46. Tezya
FORTY-SIX
TEZYA
I only slightly regretted not bringing Scotlind and Sie with us. Besides the fact that they would both be pissed at me for it, we could have used his telepathy and her enhancement.
I hadn’t planned on leaving Sie behind, but I knew if we waited, Scotlind would have used her enhancement and attached herself to Kallon’s portal again. I couldn’t risk it.
She wasn’t fully recovered and was still suffering the effects of Rainer’s ability. Even if she didn’t realize it or refused to believe it, it would take her a couple of days to rebuild her reserves after what happened. There was a reason electric users were so rare and sought after, their power was terrifying.
I knew Sie hadn’t seen a healer. His hands were marred up to his elbows, leaving white scars from where he pulled Scottie off of Kole. But where Sie’s were confined, Scotlind had scars all over her body. It broke me every time I looked at her. Over and over again, I attempted to convince myself it was necessary, that it was the only option we had to get her back, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I caused her more pain, one that would forever leave a mark on her. I was the one who came up with the logistics on how to overthrow Arcane’s shield. I was the one who told Rainer to use his ability.
I swore to myself I would never be the cause of another scar on her body. When I first saw her in the dungeons in Lux, she was enveloped in them. The only scar I was okay with leaving on her was our blood bond. But now, I covered her in thousands of new scars. The lightning went over her zero brands, scattered onto her face, covered her forearms where she tallied twenty-seven cuts to mark how long she’d been in the Luxian dungeons. They were everywhere.
Except for her stomach and right forearm, it was flush to her skin, almost translucent compared to the thick, jagged lines that marred Kole and Arcane. The more transduction to Rainer’s power, the more watered down it became. Not that it mattered. She was still hurt, still covered in them. I felt her pain the moment Rainer hit Kole with it.
I hurt her.
She’d been through so much already, too much for one person. A living kind of inferno took over my rage once I saw the full extent of what happened to her. I wanted to murder the King after he dragged her down to the lower levels of the dungeons. The fact that it even existed without any of us knowing was beyond me. I knew powerful people in Lux were disappearing, I just hadn’t realized to what point until I saw her memories.
I couldn’t stop wondering if my mom knew about it. Her blood magic was used to barricade the door. I knew it was hers immediately. It had her powers written all over it. The only other way to keep people out was to create protective shields, and I knew he wouldn’t. Anything that involved him sacrificing a piece of his magic was out of the question. But my mother’s abilities could be manipulated to keep anyone out who didn’t have the right blood she infused into it. It was why no one knew about it until now. How he was able to keep something like this hidden for so long.
I shook my head, trying to push my white hair out of my eyes so I could see better. I hadn’t had the time to cut it in Brighta and the top was getting too long to be functional. I ran my fingers through the longer pieces, slicking it back with sweat to keep it out of my face. I had to get Rumor out of my mind while I was in Lux. I had to focus or this wouldn’t work. I made a lot of promises I intended to keep and something of my own I needed to do.
Kallon’s portal transported the four of us to the outskirts of the castle. Dovelyn already had her invisibility over us by the time we landed. Our biggest concern would be if Athler approached us, because even with our concealment, he’d be able to detect our pheromones. Dovelyn couldn’t maintain a shield and keep us invisible at the same time. It would use too much of her reserves.
“We need to make sure we all stay within Dovelyn’s radius,” I said. “But in order to do everything we need to do, we need to act fast and split up.”
“And what is everything you plan on doing?” Dovelyn whispered-yelled.
“Peter, you’re going to rescue Vallie and Sie’s family. Dove will go with you since she’ll need to add them all under her invisibility. You’ll use the hidden entrance to get in. Dovelyn knows the way, but be quick. Kallon and I are going to the lab and then the dungeons. Meet us there after you get everyone. We’re going to portal out at the furthest point down.”
“Be careful, Tezya, even though Arcane’s not here, the King still has access to his serums,” Dovelyn said. I could tell she wanted to question me, but we didn’t have time. She knew me too well, knew that when I had my mind set to something I wasn’t going to stop until it was done.
“We will,” I said. “If Sie’s family isn’t in the room with Vallie, check the dungeons on your way down. We’re not leaving until we have all of them. We’re bringing everyone back with us.”
