39. Tezya
THIRTY-NINE
TEZYA
Wells called us into his tent just as the broadcast started. He learned how to hack into all official airings years ago. It was deemed a necessary skill by Dravenburg. He wanted to keep up with what was happening in our world, especially during the times it’d take me months to visit. I’d never been more grateful for it than now.
I was out of breath, partly from sprinting to his tent, and partly because of her . My heart was racing, and I couldn’t stop the ringing in my ears as all my senses solely honed in on Scotlind. She was alive. My eyes kept scanning every inch of her body, searching for any signs of abuse.
I was relieved to find her unharmed, but I didn’t for a second believe that meant they weren’t torturing her or making her life a living hell. The King was creative when it came to inflicting pain. He knew precisely what to do to hurt the most, while not making it obvious to anyone else. The worst scars he left were invisible.
Alive. Alive. Alive.
I kept repeating the word over and over again, not fully believing it. I couldn’t stop staring at her. I had to force myself to actually pay attention and not lose myself at finally seeing her. I ground my teeth together, fighting against my rage over the whole damn situation—about the King having her in the first place. He was fucking flaunting her. He knew I’d be watching. He knew I’d see her and come running straight into his waiting trap, begging for her back. And fuck, it was working.
I stood paralyzed, half staring at Scotlind, half zoning out what was happening. I was sick, beyond terrified that this was going to mess everything up, that this was what Dovelyn saw in her vision weeks ago.
Every day, I fought against Sie’s compulsion. And every day, I got no closer to breaking it. But the trade was supposed to be tomorrow—providing this broadcast didn’t fuck everything up.
We were all crammed into Wells’ tent, our bodies shoulder to shoulder as we watched the King’s lies unfold, leaving us in complete horror. But I barely noticed anyone else. The room was deathly quiet. Everyone was just as shocked about how they were manipulating what happened. They were damning Sie and digging his grave deeper and deeper.
I forced myself to tear my eyes off of Rumor for a split second and was surprised to find him standing directly next to me. His face showed a calm, lethal rage. He didn’t do anything but stand there, his eyes fixed on the screen, stuck in pure shock just like I was.
The fucking compulsion user the King kept around came onto the stage, and I was about to lose it when they started playing a video of Sie and Scottie. My fists curled at my sides, and my jaw was clenched so tight I thought my teeth were going to crack. The King had the fucking audacity to put the damning footage on display for the whole fucking world to see. I knew how badly those memories affected her.
The original footage was bad enough, but they tampered with it, making it look worse. If I hadn’t seen everything with my own eyes, if I hadn’t been there the day the King hooked her up to the monitors, I would’ve believed what I was watching. But I saw everything she lived through that day, and I hadn’t forgotten a single second of it. Everything she experienced was seared into my memory like it was my own.
Sie was a dick to her. He made mistakes. I’d been pissed at him ever since I watched her life unfold. But I knew deep down, even though everything he did was wrong, he acted with her best interest at heart. He was trying to protect her when he ignored her before their marriage, but now it just looked like he was repulsed by her.
They framed it to look like Sie was the reason Scotlind got a zero brand on both of her wrists. They manipulated the video and edited it in such a way to make it seem like he set the whole thing up just to hurt her.
Then, the night she was compelled started playing on the screen, and I was going to fucking lose it. It took everything in me not to break the screen as I watched her undress, as everyone had a full view of her almost naked body. The video kept playing, kept showing more damning footage.
When it finally ended, Alec started talking, further confirming everything we just watched on the screens. I barely heard it. All I could do was focus on her again. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong.
Synder stepped forward after Alec finished. “Sie went as far as murdering King Lunder,” he said. “He went to our former king and begged for a new wife, but when Lunder denied the request, he orchestrated his death in retaliation. We have a testimony to prove it.”
A healer stepped forward. I knew she was Luxian by her coral eyes. Her legs were shaking slightly beneath her dress as she was forced to walk to the middle of the stage. Sie went deathly still next to me. I heard his breathing hitch and figured he probably knew the girl.
“Moli’s a healer who’s been stationed in Tennebris. She has been working for the Noren household since Sie was ten and was transferred to tend to him at the castle when he was crowned the prince. Is that correct?” Synder asked her. Moli nodded, a brown spiral curl falling onto her face, covering three triangular moles across her cheek.
“Fuck.” Sie’s voice was rough, his anger was rivaling mine. It was the only sound that reverberated throughout the tent and it felt deafening.
“Yes,” the healer admitted softly.
“And King Lunder’s death was not an accident as the Tennebrisian Kingdom was formerly informed, am I correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct.” Her voice was soft, weak.
“Tell us how he died.”
Moli’s eyes were brimming with tears, and I could tell she was fighting against something. “Po-poison,” she stuttered. “It was poison.”
“And you were there when King Lunder’s death was announced as an accident? When it was told to everyone that he died from choking?”
