31. Scotlind
THIRTY-ONE
SCOTLIND
Kole had tied my arms and legs to the ground behind me, forcing me to sit on my knees and stare at the bedroom door. He looked at me afterward, long enough that I thought he was going to say something, but then he stormed out of the room, leaving me with only the dead servant’s rotting body for company.
I had no idea how long I was left alone, trying not to hyperventilate, before the King walked in.
He nudged the dead servant’s head with his boot, turning his neck so his vacant eyes were staring at me. “I think this will serve as a reminder,” he crooned. “We wouldn’t want your friend to share the same fate as him, now would we?”
He crouched low, his boots stepping over the dried blood, so his face was directly in front of me. “Where’s my daughter?”
I didn’t answer.
“Where’s my son?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. I could feel the vapor Alluse fading from my system, and with it, I started to feel Tezya’s emotions again. Only little bits here and there. Anger. Guilt. Worry. Rage. Hopelessness .
I tried to reach out—to talk to him—but he was too far away or maybe the bond was fading. I had no idea how it worked, but all I got were random feelings at random times. Feelings that made everything worse. Was he still in Lux? Was he back at the camp? Would they evacuate and move everyone? The only comfort I got was knowing he wasn’t with the King. He wouldn’t be asking where they were if he had them. Tezya was safe.
But it also confirmed no one was coming for me. I could have accepted my fate if I was the only one who’d suffer from it. But now that the King had Vallie and Miles… I didn’t know what to do.
“You’ll regret not telling me.” He straightened, then motioned toward the door. Soldiers were waiting on the other side. They dragged Vallie into the room, then left without a word.
She was crying softly, her amber eyes were swollen and red, but otherwise she looked okay, or as good as she could be. I didn’t see any visible signs of torture. She was washed and dressed in a thin white slip. Even after being starved, she still held onto her feminine figure, and the fabric of her gown did little to cover her.
“Come here,” he ordered.
Her bare feet started padding across the marbled floor, but she froze once she looked down and saw the decaying body next to me.
“I said come here.”
Her full lips trembled as she started walking again, slowly, softly, hesitantly. She stopped once she stood in front of the King. Her feet were just out of reach from the pool of dried blood. I could tell her breathing was ragged, she was struggling to take a full breath.
The King’s eyes drank her in. “It’s a shame I’ll have to ruin you.” The King turned to me. “This is your last chance. Who will you pick? My son or her?”
I couldn’t. I couldn’t choose. Giving up information on Tezya would be equivalent to murdering thousands of Advenians and destroying any chance of ever defeating him. And there would be no way of knowing if he’d even honor his word. He could still kill Vallie after I told him everything. But to not say anything—I couldn’t let him hurt her.
Vallie noted my hesitancy. “It’s okay,” she sobbed. She knew nothing about Tezya, of what he was trying to accomplish, but yet she was giving me permission to not speak. Even though she was scared, even after knowing the King would harm her if I didn’t talk…
Tears swelled in my eyes, matching hers. Vallie was too good. Too good for me, too good for this world. “Please,” I begged the King as hopelessness settled inside me. “Please, don’t hurt her.”
“That’s really up to you.” He walked across the room toward the oversized mantle. I twisted on the ground so I could still see him. Vallie was left standing in front of me, her body hadn’t stopped trembling.
He dragged a chair across the room with one hand, a dagger glinting in his other.
“Does this look familiar?” he asked as he twirled the blade. “It’s the same one my son stabbed himself with in order to protect you.”
Vallie gasped, finally noticing what was in the King’s hand, the terror of the situation fully sinking in. Her eyes flicked from the blade to the slit across the dead servant’s neck. She went to take a step back, but the King stopped her. “I didn’t say you could move.” He waved his hands, using stolen ground magic, creating roots out of nothing before winding them up Vallie’s legs and holding her in place.
“What do you want to know?” I whispered, my voice defeated through sobs .
“Everything.” He smiled triumphantly. “I’ll start with easy questions. For every question you don’t answer, your friend will pay the price.”
The King snapped his fingers, and the doors opened again. Athler stepped inside, taking the blade from his hand.
“It’s been a while since I’ve participated in one of these.” He grinned as he looked Vallie up and down, his tongue darting out, licking his cracked lips.
The King took a seat in the chair he just dragged over as he asked his first question. “Is my son alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
I didn’t answer.
Athler grabbed Vallie’s wrist and made a small cut on her forearm. The size of it wasn’t much more than the length of my fingernail, but it was deep enough to draw blood. She winced as she tried to pull her arm away.
“How did you get free?”
“Tezya got us out,” I said, debating what I could admit to in order to protect Vallie without leaving Brighta vulnerable.
“How?”
“He told the soldiers it was on your orders. No one questioned him.”
The King straightened. “One of my soldiers claimed he was compelled. Explain.”
I racked my brain for what to say. My gaze briefly flitted to Vallie who was still rooted in her spot next to Athler, forced still by the vines the King created. Athler started to raise the dagger.
“Peter, the Tennebrisian who pretended to be my maid, he had compulsion,” I blurted, praying I could get through this without hurting Vallie.
