25. Scotlind
TWENTY-FIVE
SCOTLIND
“This plan has a lot of flaws,” Tezya said to me. “If anything goes wrong, I want to know immediately.” He kissed me thoroughly before leaving the tent. We didn’t know when the King would be leaving Lux, so we had to be ready. We were trying to figure out how far our communication could go. Every day, we tested our bond, but we weren’t any closer to figuring it out.
Neither of us fully understood it, and we had no comparison. Blood bonds had been a forbidden practice for centuries now, ever since King Arcane the Third brought our kind to Earth. They didn’t want it known that Advenians of different ranks could be together. That the Goddesses would bless a union from someone who was strong and weak—not when they were implementing same rank marriages. And they especially didn’t want us to know a bonded couple could be from both kingdoms.
Tennebris also abandoned the tradition since coming here. From what we could tell, we were the first bonded pair on Earth.
Everything was trial and error. I couldn’t read Tezya’s thoughts consciously anymore. It was only in the initial moments of opening the bond that everything was fully open. Now, I could sense a tangible divide. It was thin, but I knew it was there.
When our emotions were high, the small line that separated our minds severed, and only then would our thoughts flow from one another without our control. It left us sporadically and randomly knowing the other’s feelings.
The only thing that seemed to stay consistent was we could intentionally speak to one another like a telepathic user, but it took a lot of concentration.
Do you think our connection will fade? I asked him. I was sitting by the entrance of the camp as he walked further and further away from me.
I don’t know, he admitted. I could hear his voice growing fainter the further he walked. Telepathy is a rumored blood bond trait, so I think we’ll always be able to talk like this.
What about emotion sharing? I asked. Do you think there’s a chance that will stay too?
Maybe. It’s only happened when our scars touch, he answered. I don’t know if our hands are now a point of contact or if it’s just from our blood mixing from when we first created the bond. He was quiet for a moment. It could also just be something we have to train.
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me, before looking down at my palm. It was still scabbed over from reopening it. As soon as it healed, we’d get our answer—
I’m at the far side of the camp by the fields, Tezya said, breaking my train of thought. This should be enough distance. The locations Dovelyn picked aren’t further than this.
So what now? I asked back.
Now, we just wait until Kallon hears word the King left. She has a few spies in Lux—select people she trusts. It shouldn’t be long. Supposedly he set up a meeting with Synder. His voice was growing clearer in my head, and I knew he was making his way back to me. The rebellion is picking up again, and since they can’t send me to lead the Luxian army to eliminate them, they’re going to want to talk about it. Both kingdoms will want it dealt with and quickly. A lot of citizens in Tennebris aren’t happy with Sie’s imprisonment. Ever since you came to Lux, Synder’s been changing the laws over there. It hasn’t been pretty for rank zeroes. The people in Lux aren’t happy either. There’s talk going on about our disappearances. A lot of Advenians think the two events are related. And without me leading the Luxian army, the King is struggling to demolish the rumors.
Isn’t this the rebellion?
Yes, the Advenians here were once part of the rebellion. They still technically are, but more are forming every day. All it takes is a few people to band together to spread word. Most people, from both kingdoms, aren’t happy with the way things are. They want change. The only issue is, we don’t know where they’re located now. If the King sends the army to fight them, they’ll be slaughtered. The Luxian soldiers are ruthless. They’ve been trained and bred to be. Unless we can find the rebellion first and tell them about this place, it won’t be pretty.
Can we do that? Can we find them?
“Hopefully.” It took me a second to realize he said it out loud as he closed the distance between us and pulled me into a hug. “Once we return, it’ll be another thing for us to do. I think more Advenians will join us once they see what we’ve started. Many people aren’t rising up because they don’t believe they stand a chance. It’s a known fact that if you’re caught in the rebellion, your entire family line will be killed. I’m hoping once they see everyone’s still alive, it’ll change things. I honestly think we can do this, Rumor. We can change everything.”
I nodded but couldn’t find my voice. All I kept thinking about was the cost.
He will die. Those three words haunted me. I couldn’t stop replaying Dovelyn’s voice as she chanted it over and over again. Her milky eyes transformed in my mind, and I saw flashes of Tezya’s lifeless body instead .
Tezya noticed my mood shift. His callused hands cupped my cheeks, forcing me to look at him. “I’m going to be fine.”
“But what if—”
He cut me off, his lips lightly pressing into mine. “I’ll be fine, Rumor,” he whispered into my mouth.
I went to try to speak again, but he didn’t let me, his lips kept moving against mine, silencing anything I wanted to say. “The only thing,” he groaned, his hands gripping my hair, “I want you to say right now is my name.”