The girl’s head nodded, the tears that were pooling in her eyes were now falling faster over her dark skin.
“And shortly after Sie was arrested, we found the same exact poison in his room when it was searched,” Synder announced. “This healer worked with Sie to kill the king.” Gasps coursed through the crowd watching the broadcast live. “Do you deny Sie had the poison in his room? That you were the one who supplied him with it?”
The healer said nothing.
“Fuck.” Sie stepped closer to the screen, his fists clenching at his sides. “Fucking deny it, Mols.” She still said nothing. It was almost as if she couldn’t speak. She was sobbing, but I couldn’t hear anything through the crowd’s angst.
The Lux King stepped forward. “You are hereby charged with working alongside Sie Axel Noren and assisting him with the murder of the Tennebrisian former ruler, King Hennley Joel Lunder.”
Before Moli could react, the Lux King engulfed her entire body in fluid, drowning her a couple feet above the stage for everyone to watch. Scottie took a step forward but halted, almost tripping. The movement was so subtle that most would have missed it, but my eyes were trained on her. She looked furious for the briefest moment before it was washed away, her emotions collected again into a calming mask, and I knew exactly what they were doing to her.
Athler.
Sie was screaming at the screen next to me, begging anyone to save the poor girl, even though no one could hear him. Peter rushed to his side, pulling him back a second before he would have destroyed Wells’ monitor.
I saw Savannah out of the corner of my eye, watching him warily. They were killing the healer, drowning her for everyone to see. The girl’s hands were clutching her throat, her face scrunched in agony as she struggled to breathe. The Lux King didn’t retract his powers until she stilled within the bubble of water he created, until her eyes were unmoving and her mouth slackened. Only then did he wave his hand, and the water dissipated. The girl’s body slammed onto the stage with a resounding crack, her leg twisted and snapped as it caught under her and her body collapsed into an odd angle.
Sie cursed, his rage palpable.
“We also have testimonies from multiple rank zero servants who grew up in the Noren household.”
They brought Sie’s family out in shackles.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!” Sie broke through Peter’s hold and punched the table next to him.
They all had dark hair, the resemblance between them uncanny, and my gut twisted as I knew immediately who they were. I was staring at my real father—at Sie’s father—and that meant… the boy with them was my half brother. He looked almost identical to Sie, just a younger version of him. His hands were clenched beneath chains, and his eyes widened as he took in the healer in a heap on the stage. He stilled, trying to reign in his anger. His wrist wasn’t burned, which meant he was too young to be witnessing this…
Peter stilled, giving up on trying to hold Sie back. Even Dovelyn looked shocked as she stared at the screen.
Multiple servants stepped forward, each giving a similar testimony about Sie’s childhood, about how he was brainwashed to believe he was better than everyone else. Every story was told in a calculated way, portraying Sie as a modeled version of his father. Each one hinted that there was no coming back from how he was raised. They recalled graphic, detailed memories of Sie being forced to compel them, how if he refused, his younger brother would suffer at their father’s hands. The abuse the servants were telling was horrific and sensing Sie’s radiating emotions, I didn’t think any of it was fabricated.
When they finished, soldiers pushed Sie’s father forward. “Maverich Blanch Noren, you are charged with maltreatment of your servants. You are guilty of murder by default, for brainwashing your son to act upon the ideals you installed in him and for—”
Sie’s screams blocked out of the rest of whatever Synder said. The Lux King stepped forward, casting the same water ability over Sie’s father— my father’s—head. They were killing him. Realization dawned on me that I’d never get to meet him. I kept looking at my half brother, praying he wasn’t next. He was beaten. Bruises marred his skin, and he wasn’t standing up straight. He was fighting against his chains, stepping in front of their mother…
Sie was pounding into the shield Dovelyn placed over the monitor screen, screaming at the broadcast as he was forced to watch his father drown. I knew the method was intentional. Every painstaking detail the King did was intentional. He chose to drown them, drown them because that’s what happened to Scotlind. Because as much as that night at the warehouse haunted her, it was also a nightmare for Sie. He relived it whenever he couldn’t sleep, watching the person he loved almost slip through his fingers. His emotions were the strongest, coming to my abilities like a moth to a flame. I didn’t know why I honed in on them because it started to become my own personal hell. I’d lay awake at night wondering what was happening to her, wondering what new horrors would destroy her once I finally got her back. Maybe I figured it was my own form of punishment. I didn’t deserve to sleep. I couldn’t, not while the King still had her.
The Dark Prince’s knuckles started to bleed. He didn’t stop punching into Dovelyn’s shield. He kept going, kept trying to make his fists connect with the monitor. I knew what he was feeling, what he was picturing—he wanted it to be the King’s face instead of a screen.