“You’re lying. Synder sent me the boy’s file from his Trials. He can shapeshift, which would explain how he infiltrated my castle for so long, but it said nothing about compulsion. ”
I gave my best shrug. “I don’t know why he never showed that power during his Trials. A lot of Advenians keep parts of their abilities a secret. Maybe he knew his shapeshifting was enough to rank him a four and decided not to use it.”
“No one in their right mind would keep an entire ability a secret. Parts of their abilities I could believe, but an entire ability would never happen. You’re talking about the differences between ranks.”
“I guess not everyone puts their worth into a pointless number.”
The King narrowed his eyes, and in response, Athler cut into Vallie.
“I answered your question,” I seethed, my chains rattled, almost causing me to fall on my face again. “It’s not my fault I don’t understand the mind of someone who isn’t here.”
“I don’t want excuses, I want answers. And we cut your friend based on your attitude, not your answer, so it would be wise to behave and learn some manners. Now,” the King said as he leaned back in the chair, looking like the epitome of comfort. “What’s my son planning?”
I paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer. “He just wanted to get away from you.”
Athler added two more cuts into Vallie’s arms. This time she screamed.
“Stop! Please… I answered your question,” I started to cry.
“I don’t want lies,” the King drawled. “Athler can smell your pheromones. He can decipher when you tell the truth and that was now two lies you told us.”
The night felt like a lifetime. Vallie’s arm was as red as her hair by the time the King and Athler finished. I answered every question they asked me, but they still cut into her, claiming I was lying. I tried to steady my breathing, to calm my racing heart, but every time I didn’t tell the truth, they knew. Even when I only told half truths, they started picking up on it. I had never felt so helpless before.
“Don’t cry,” the King whispered into Vallie’s ear as he brushed her hair over her shoulder. She was still trapped by his vines and every time she struggled against them, they tightened. “I’m done hurting you, for now .”
That only made her sob more.
The King looked at Athler like he was expecting something.
Athler smirked, and I could do nothing but watch as he crossed the room, finding a clean blade and a goblet. He cut his arm and filled the glass with his own blood before passing it off to the King.
Vallie shrieked against the vines as the King drank from the cup. Droplets of blood lingered on his lips as Athler’s powers became his for the next twenty-four hours. I thought back to all the Advenians chained in the lower levels of the dungeons, of how many powers the King possessed if he drank from that many people every day. He had every ability known to Lux because he stole it.
I cowered in my chains, realizing how powerful that made him, now understanding why my enhancement always felt off around him. There was always too much to enhance.
He snapped his fingers, and the vines immediately disappeared, releasing Vallie from its menacing grip. She staggered forward, red marks denting across her calves and thighs from where they had wrapped around her.
“It’s a shame you weren’t born Luxian. If you were, you wouldn’t have needed to see my healer.” Vallie winced as his fingers grazed across her hips. More tears spilled down her cheeks as she tried to pull away. He grabbed Vallie’s bloodied arm. “Stop resisting,” he purred, and I wanted to vomit as Vallie’s movements stilled. Her posture started to relax into him instead of away, and I knew he was using Athler’s ability. It was worse than compulsion because while it was happening, I knew Vallie would think she wanted it, but the moment it’d wear off, the moment he would let her feelings be hers again, everything would come crashing back.
“I have a thing for redheads,” he said as his gaze took in every inch of her. He twirled her hair, twisting it around his finger. Then his voice lowered to a whisper, but I heard every syllable. “You want to please me.”
“Yes.” Her voice was breathless.
“Good girl,” the King murmured. “Come with me.” Before he dragged Vallie away, he met my stare. “Pheromones are perhaps my favorite ability. So many marvelous things can be done with it.”
I watched in horror as he led my best friend into the next room. I caught a glimpse of a bed looming in the distance before he shut the double doors, blocking me from view and trapping her inside. And I could do nothing, absolutely nothing but sit on the cold, dried blood of the dead servant and wait.
I didn’t think things could get worse, but I was wrong. I pulled at my chains as I heard my friend’s cries change from agony to pleasure.
I hated him. I hated him so much. It was a different level of fucked up to change the way someone was feeling, to force them to like you, to force them to do things they didn’t actually want to do.
Athler only stared. The bloodied dagger he used on Vallie was still in his hand as he twirled it over and over again, taunting me.
It felt like an eternity before the doors to the King’s bedroom finally opened, and he threw Vallie onto the floor. She screamed as her legs tripped over the dead servant, causing her to land hard on her side .
“Bring the compulsion user in to watch them and have him tie her up on the other side of the room.”
Athler nodded and followed the King out of the room. Kole entered a second later. He paused, staring at Vallie crying on the floor. The white slip she had on earlier was gone, leaving her completely naked.
Kole walked toward her, his movements slowed as he guided her toward the opposite end of the room. She blindly followed him and didn’t protest as he gently clamped shackles around her wrists, covering her rank two brand. I tried to crawl toward her, but my chains pulled taut, and I fell on my face.
“Vallie, I—” I didn’t know what to say. I’m sorry wasn’t enough.
She turned away from me and curled up into a ball on the floor. But before she did, I caught sight of her eyes, and they looked more dead than the boy’s next to me.