I assumed Dovelyn nodded and left because she didn’t respond. I knew she’d be able to keep Kallon and me invisible as we made our way down the dungeons, but there was going to be a time when her powers stopped. I just prayed we were far enough along for this plan to work by the time that happened.
“What are you planning, Tez? If Peter and Dovelyn are getting Vallie and Sie’s family, what are we doing?” Kallon asked me.
I couldn’t see her, but we were holding hands so we wouldn’t get separated as we snuck our way toward my brother’s lab. To our luck, it was located next to the dungeons since his father often had him work on the prisoners there and didn’t want them escorted through the halls of the castle. “Why are we risking going into the lab and then the dungeons?”
“We’re going to recruit a lot more Advenians to our side.”
“With criminals?”
I could tell Kal was arching a thin brow under her bangs without actually seeing her.
“Just trust me, and be quiet. Someone is coming.”
We didn’t talk after that. It took us a while to make our way to Arcane’s lab and even longer to find what I needed once we got there. I finally pocketed the vial of blood I came for and was about to leave and head to the dungeons when I saw vials on vials all labeled Vapor Alluse.
I felt Kallon come up next to me, knowing exactly why I hesitated, she whispered, “If you do this, Tezya, the King will be notified. We will have seconds to leave Lux.”
Anger rose in me. It felt wrong letting this go and not destroying the vapor with my flames. I wanted to blow it up and completely destroy Ar’s lab. I knew anything I left intact would be used against us, but Kallon was right.
If I wanted to free the Advenians locked below, I’d need more time. They were suffering and probably had been for centuries. I owed them this.
We also needed time in case I had to find Sie’s family. I promised him I’d get them. I sent a prayer to Pylemo that they were with Vallie and Dove and Peter already had them. But if they weren’t, I’d need to search the dungeons, maybe even the entire castle until I found them. I swallowed hard, trying not to think about how Greyland was also my brother.
If we succeeded, the King wouldn’t be able to make any more Alluse. He’d only have what was in this lab and eventually it’d run out. But looking at all the vials, it could last a long fucking time. So many Advenians from our camp could die.
I grunted in frustration, making up my mind. I had to leave it. I had to make sure I had time to pull off what I wanted. If I could do that, I’d be saving thousands of lives, while also dwindling the King’s powers. He’d have to scramble to find more Advenians’ blood to consume. And I knew the ones locked below were some of the strongest of our kind. They deserved to live. They deserved freedom.
I patted the vial in my pocket and prayed I was making the right choice. Kallon grabbed my hand again as we silently made our way through the dungeons. We walked further and further down, careful to avoid any of the puddles scattered along the path. As soon as we couldn’t go any further and reached the dead end, I turned to Kallon.
“Make a portal here.”
She released my hand and immediately got to work. This would drain all of her reserves, and I didn’t know if she’d be able to manage it.
I took one deep breath, knowing that once I crossed this point, Dove’s invisibility would vanish. She wasn’t aware of this part of the castle, so she wouldn’t be able to cast it over me once I went in. I pulled out the vial from my pocket and added a drop of the blood labeled King Arcane Xandrin the Seventh onto the wall. I didn’t wait for it to fully open before I made my way down the pristine alabaster steps.
“Prince Tezya,” a healer stammered, alarm crossing his face. I knew I couldn’t compel them, there was no way the King didn’t feed them Alluse, and it wasn’t worth the risk of them telling him I had compulsion, so I tried another tactic.
“Give me the keys for the cells or I’ll burn you alive.” I called to my powers, pulling fire into both of my hands.
The healer’s eyes widened in fear. I knew my reputation from being the commander of the Luxian army preceded me. Anyone who didn’t know me believed the rumors of how vicious I was in battle, of showing no mercy before I burned everything in my wake to ash, and sometimes the reputation came in handy.
The healer took a tentative step back, raising his arms slightly in defense. The Advenians chained to the wall closest to me stirred and it took everything in me not to give them my attention, because once I did, I’d lose it. I was disgusted something like this existed, that the King was using them for vessels of power and not treating them as people. The healers weren’t any better. They were gifted with the power to help , but instead they were using their abilities to suck the life from the people chained, only keeping them breathing enough to function for the King’s liking. And the King threatened to bring Rumor here—
When he didn’t answer right away, I sent my flames out toward him and burned the skin at his feet.