Heat instantly clung to my clothes as Kallon portaled us into Lux. We left the chill back at the camp, but I felt it lingering in us all. Tezya was scared. I could tell he was second-guessing coming here. He wasn’t worried about himself, but the risk of putting the rest of us in danger was weighing on him. He didn’t want me to be the distraction, and he was terrified Athler would fall for the bait instead of Arcane. He’d made me promise a million times over that if I saw him, I’d get out immediately.
I couldn’t see anyone. Dovelyn’s invisibility was already over the five of us. The only reason I knew Tezya was still next to me was because we were holding hands. He ran a finger down my scar, giving my palm a tight squeeze, before letting go.
Be careful , he said into my mind as he left with Kallon. No one dared to speak out loud. I knew Dovelyn fled the moment we arrived, wanting as much time to try and find Brock as possible. We all knew this was probably her last attempt at finding him before this war truly began.
I felt a tug on my shoulder. Come on, let’s go , Sie said telepathically. We walked in silence. I had to focus to keep Dovelyn’s invisibility going through my enhancement while maintaining my connection with Tezya. We only just started, and I was already feeling the toll. I wasn’t used to stretching myself thin. I was barely used to using my abilities at all. But I was happy to do it. Even if it was draining, I wanted to help.
I wanted to prove to everyone I was more than capable. It was why I had been training with Dovelyn any free chance I had back at the camp before we came here.
I was thankful for her invisibility now. I didn’t want Sie to see my body trembling or the sweat dripping down my back and soaking through my shirt. I knew I could do this, could push through the immediate drain I felt. I just had to get used to it first.
Everything okay? Tezya’s voice sounded, and it was weird to hear both him and Sie inside my mind.
Yes, I answered. Everything good with you and Kallon?
Yeah, we just got to the statue. Kal and I are scoping it out right now. We’re giving Dovelyn a few more minutes to find Brock before we start.
How long? Sie.
I think we’re almost to the ocean, I said to Sie, trying to recall the way from the map Tezya made us all memorize. I’d never been to the public Luxian beaches before, so I was forced to spend every second I wasn’t training with my abilities or practicing my bond with Tezya to study Lux.
I was told Sie had done the same, but I hadn’t seen him until this morning. We were walking away from the castle toward the southern tip of the island, trying to put as much distance between us and Tezya as possible. We just had to reach the portal spot before they started, and then we’d only have a few minutes to lure Arcane out for Dovelyn to get Brock.
That’s not what I meant. How long have you been in love with him?
Oh—OH. I was silent for a minute, unsure how and if I should answer him, but he deserved to know and somehow not being able to see his face gave me the strength to say, I’m not sure, but I think for a while now. He’s not a bad person like half the Advenians believe he is, and he’s helped me when I needed him the most .
Helped you when you needed him… Sie repeated my words softly, like he had to make sense of them. His sigh resounded through my head. It was never my intention to leave you, Scotlind. I never meant to hurt you.
I know.
Would things have been different? If we weren’t caught at the lake, if you stayed in Tennebris, would you have loved me?
Yes, I answered honestly, but it was because I didn’t know what love was then. What I felt for Sie was different than Tezya, but I still trusted him. I still cared for him, still had an attraction to him that wouldn’t fade. At the very least, I liked him, and I think it would have grown into something more. I was starting to fall for him when everything happened… A pang of guilt weaved its way through me because I knew I was hurting him, and it didn’t matter if he hurt me in the past too. I didn’t want to cause him pain. So I added, I care about you, Sie, I think some part of me always will.
But it’s not enough. You picked him. Another sigh. My fucking brother.
I’m sorry, but I think it was always meant to —
My words were cut off by an ear-splintering explosion. I whipped my head in the direction of the sound, knowing Sie was most likely doing the same. The castle was just a speck in the distance, standing lower but wider than all the high towering buildings of the city. I scanned our area but didn’t see any smoke.
Shit, Sie said into my mind at the same time Tezya asked, What happened? Are you okay?
I tried to focus on Tezya. We were at a far point, and his voice was growing quiet. I’m fine, I lied because my reserves were depleting faster than I’d thought. I tucked my hands under my arms to stop the shaking, even though I knew no one could see them. What happened?
I think something happened to Dove. We need to get out of here now. Kallon and I are going to destroy the bottom half of the statue. Don’t expose yourself, Rumor. We don’t need a distraction anymore. You and Sie get to the portal and wait for us. We’ll get you as soon as we find Dove.
