16. Scotlind
SIXTEEN
SCOTLIND
This trip was hell. Snow started falling in thick clumps over us, and the cold felt like it was a part of me. It was something I hadn’t felt since that frozen beach when I was seven. It was also something I never wanted to experience again. My right calf seemed to ache, and I hated the white fluff and the memories it conjured. At least we had thick coats on, not that it made much of a difference.
But the frigid temperatures and the trek through rough terrain weren’t even the worst part—it was the awkward moments of silence.
I looked up, seeing the back of Tezya’s head. His bone-white hair was slicked back in sweat despite the cold. We were all exhausted. Cold. Tired. Irritable. And despite it all, Savannah led us up a steep mountain without faltering once. I was seriously second guessing the fact that our kind called mortals weak.
Kallon and Savannah went into bits of banter periodically, but it was too infrequent. We had to be quiet so we didn’t draw attention to ourselves and neither girl knew how to whisper.
Dovelyn and Tezya were wary. I knew it was more than just the thought of being seen by a Luxian soldier. They were both nervous to go to their mother’s grave.
Then there was Sie.
I couldn’t sort out my feelings for him. I was angry and pissed most of the time, and the resentment kept rising to the surface whenever he talked to me.
He left me. He sentenced me to the dungeons. He shipped me off to Lux.
All those nights of praying to see his dark eyes, praying he’d rescue me, were catching up. I knew he didn’t plan for it to happen. He wasn’t a horrible person. He just got stuck in a bad situation and acted the way he thought was best. I just couldn’t help but take it personally.
Would I have done the same thing as Sie if our situations were reversed? Would I have willingly handed over the person I claimed to love to my enemy, knowing full well what would happen to them? Tezya turned his head, and when I caught a glimpse of his scar, I knew my answer immediately. I wouldn’t have done that to him. His punishment kept replaying in my head, and I knew I would have done anything but hand him over.
I kept seeing Tezya drive the dagger into his thigh, kept seeing all the blood. I saw him holding the ropes as he was forced to stand there while Brock whipped his already flayed back. I saw the tip of the dagger vanish as he was forced to stab himself over and over…
“We’ll camp here for the night,” Savannah called out against the bitter wind, saving me from my thoughts.
“I thought it’s only a day’s walk? We should push through the night,” Tezya said as he scanned our surroundings. “We don’t want to risk being out longer than we have to.”
“We’re camping because I lied to my father about how far away it was,” she said as she threw her pack down onto the ground. The tip of her nose was bright red, and small bits of snow were sticking to the hoop coming out of her right nostril. “If he knew how long it’d take, he would’ve said no.”
“Doesn’t he know the location of the tomb?” Kallon asked.
“Aware of it, yes. Knows the exact amount of time it takes to travel there by foot? No. The only thing he knows is it’s in Maine.”
“You said you already visited the grave?” Kallon arched a thin brow.
“Yup,” she nodded, her lavender hair falling out of her hood and covering the tops of her shoulders. “I was honest about that.”
“But these conditions are—” Sie stopped mid sentence, but we all knew where his train of thought was going.
“Hard to trek for a human? Yeah, I get it.” Kallon and Tezya both grinned as Savannah continued, “The sooner you stop underestimating people you perceive as weak, the wiser you’ll become. Strength doesn’t equal intelligence and being stupid will get you killed.”
I caught a glimpse of Sie’s stunned expression as he eyed the girl. She definitely had guts. Sie was the strongest Tennebrisian alive, and besides Dovelyn who possessed an air shield, we were all at his mercy… Not even Tezya was safe being half Tennebrisian, because with Sie’s total mind control, he could compel any of us.
“I’m absolutely miserable,” Kallon muttered as she plopped down next to Savannah, throwing her arm over her shoulder. “Why did you do this by yourself before?”
She shrugged. “I like being outside and away from the camp. It’s nice to see new things.”
“I think every Advenian can agree with you there,” Dovelyn admitted, speaking for the first time. When everyone turned to look at her, she added, “Why else do you think my father wishes to expand? Why he seeks to rule over the humans? He wants your world. He’s grown bored of being the king of only an island.”
We were all quiet after that.
Eventually, everyone drifted off into sleep, taking shifts on lookout.
It was my turn to keep watch, and I wished I was back in Florida. I swore to myself I’d never complain about humidity or heat ever again. My teeth were chattering so loud I couldn’t even hear if anyone was approaching our makeshift camp. We were high up on the mountain range and the night didn’t do us any favors as the temperatures continued to drop. There was nothing to block out the wind. Dovelyn had a shield over us, but at some point, she let it drop as she fell asleep. Selfishly, I wanted to wake her up and have her create one from partition, but I couldn’t ask her to permanently give up a piece of her reserve just so I could be warm.
The only thing we had on us were the bedrolls we carried in our packs, and despite them being extremely thick, it felt like paper. The wind was still cutting through it.
I whipped my head to the right as a twig snapped. Tezya crouched down and kneeled beside me. I could see his breath leave his mouth, mixing with mine. He didn’t say anything as he held his hand up. The next second, a tight ball of flames floated above his fingers, and my face flooded with warmth.
