30. Sie
THIRTY
SIE
Dravenburg called another meeting in the war tent. It was the fifth one in the past two days, and no one had made any decisions yet. The camp had two clear leaders, Tezya and Dravenburg, but neither of them had the final say in anything. Everything had to be settled by a vote, which made the process agonizingly slow.
I was sitting next to the princess. To my surprise, she’d been present for each meeting. It was the only time she left the healer’s tent. She looked like absolute shit. I hadn’t seen the Fire Prince since we first came back without Scottie, but I was pretty sure he was worse.
Rainer and Kallon approached the princess. “How’s Brock?” the male asked.
“He’s doing better. They think he’ll be fine in a couple of weeks.”
“Can he see?” Kallon asked, pulling her lips into her mouth with her teeth. The girl’s eyes were swollen and it was the longest I’d seen her hair stay the same color. Even her bangs were plastered to her forehead from a layer of grease.
“I don’t know yet. They did an examination on him when he first arrived, but he’s been unconscious since. They won’t know for sure until he wakes up.”
I was surprised the guy was alive. Seeing his injuries made my stomach turn. He didn’t have any fingernails left and a piece of his right pinky was missing. To top it off, I overheard one of the healers mentioning almost all of his ribs were fractured, and his left foot was so shattered, they weren’t sure if it was salvageable yet. He was broken, from the outside of his skin being bruised and cut in almost every way imaginable, to them nearly destroying every organ and bone on the inside.
And I had left Scottie in the hands of the same people who did that to the massive brute…
Trust me. Her words haunted me. I was happy I hadn’t seen the Fire Prince because I didn’t think I’d be able to look him in the eye. You were supposed to protect her. The other six words that were seared into my memory.
To make things worse, they convinced me to use my total mind control on him, and I compelled Tezya to not go after Scotlind alone. I was the only Advenian alive who could force him to stay… because he was my half brother. I couldn’t wrap my head around it yet. I still had no fucking idea how the prince kept a massive secret like that hidden for so long.
I thought back to when Scotlind and I were betrothed. As if I wasn’t fucked up in the head enough, my brain kept running through constant cycles of horrible memories—from everything I’d ever done wrong to her, right up until now—to when I left her in Lux for the second time.
I couldn’t shake the night Alec brought Scotlind to the party before our tour. I kept seeing the hatred on her face when she was forced to pretend to be compelled. It made me wonder if the prince ever had to act compelled before. If it was difficult not showing that side of him and having to pretend compulsion worked on him.
I highly doubted it. He was the commander of the Luxian army. I doubted the King ever let any of his children go without some sort of Alluse protection. They probably were fucking coddled like babies. Everyone in Lux had to have known that, so no one would risk using compulsion on him. Not that tons of Tennebrisians were even stationed in Lux to begin with. Work visas were becoming more rare and harder to obtain. Now you had to get approval by both Advenian Councils.
But compelling him reminded me exactly why I hated using my ability. I hated how much I fucking craved the power. I could compel anyone . Well, anyone except a Luxian air user who casted shields or an Alluse user. Sometimes I hated how much I loved using it, but I loved even more that no one could do the same to me.
The moment I called my powers back, guilt always lingered. It reminded me of my father, of when he had forced me to do things against my will as a child. The comparison made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to be anything like him.
But I had to compel Tezya. The guy was stupid enough to go marching into Lux alone for her. I could see everyone’s reasoning in having me do it, but now, I was on the top of his shit list along with the dual-colored hair girl.
Peter patted my shoulder as he took the empty seat to my left. “Any news?” he asked.
I shook my head. If anyone heard anything about Scottie, I’d been kept in the dark. I looked up at Dravenburg who was talking to a few soldiers in the camp. It was still odd to see Luxians and Tennebrisians living together and knowing they had been for decades, even weirder that a mortal was overseeing them. They all coexisted peacefully, even with the three humans.
My eyes wandered to Savannah. She had an ugly green creature on her shirt again, the material stopping just shy of her pants, revealing a thin band of bare skin. She tucked a wavy strand of her hair behind her ear, the lavender color reflecting in her gray eyes. That’s when I noticed she was glaring at me, and I’d been stupidly staring at her like an idiot.
“I guess she hasn’t forgiven you for cheating in your fight,” Peter leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“I didn’t cheat,” I said and forced myself to tear my gaze away from her.
“Try telling that to her. She’s looking at you like she’s planning your death.”
“I don’t care what she thinks.”
“Uh-huh. Sure,” he replied as he pulled a croissant out of his pocket and started eating it.
