41. Scotlind
FORTY-ONE
SCOTLIND
I was screaming but no sounds were escaping my lips. No one could hear me. Arcane dragged me across the stage, and no matter how far away he led me from Moli and Sie’s father, I couldn’t stop seeing their dead bodies lying there.
Watching them drown brought back the same burning and constriction in my lungs from when Kole held me in the tub. I prayed Sie wasn’t watching somewhere, but I knew he was—everyone was—Tezya too.
After everyone filed out of their seats below the stage, the Lux King kept us there, kept the camera’s rolling… He addressed them directly, threatening to kill Sie’s brother and mother if they didn’t hand themselves over to him.
I couldn’t breathe, and not being able to speak, not having anyone hear me, made it feel like I was drowning too. I was dying slowly from the pain I was causing everyone around me. I couldn’t take any more deaths. I couldn’t, and now the King had not only Vallie, but Sie’s family too. All three of their lives were in danger, and it was all my fault.
Everything was my fault.
My chest was rising and falling a mile a minute, and my vision was starting to see spots from how frantically I was pulling in the air around me. Arcane was dragging me through an empty hallway, but I couldn’t focus, couldn’t breathe. I hadn’t even realized we had made it back into the castle.
Arcane whirled on me, throwing my back against a wall. “You need to calm down.” He eyed me for a moment, thinking something over. “I’d give you the antidote, but I don’t trust you not to scream, and I need you to be quiet.”
I looked around, not recognizing what part of the castle we were in. It was completely deserted, which meant it was nowhere near Vallie. I tried to speak over and over again. My mouth forming the words: “Where are you taking me? Where is Vallie? Please save Vallie. Vallie. Vallie. Vallie.” But nothing left my lips.
Footsteps sounded behind Arcane, and I had no idea what was happening.
“You called for me?”
I knew that voice.
Arcane didn’t move as he replied, his silver eyes wholly assessing me. I was still pressed against the wall, his tall frame blocking my view of who approached.
“Yes. I need your help.”