“I thought you said it was too risky to have a fire,” I attempted to whisper, but my teeth were still chattering. “That it would draw too much attention.”
“I know, but I think the cold is more likely to kill you than a Luxian soldier at this point.”
“Plus, no one can get any sleep,” Kallon groaned from a few spaces away. “Your teeth sound like thunder.”
“It sounds like a whole freaking drumline in a marching band,” Savannah added. I didn’t know what a drumline or marching band was, but I assumed by Kallon’s laughter, it wasn’t good.
“Just until you warm up,” Tezya said softly, ignoring their comments, but we stayed like that my entire watch.
“How did you and your family come into all of this?” I asked Savannah the next morning.
Once she saw me plait my hair into the twin braids I used to wear all the time, she asked me to do the same to hers. She threw a short purple plait over her shoulder. “It’s entirely too early in the morning for that question, especially when there isn’t any coffee.”
“Oh.”
I guess I didn’t hide my disappointment because she turned to look at me and answered, “We were born into it. Somewhere down the line, centuries ago, when Advenians first tried to live among humans, one of my ancestors befriended someone from your kind. We were always a refuge for Advenians who didn’t believe in the ranking system. Our camp was established around the time rank zeroes started. It wasn’t pretty in the beginning, or so I’d been told. My father said they didn’t always exist, that only ranks one through five were on Allium. So naturally when zeroes came about, they started killing them, claiming they were mixed with human blood.” She scoffed at her own words, before continuing, “At some point it turned from refuge to rebellion, but it was small. It wasn’t until Tezya came that Brighta started to grow. He expanded it, made it more. He brought thousands of Advenians into the camp, whereas before it took centuries to get a quarter of the numbers. It’s mostly what it is today because of him.”
I nodded but realized she probably couldn’t see it over the thick hood I had pulled over my head .
“Since we’re asking personal questions, what’s the deal with you and Tezya? And for that matter, you and Mr. Grumpy Gills?” She gestured to Sie ahead of us.
“It’s a long story.”
“Good thing we have a long time.”
I did not want to explain my past with Sie and Tezya when they were both within earshot of hearing it. She seemed to grasp my hesitancy. “Another time then. We’ll have a girls’ night when we get back and you can tell me all about it.”
“A girls’ night?” Kallon squealed as she came up behind us. “We should dye Scottie’s hair. What color should we do? Pink? Or blue to match her eyes?”
“I’m okay, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” Kallon shrugged. “Once we get back, I’m going to go red.”
The two of them discussed hair colors and whatever the difference was between balayage and ombre for a while. I found myself falling out of step with them without meaning to.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Sie’s voice came up behind me. I hadn’t realized he’d fallen back too.
“I’m not avoiding you,” I said too quickly. I was definitely avoiding him. Both him and Tezya, for that matter.
“Yes, you are, Scotlind. I want to talk about things.”
“The last time we ‘talked’ about things, your father had me in shackles and chained me in the dungeons the next day.” I turned to look at him. “You could have talked to me during any of the weeks I was there.”
He flinched. “I was trying to protect you. They wanted me to kill you.”
“Did you ever stop and think that maybe that would have been a mercy? You of all people should have known what it was like for me. You were there.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Being locked up, chained in the dungeons with nothing but darkness. It felt like Kole was drowning me over and over again. I couldn’t escape it. I couldn’t breathe. And every time the doors opened, I prayed I’d see you. I prayed you’d get me out of there. But then you shipped me off to the person you warned me to stay away from at our wedding.” I paused to calm my racing heart. I really did not want to have this conversation right now, but now that I started, I couldn’t stop. I was word vomiting without wanting to, and the months of pent-up anger were pouring out of me. “I’m just not over it yet, Sie.”
“So that’s it? You’re done being my wife?”
“I was never really your wife.”
He flinched again before he cooled his expression. “You were to me,” he whispered.
I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how to.
“We’re bonded, Scotlind. How do you explain that?”
I shook my head. “We aren’t. I have enhancement. That’s what you were feeling whenever I wasn’t wearing the Alluse necklace.”
“You’re wrong. I felt it. I felt the bond—”
“No, you didn’t.”
He let out a frustrated sigh, running a gloved hand through his hair. “That’s just what he wants you to think.”
I shook my head, agitated that he thought I was so easily brainwashed by Tezya. “No— I’m telling you what you felt wasn’t the bond. Not anyone else.”
“Who told you about enhancement, Scotlind? He just wants you to think it was nothing—”
“I know because I know what the bond really feels like,” I snapped.
He stopped in his tracks, glancing up at Tezya, before looking back at me. “You fucked him, didn’t you?”
Tezya stopped ahead of us. I could just barely make out his fingers curling at his sides. I was immediately aware of how no one else was talking. How he shouted the last statement, and it seemed to echo off the mountain. Not that it mattered, Tezya had heightened senses, and he most likely heard every single word that was said.
“Will you two shut up?” Dovelyn snapped. “I’ll kill you myself if we get caught because of this stupid fight.”
Sie didn’t wait for my reply as he stormed off ahead of me.