I was about to retort back on—one: why the fuck he was carrying around a piece of bread, and two: I really didn’t give a shit about the human—when Tezya entered the tent. A hush fell over everyone as they stared at him. It was the first meeting he was attending since he came back without Scotlind.
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at Kallon, Dovelyn, or me as he slumped into a seat next to the mortals.
Dravenburg tapped his fist onto the wooden table. “First things first. We need to relocate. The girl is held captive by the Lux King, and she’s seen enough to damage us. Even though she doesn’t know the exact location of the camp, she can give away enough insight that it’s only a matter of time until they find us here. We need to move out before they do.”
“Scottie wouldn’t give up any information,” Kallon spoke softly.
“She can be compelled,” Peter said and everyone turned to look at him. “The Lux King has a compulsion user by his side. He has a way to hook her up to monitors and go through her memories.”
Dovelyn nodded in agreement, but I was studying the Fire Prince. His head remained down as he stared blankly at the ground. He was so still, so unmoving .
Dravenburg interjected. “Exactly. We have to expect the girl will give away every advantage we have. The King most likely knows the prophecy is about Tezya, and that we possess what we need to see it through.”
I straightened. I forgot all about our original mission, how we went to Lux for information on how to kill the King. Dravenburg gestured toward Kallon who pulled a ring out of her pocket.
“That’s it?” someone asked. “This is going to help us defeat the Lux King?”
“It’s a damn ring. The woman I love is being held captive all for a fucking piece of jewelry.” It was the first time Tezya spoke. His words were slow as he enunciated each one. No one spoke as the quiet swept through the tent and lingered.
“We’ll get her back,” Savannah said after a moment.
“How? You won’t even let me fucking try.” His eyes were bloodshot as they found mine, as he remembered me compelling him. Well fuck. He turned toward his sister, rising from his chair. “Your vision is going to come true. Are you happy now? She’s at your father’s side just like you said. Goddess fucking knows what he’s going to do to her until she breaks.”
I had no idea what the two siblings were talking about or what they thought Scottie would do, but as I looked around the room, everyone seemed just as confused as I was.
“Tezya, I didn’t wish for this to happen.”
He sighed heavily. “I know, Dove, but you didn’t stop it either. You didn’t question it for one second. You didn’t care what would happen to her. You have Brock and that’s all you wanted. Scottie was yet again at the mercy of your scheming.”
“And what should I have done? Brock was dying! Scottie saw that and decided to help. Do you wish he wasn’t back with us? Do you wish the King still had him? ”
“No,” he said softly, defeated, as he crumbled back into his seat. “No. I just don’t want her in his hands.” He was quiet for a moment as he stared at his palm. “I can feel her. Just brief moments of panic and pain. I don’t know how or what they’re doing to her, but we’ve lived through it enough, Dove, to know it’s fucking hell. I can’t speak to her. I can’t reach out through the bond, but I feel her. Do you know what that’s like? To feel the pain and agony from the person you love, but you’re so fucking helpless to do anything about it?”
“I know what you want to do, Tezya, and it’s not smart,” Kallon whispered.
“You don’t need to risk anyone. Just me. Just fucking release his compulsion and portal me into Lux. That’s all I’m asking.”
“That’s out of the question,” Dravenburg said.
“Why?” Tezya challenged. His chest was puffed, and he looked ready to set the entire camp on fire.
“You’re too important to risk.”
He fumed. “It’s my fucking life, Drave. I get to decide when to risk it—”
“No, you don’t. Because if you die trying to rescue her—which is nearly impossible with a group of people, nonetheless, you alone—it’ll ruin everything we’ve been doing here. This war is bigger than one girl. You are bigger than one girl. We need you. You have a camp full of people that you brought here in the hopes of one day leading into battle, and now the time has come to do just that, and you want to throw it all away for one person? If we believe this prophecy, you are the only one who can stop the King, so like it or not, you’re needed alive more than her.”
Tezya closed and opened his fist, staring at his scar. I could tell he was weighing everything over, trying to decide between duty and what he actually wanted to do. Welcome to my world , I wanted to say to him. That same duty was what caused me to lose Scotlind in the first place .
“We’ll figure out a way to get her back. We need to plan an attack on Lux soon. We’ll work her rescue into it,” Dovelyn said.
“That’s bullshit,” Tezya spat. “We both know we can’t attack Lux until I figure out how to harness Pylemo’s fire, and who fucking knows how long that’ll take. I’m not waiting—”
Dravenburg cut him off. “We can agree to evacuate and move everyone first,” he said. “We can’t stay here, and Brighta is our top priority at the moment.”