He screeched, his voice rippled in agony, “I will, I will.” I kept my flames superficial, burning his flesh off while still keeping the bones. “I’ll get you the keys,” he half sobbed, half wailed .
“ Now ,” I ordered, sending my fire up to his knees. I was half a second away from fully burning his feet off. I didn’t feel bad, he’d just be able to heal himself later, and he deserved the pain for how he was treating the thousands of Advenians in this room. The healing ability was always believed to be a gift from the twelve lesser Goddesses and any healer working down here was a disgrace to their names.
The healer reached into his robes and pulled out a set of three keys dangling on a large circular loop. I stalked toward him once I cleared the stairs and ripped them out of his hands.
I heard a few chained Advenians chuckle and risked tilting my head to the side to see some of them grinning. My stomach turned as I wondered how long they’d been trapped down here. It was probably the first time they smiled in centuries, and I planned on changing that today.
“Get out of my sight.” I gestured toward the long stretch of lined cells. I figured there might be another exit at the end, but I didn’t want him running past Kallon. He half ran, half dragged his burned feet as he limped away from me.
I didn’t wait as I called to the fire in my veins and focused everything I could on the shackles holding the Advenians to the walls. The other healers in the room panicked as they saw the room bursting in flames and started running in the opposite direction. I pushed my fire into every chain that existed down here, burning them off. It took all of my control not to hit the flesh that met with each shackle.
Once I burned through them, most of the Advenians collapsed to the ground, unable to keep themselves upright without the metal holding them in place. But there was a surprising number still standing.
Kallon came flooding down the stairs, her body materializing as Dovelyn’s invisibility vanished the moment she crossed the threshold. She gasped as she looked around the room, her yellow eyes widening in shock. “What is this place? ”
I quickly glanced at her, not bothering to answer her question. We didn’t have the luxury of time. “Did you create the portal?”
She nodded before answering, her eyes kept scanning the prisoners. “Yes, it’s just up the stairs. Peter and Dove are already through and back at the camp. They got Vallie and Sie’s brother out.”
“Not his mother?”
She shook her head. “She didn’t make it. There were guards in the room with them…” Her voice trailed off as I nodded.
I couldn’t think about it right now. If she was dead, there was nothing I could do about it. “Can you portal all these people out?”
“I’ll manage.” I knew she couldn’t. There were too many to get out at once, but we both knew what her answer really meant. We’d keep going until we failed. Her pale skin was already ashen. She’d used too much of her reserves to create the portal, but Kal always pushed herself to her breaking point, not stopping until her body gave out. We’d done this numerous times before, bringing the rebels into Brighta. The only difference now was she didn’t have a day or two to rest after creating the portal. We had minutes before this place would be flooded with soldiers.
“Good,” I said, then turned toward the Advenians that were still managing to stand. They were hesitant, unsure what to do as they stared at me in shock. “Grab as many as you can around you,” I called out as I stepped up to the bars and unlocked the cell door to my left. “Up the stairs, there’s a portal to get you all somewhere safe.”
Relief, confusion, and agony were flooding into my senses. I tried to block out my ability, but the amount of people around me suffering was too much. Everyone immediately fled into action. The strongest in the group, who probably weren’t held captive as long, were helping hold the weaker ones. Some half carrying the ones who collapsed up the stairs. Others were being dragged.
I made my way toward the right side of the cells, unlocking the other half of the room. I saw in Scottie’s memories how many people were trapped down here, but to see it in person was something else. Not everyone was going to make it to the portal. Some of us were going to be left behind.
Kallon seemed to know it too. Her weak smile was proof of that. “Tezya, I’ll get as many out as I can, but Peter and Dove tripped an alarm. The King knows we’re here. We have minutes, if that.” She scanned the room, biting her lip. “I know I can’t convince you to leave right now, but come up after a minute, and let me portal you back before—”
I nodded. I knew the odds when I decided to do this.
Everyone was moving too slowly, they were all too weak. I didn’t think about it, about what would happen when the King got here. I knew he wouldn’t kill me. He still didn’t know I was Tennebrisian… I shoved the punishment room far out of my mind. I’d deal with whatever happened to me later.
