and I knew his friendship with Sie was even stronger. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to save him .
The sun was rising higher in the sky, filling the tiny room with a translucent warm light. Once they were back, we’d leave this place to head north—whatever that meant.
I’d been so focused on the task at hand, on busying myself with trying to rescue Sie, that I never actually thought about what would happen if we did.
I tried not to think about what it would mean if— when —Sie returned. Would he look the same as I last saw him, or would he be even more sickly than I remembered? He hadn’t been locked in the underwater prison for long, but a lot could happen in a short period of time. I knew firsthand what even a few days of being locked in a cell could do to your body, and Peter said he’d die without seeing a healer…
Did they torture him? Was he being fed? Allowed water? I had to remind myself he knowingly sent me to the same fate. He handed me over to the Lux King with no explanation. I was sentenced to twenty-seven days in a cage. Twenty-seven days of having a whip ruin my back, of being tortured for information about him. And before that, I was starved and left in solitude in the Tennebrisian dungeons, and he never once tried to speak with me. Never once tried to help me.
Our last conversation flashed in my memory. How he was mad at me for being with Tezya. How he said that he would forgive me . How he wanted to be with me. I honestly had no idea what my feelings were anymore. I knew I wasn’t rescuing him just because of the guilt. I cared for him to some degree, but things were different with Tezya. It was real with him. I knew it wasn’t my powers pretending and manifesting into thinking we were one. I felt the bond work. Deep in my bones and to my core, I could feel Tezya’s connection to me and mine to him. Whereas Sie just thought he felt a connection. He mistook my enhancement for the bond. It wasn’t real. The attraction we had for each other was, but not the connection .
I huffed. It was real with Tezya. But now I couldn’t decipher reality from his lies, and I wasn’t sure where it left us.
More steam wafted into the room as Tezya opened the door and walked in. A towel was wrapped around his hips. I hated that I looked, that I kept staring.
My body leaned toward him on instinct. I was drawn to him. To the water, to his soul, to everything.
Droplets sprayed onto me as he shook out his bone-white hair. The pieces in the front were getting longer and starting to block his eyes. I watched as he raised his arm, dragging his fingers through the strands, and pushing them away from his face. My eyes trailed down his arm, scanning his markings as they wrapped around his bicep.
The flames on him were beautiful. I had memorized each one from when he was forced to stab himself, and I had to watch. I wasn’t scared of his fire, not after that day. Looking at the markings on his skin was the first time I thought flames were beautiful instead of terrifying.
I thought I had memorized every part of him. I thought I knew him so well after that day. But he had more markings—Tennebrisian markings. There was another part of him I knew nothing about.
I was so focused on gawking at his Luxian markings scattered across his broad chest, arms, and up his neck that I didn’t realize I’d been staring at him. But when I looked up, I found him staring right back. My eyes flicked to his scab over his palm before I met his gaze again.
He took a step closer, then another. I stood from the bed, unsure what I was planning on doing or why I moved in the first place, but I wanted to be near him. I needed to be near him. I wanted to kiss him, I wanted to trace my hands across his stomach, and feel everything and nothing all at once. Whenever I was with him, it was so easy to get lost, so easy to forget about everything around us .
“Scotlind, I—” His words were interrupted as purple and black smoke filled the room. The next breath, Kallon, Dovelyn, and Peter portaled in. The princess fell to her knees, collapsing onto the ground before I caught a glimpse of black hair.
Sie was sagged between Peter and Kallon.
They did it.