Tezya met my gaze for a moment with a pleading look, but I knew what he wanted was futile. The King wouldn’t let Scottie leave his side now that he had her again. Rescuing her would be damn near impossible.
Tezya found me after the meeting.
“Sie,” he yelled my name as spit flew out of his mouth. “I want a word, alone .”
Peter halted by my side, ready for anything. We were halfway back to our tent, and surprisingly, no one else was around us. “It’s okay,” I told Peter. “I’ll meet up with you later.”
He looked between Tezya and me before finally shrugging and walking off. I turned to face the prince, knowing this interaction was inevitable the moment I compelled him.
But what surprised the hell out of me was that his enraged, feral expression turned to anguish. “Please,” he begged. “Please, remove the compulsion.”
I shook my head. “You heard Dravenburg in there. I can’t—”
“Fuck that,” he spat as he ran his fingers through his white locks. The motion of it reminded me so much of… me . “Do you know what it’s like to want to save her, but you physically can’t?” He took a step closer to me, closing the distance between us until we were nose to nose. “With every fucking fiber of my being, I want to walk out of this camp and go to her. I don’t give two fucking shits if no one will help me or if that means I’d have to walk on foot across the whole damn continent and swim across the ocean to get to her, I’d fucking do it. But I can’t.” He ran his fingers through his hair again, then exhaled. “He has her because of me.” He started pacing. “It was my decision to go to Lux. I agreed to her being a distraction. I agreed to split up. I should have done more. I should have—”
“You aren’t solely to blame, Tezya. You aren’t the reason she’s captured right now.” I don’t know why I decided to remind him of that because I didn’t have a death wish, but the guilt was eating away at me, and it was strange to see him falling apart. Trust me. I was supposed to protect her. Tezya even went as far to meet with me before we left and threatened my life if I failed to put her first. He warned me Dovelyn wouldn’t and with him being across the city, he couldn’t be the one to do it. I was supposed to, and I failed again. I let her walk right into Athler’s arms. I let her go.
Trust me.
“Then help me, please,” he begged as he turned toward me. I’d never seen him look so distraught before. The Fire Prince never begged. I shook my head, hating myself for it, but Dravenburg was right. We needed him. Tezya had to understand that too.
“Please… you don’t know the King. He’s a ruthless and cruel ruler, but that is nothing— nothing —compared to how he is behind closed doors. He’s a sadist, and he’s going to break her, Sie. He’s going to fucking savor in it too. Please, just help me, if not for me, then for her. Just let me save her before it’s too late.”
“Tezya, I can’t…”
“You don’t have to take any part in it,” he half screamed, frustration written all over him. “I’ll go alone. JUST. brEAK. THE. COMPULSION.”
“I will help you, Tezya, but not like this. Not when your rage is going to get you killed first.”
“Then when? When will you help me? Because the more time that passes, the longer he’s fucking torturing her. She’s going to die.”
“Your sister made it pretty clear before we went to Lux that the King wanted her alive. He wants her powers.”
“There are worse things he can do to her than kill her.” He started pacing again. His face was stone cold like he lived through it and seeing the jagged cut across his face, I started to wonder if I was wrong about him. I assumed his scars were a result of being in the army, but the way he spoke about the King with such emotion, such hatred… It made me wonder if I got the better end of the stick being raised by my— our —father.
“The compulsion I put on you doesn’t stop you from saving her.”
Tezya stopped in his tracks and halted his pacing to face me. “What do you mean? I’ve tried numerous times to leave the camp, but every time I get close to the shield, it fucking stops me. It’s like a barrier forms out of nothing that prevents me from passing. I physically can’t leave.”
“The compulsion I put on you doesn’t prevent you from saving her. It just prevents you from saving her alone without a solid plan, like you want to do right now, which is only going to get you killed.”
I stumbled backward, landing flat on my ass. My mouth throbbed, and my teeth ached from where he just threw a punch. Tezya was panting over me, not bothering to hold back his rage. I pulled myself up until I was resting on my elbows.
“I promise I’ll help you save her.” I spit out blood before running my tongue along my teeth to make sure they were all there. “We’ll find a way. We just have to be smart about it.”
A tear slid down his cheek and rolled onto his scar. He held up his fists, ready to fight as he gestured for me to stand. I accepted his offer. He needed this. He needed to let off some steam, and I was happy to oblige.
Finally, I’d be able to spar someone who could give me an even match.