For now, I returned Scotlind’s best friend to her, and if Kallon and I succeeded, we’d be getting rid of the Lux King’s powers in the process. After today, he wouldn’t be able to drink the blood of the most powerful Advenians the Golden City had. He’d be scrambling. He’d lose all his powers. This could win them the war.
My mind was made up the moment I saw what had happened to Scotlind. I didn’t want this place to exist for a second longer, and I planned on doing everything it took to give Brighta the advantage. “Get as many of them through the portal as you can. I’m going to help the ones who can’t walk.”
Kallon immediately fled into action, shouting orders at the Advenians who were closest to her as they all rushed toward the stairs. I let my eyes linger for a moment, taking in my friend as she portaled the first group through .
Soldiers flooded into the dungeons not long after. It confirmed there were multiple exits and entrances as they came at us from all angles. I didn’t think about who I was fighting as I cleared a path to the stairs. I didn’t want to recognize any of the men I fought with over the past century. Some hesitated. Others came at me willingly, some with savage smiles.
I did my best not to kill anyone, to only make a clear path for the Advenians trying to run out of this hell hole, but as time stretched and more and more soldiers flooded in, it became harder to do.
It was a mix of blood, metal, and magic. Swords, daggers, and axes were cutting into the Advenians that were too weak and too drained to fight back, and when the soldiers were too far to strike with a physical blow, they used their elemental powers to make the kill. Air was pushing everyone back down the stairs. Ground magic was wrapping around legs and yanking people backwards. Water was drowning, fire was burning. Death and gore were everywhere.
I could only use a little bit of my own abilities. If I used too much I’d risk burning everyone down in the dungeons if an air user decided to redirect the path, killing innocents along with the soldiers.
Some of the chained Advenians stood with me, mixing whatever they could from their powers with mine, but it wasn’t enough.
Kallon returned. Our eyes locked for a moment before she saw the bloodlust below and vanished through the portal again. I didn’t have time to think about how it might have been the last time I saw her.
Slowly, more Advenians were leaving the dungeons. Either leaving through Kallon’s portal, if she returned, or they were just making it to the upper levels of the dungeons, I couldn’t tell. I half hoped she went back to the camp for her own safety.
A knife sliced into my forearm as another dagger was thrown at my head. The Advenian next to me threw an air shield up, protecting me at the last second. The dagger bounced off the shield he’d erected and clattered to the ground.
I barely mumbled a quick thanks as a wave of water rushed past me, forcing me to take a step back.
“We need to make it up the stairs, Prince Tezya,” he shouted over the chaos. I looked around, following the flow of water. It was thigh-deep and winding through the cells like rapids of a river, only it was following an invisible bank. I watched as it wiped out soldier after soldier—the current so strong, it knocked over everyone in its path.
Then I heard people shouting my name. Kallon’s voice came through above the screams, but my heart stopped when I heard her .
Scotlind came. She was here, in Lux, and so was Sie. The Dark Prince was teleporting the remaining Advenians up toward the open portal, so they bypassed the stairs altogether, and Scotlind had one hand stretched toward Kallon and was working to enhance her portal. But her other hand… holy shit . She was using both of her powers at once. She was pulling the water from the room, shaping and redirecting it herself.
She was the reason the stairs were clear, the reason Sie was able to get so many out, the reason I didn’t have a Luxian attacking me right now.
I stared at her in fucking awe, at the arduously amount of power she was putting into both of her abilities. I gave myself ten seconds to soak her in, ten seconds to be mesmerized by how fucking serene she was, before I took in the rest of the room.
Dovelyn was back creating an air shield, pushing the few soldiers back that were out of reach from Scotlind and preventing them from getting too close, and what I assumed was Peter in a bear form, was ripping into any soldiers who managed to get by. Lavender hair flashed in my vision, and Savannah was standing close to the portal, throwing star-like daggers at the soldiers, never missing her mark.
I looked toward the older Advenian who had stayed by my side. His auburn hair and coral eyes were something I’d never forget. A smile crept over my face because for the first time I truly believed that together we could win. I raced up the stairs as Sie teleported the coral-eyed Advenian next to me through the portal.
I grabbed Scotlind by the waist, pulling her into me, right as I saw silver eyes.
The Lux King made it into the dungeons.