No, don’t— I tried to say more, but it didn’t go through. My legs were shaking, and I could barely stand. I didn’t want Tezya to destroy the statue with Arcane still in the castle. It was too dangerous. I didn’t care if our cover was already blown. I didn’t want any attention turning to him. Worry flooded me. If he was captured… I staggered forward and crashed into something hard.
“Are you okay?” Sie whispered in my ear as he held me up. “You’re trembling.” He wasn’t speaking telepathically.
“I don’t feel—”
That’s when I saw him. I was looking up into familiar dark eyes. Sie materialized out of thin air as Dovelyn’s invisibility went away. A soft clapping noise sounded from behind us as Arcane and Athler came into view. They had black masks covering their noses and mouths.
“I’m quite impressed,” Athler crooned, his voice altered through the mask. The only thing I could see were his dull opal eyes. “You managed to hold off longer than I thought.” He was pushing Dovelyn in front of him, a knife held to her throat, as Arcane was holding Brock.
He was alive.
Thick-chained shackles were clamped over his wrists and ankles. He was still a massive, looming figure—still the strongest Advenian I knew—but it was due to his broad frame and height. His muscles were melting off his body from weeks of being the King’s captive, and any part of his skin that was exposed through his ragged clothes had varying colors of bruises hidden underneath layers and layers of dried blood.
His left eye was sunken in while his right was swollen shut. I caught a glimpse of red covering each of his fingers, but I refused to look at the cause. And by the way he was limping, his ankles had to be mangled…
Guilt wrecked me because while we’d been safe at the camp, Brock was here, being tortured by Athler and the King.
Sie slowly trailed his hand down my shoulders to wrap around my waist. Once he tightened his hold on me, he teleported—or he tried to teleport. We both fell to the ground a few feet back from where we were originally standing.
Athler’s laugh was piercing, echoing through the open rotunda. We never made it to the beach. We were nowhere close to the portal. The streets were eerily quiet. All I heard was the distant lap of waves, teasing us that the ocean was just out of reach.
Opal eyes stared right into mine as Athler pressed the knife further into Dovelyn. Tears streaked down her face, and I knew it wasn’t for the blade at her throat, but the man she loved next to her.
“You’ll find you won’t be able to use your abilities for a long, long time,” Athler said, and I knew he was smiling without seeing his mouth.
“What did you do to us?” Sie seethed.
“It’s called vapor Alluse. All you have to do is inhale the substance, and you’ll be rendered powerless. It’s relatively new. Prince Arcane just finished creating it, so beyond knowing it will linger in your systems, side effects haven’t fully been worked out, and you both just breathed in a rather large dose.”
Terror ripped through me as I realized the vapor was why I felt so drained. Even without the Alluse now coursing through me, I’d used all my enhancement trying to fight it off. The same thing must have happened to Dovelyn. Air users could erect a shield to protect themselves against Alluse, but if the vapor was in the air, if it was too overpowering, it would have completely depleted her reserves. None of us had our abilities, and I had no idea how we were supposed to get out of this .
“What do you want,” Sie gritted from behind me, his arm never left my waist as we both slowly stood up.
Athler tilted his head. “I want all of you.”
“I’ll make a trade,” I blurted before I even registered what I said, but I couldn’t let us all get caught. If I did, this would all be for nothing. And Tezya… I couldn’t imagine what they’d do to him again. I kept picturing that room, that knife in his thigh…
He laughed. “What can you offer us that we can’t already take?”
“Let them go free,” I gestured toward Brock, Dovelyn, and Sie, “and I’ll willingly go with you.”
Dovelyn’s eyes widened. Brock stirred from where he was barely standing up but didn’t say anything. I didn’t know if he was even capable of words right now. Sie’s grip around me tightened, but I forced myself to shrug him off.
“No,” Sie said, but I ignored him, looking only at Athler.
I gestured to Sie. “He escaped the most dangerous prison both kingdoms share, and he was wearing Alluse chains at the time. What makes you think he won’t escape your dungeons? Escape and free us all too. You’ll be left with nothing when the King comes back.”
Athler and Arcane both shuffled from foot to foot. They assessed Sie in a new light, looking at him like he was a threat too dangerous to handle, and by the way Sie was seething over my words, it was working.
I was bluffing. Sie was strong, but without being able to use our abilities, we didn’t stand a chance against them. But they seemed to be considering it, so I prayed to Pylemo that I could make this trade before Tezya showed up. Dovelyn said the King’s priority would be me, so I just had to convince them to take the bait.
“The last time you were supposed to watch two prisoners, we both escaped. Do you really want to disappoint your father by letting that happen again?”
“I accept,” Arcane said, and I knew I struck a nerve with him.