When Sie’s father was thrown on top of the healer’s corpse, they started ending the broadcast. “For now, the rest of the Noren family will undergo evaluations to see if they are guilty in aiding Sie.” The cameras flashed over Sie’s mother and brother. They were holding hands through their chains, his brother still standing protectively in front of her. His eyes were hard, his breathing ragged.
Sie stopped punching Dovelyn’s shield and dropped to his knees. “Greyland.” He whispered the name so softly, I wouldn’t have heard it without my heightened senses.
The Lux King stepped forward, stepping over the two people he’d just killed. “Please, let this serve as a reminder to you all,” he said as the crowd continued to flow out. “Do not trust anything Sie Noren or his accomplices say. They’re working against everything we have fought to build. They’re trying to eliminate and weed out the lower ranks, while we value all Advenian life, even the life of servants. You’re not safe as long as Sie is still alive. But we will protect you. We will get through this hiccup in time together, and I promise you, I will not rest until we have Sie Noren’s head on a spike.”
I couldn’t believe what was happening. No one could. The entire tent was speechless, the silence erie. Sie was on his knees, his head resting in his hands. Blood soaking into his dark hair through his knuckles. I hadn’t seen someone break into a protective shield like that before.
“Umm, guys…” Wells said, breaking the silence. I turned to look at him as he stared wide-eyed at the computer he was using. His glasses were almost falling off his nose, but he didn’t bother fixing them.
“What is it?” Dovelyn asked, sweat dripping from her brow.
“The broadcast is still airing, but look,” he said as he pointed to something in his view. “They shut it off to Tennebris and Lux. This is only playing for us now.”
“How’s that possible?” Dovelyn asked at the same time Savannah said, “What does that mean?”
“It means the Lux King knows we’re watching.”
I looked back at the screen. Mass numbers of Luxian soldiers were escorting everyone out of their seats. They were all armed to the teeth and looked more ready to harm them than help them. The King was looking directly at the cameras, a coy smile peppering his lips.
“He’s waiting until everyone leaves,” I said, realizing what was happening. “He isn’t finished yet.” My eyes darted back to Scotlind. She was still standing there, but with Athler now preoccupied talking to Synder, her true emotions were slowly coming back. It looked like she was screaming, but she wasn’t making a sound.
“I know you’re listening, Sie,” the Lux King said after everyone cleared out. “If you don’t hand yourself over, your mother will be joining your father by the end of the week. And after that, your brother will be next, and I’ll make certain his death takes the longest.” He paused long enough to smile, before adding, “And although Greyland Noren is rather enjoyable to torture, I’m sure you don’t want it to get to that.”
Sie was fuming.
“And Tezya and Dovelyn. I know you’re with the convict.” As he was talking, Athler pushed Scottie closer to the King. “Don’t think for one second you won’t be punished when you return to me, which I know you both will. It’s only a matter of time, but what I’ll do in the interim as I wait for you…” His fingers wrapped around Scottie’s bare thigh through one of the high slits of her gown. She flinched just as the connection went out.
“Bring it back,” I yelled, my body instantly taking a step toward the screen. I needed to see her. My rage was boiling at everything the King had done, at how easily he killed them, at how the broadcast ended with more threats I knew he’d act on, and the King’s hand around her, the fucking possessiveness he was showing.
If he touched her—
Distantly, I heard Wells typing frantically on his computer. “I can’t,” he said, stunned. “They wiped my connection.” More frantic typing sounded before Wells swore. “Shit. That took me months to set up…”
Did the Lux King know the man he just killed was my mother’s former lover? Did he know he was my father? That I was the chosen one the prophecy claimed, the child he always feared, always hunted? Because I could feel it now. I knew it in my bones. The fire inside me heated, boiling my core, calling me toward him, to kill him. I wanted to fucking murder him for everything he’s ever done, for everything he still planned to do.
I turned to Sie. He was still on the ground. His chest rising and falling rapidly as he stared at the blank monitor in shock. I was about to say something to him when Dovelyn gasped, “Brock. ”
Everyone turned toward the opening of the tent. My friend was leaning heavily against the post holding up the structure. He was panting, his entire body drenched in sweat, and I realized he was shaking uncontrollably. It was his first time out of the healer’s tent. Hell, I think it was his first time awake. I couldn’t tell if he could see us, but I immediately knew what he was doing. I was wondering why I didn’t lose my shit. Why neither of us did because they fucked Sie in that broadcast. But Brock was taking away some of our anger, not all of it, but tampering it down so we were calm enough to get through the worst of the airing.
My sister rushed to his side, attempting to wrap her arm around his waist, but he was too large. “Brock, stop. You’re too weak.” He looked down at Dovelyn, and the moment he did, his concentration broke, stopping him from using his ability. My emotions came flooding back to me in full force, feeling like I was hit with every brick in the world. My quiet rage before was nothing compared to this. An insatiable need for vengeance was blazing into my core, becoming my very essence.
I was about to fucking destroy everything in my path, but before I so much as blinked, Sie fucking lost it.