Athler whipped his head to the prince. “Don’t be stupid. One prisoner, no matter how badly the King wants her, is not worth more than others.”
“I’ll switch her for Brock then,” Arcane said. Sie was still free. He could escape easily if he wanted, but I knew he wouldn’t leave without me. I looked over at the princess and found her already staring at me, a pleading look in her eyes. The knife at her throat had slackened by Athler’s shock from Arcane. He wasn’t paying attention.
“Let Brock go, and I’ll take his place,” I said, willing my voice to be steady, to sound sure of myself, but my heart was hammering in my chest, and I couldn’t fully comprehend what I was doing. I started slowly making my way toward Brock. Sie went to move as Athler turned his attention back to him.
Arcane straightened. “Deal. You for Brockwich.” I could tell they weren’t planning on letting Dovelyn go. They’d still try to take us all despite the trade.
I searched my strength for any last remnant of my power. Then, struggling through the emptiness in my veins, I sent one last message to Sie. Trust me. The words came out weak, but I knew he heard it. His fists clenched into balls at his side, but he let me go. I needed him to believe I had some sort of plan in order for this to work. Because the reality of this was a fool’s errand. I knew that, but I couldn’t think about it right now. I just needed to make sure he didn’t come after me.
I stopped a few feet in front of Arcane and Brock. “Let him go first.”
Arcane thought it over for a moment, weighing his options before he threw Brock on the ground in front of Dovelyn. The moment Brock was out of Arcane’s hands, the princess twisted. She moved so fast, her small frame more agile than Athler’s. She was out of his grasp and dragging Brock over to Sie before he could blink.
I sprinted in the other direction, praying Athler and Arcane would chase me. A small smile spread over my face once I heard pounding footsteps. I risked a glance behind me and saw opal eyes gunning after me. In the distance, Arcane was chasing Sie, Dovelyn, and Brock, gaining speed as Brock slowed them down.
I focused on the path ahead of me and sprinted as fast as I could toward the castle. Once I made it to the jungle behind it, I could lose Athler under the canopy. Tezya told me Kallon made a portal by the hut decades ago, and if I couldn’t escape Lux, or if something happened to the one by the ocean, to meet there. Kallon would come for me.
I knew Dovelyn could manage everything else. She would get everyone to the portal. She just had to escape her older brother.
My entire body felt weak as I sprinted up the long rising incline. I pumped my arms hard, my legs feeling immensely heavy as they pounded against the pavement. I had drained myself too much. But I just had to last long enough to distract Athler so my friends could escape.
I just had to make it to the jungle…
But then I forgot why I was running. I didn’t want to leave Lux. In fact, I wanted the opposite. I wanted to be near him, near Athler.
I stopped immediately, my legs coming to a halt as I turned around and found opal eyes. A flash of dull red hair on pale skin came up beside me.
Yes. I wanted this—wanted him . My mind went blank as all I thought about were those eyes. Then his veiny hands, about how they would feel touching me. I wanted them on me. No. I needed them on me. Desire pulsed through me, making me dizzy. My breath was already coming out in ragged pants from running, and it wasn’t subsiding .
I exhaled harder. I couldn’t focus on anything but him.
“Do you want me to fuck you?”
I nodded and relief fluttered through me at his returning grin and the attention he was giving me. He’d taken off the hideous mask so I could see his face—his beautifully crafted face—with high narrowed cheekbones and a slanted nose. How have I never found him attractive before?
“Hold out your wrists.”
I did immediately.
“Good girl,” he crooned.
My heart skipped a beat, and I wanted nothing else but to exist for him. I couldn’t hold back my smile as he clamped golden shackles around my two zeroes, and my stomach turned into a pit of butterflies, imagining him taking me in them.
I was making him happy. I wanted to make him happy.
“Enough. Release her,” Arcane drawled as he came up beside us. “You have her chained, you don’t need to keep using your powers on her.”
Athler laughed as his ability lifted off me, and my mind was my own again. Realizing what happened, what he’d done to my body… I collapsed, my knees scraping into the pavement as I vomited on the ground next to me.
Disgust ran through me as my adrenaline settled, and my fate was sealed. I couldn’t stop gagging. He changed my actions in an instant. He made me want him, made me forget about everything else in the world except for him.
Arcane shared a look with me that I couldn’t quite read. His gaze roamed over my flushed cheeks to the vomit on the ground. I prayed everyone else got away, that I didn’t just let myself get caught for nothing.
I staggered backward, trying to put space between Athler and myself, but the chains pulled taut. It was already too late. There was no way I’d be able to escape now.
I wasn’t making it to the hut.