60. Scotlind
SIXTY
SCOTLIND
We had exactly twenty minutes to eat dinner before the meeting with Dravenburg and the entire camp was going to be there. Wells, Tezya, and I had been working with Arcane over the past hour. Well, that wasn’t true. The three of us stared at him as he studied the ring in silence for the entire hour. At one point, he announced he needed access to his powers, but beyond that, he worked in complete silence. It was infuriating.
Wells wouldn’t stop fidgeting, and I swore he was going to break one of his fingers. The only time Arcane spoke was to tell us to bring him to the meeting. He said he’d only disclose what he discovered in front of everyone. He also refused to admit if he was successful in creating the compulsion serum, so basically we weren’t any closer to getting answers.
He was using it as leverage. We all knew it. He wanted in on the meeting tonight, and if that was the only way we’d get him to talk, he knew he held the power. He was back in his tent—for now—with the promise that we’d come get him before the meeting started.
“Let’s skip dinner,” I said to Tezya. “I’m not hungry.” There was no way I’d be able to eat with the nerves racking through my body right now, and twenty minutes was more than enough time to—
“You don’t want to miss dinner tonight. Trust me.”
“Why?” I asked.
He smiled. “Because I might have told the cooks what to make tonight and it’s not something that’s normally on the menu.”
My intrigue had me walking to the dining tent with him. The smell hit me way before I saw it.
“This is what we had when…” I inhaled deeply, at a loss for words, not remembering what the food was called, but I remembered loving it. Tezya had ordered two of them from a mortal food truck when he took me to his condo for the first time.
“Tacos,” he finished for me. I dropped his hand and rushed into the tent. My mouth was already salivating thinking about them. Everyone else had the same idea as me because the dining tent was completely packed.
We found our usual seats. Besides Wells and Vallie, Tezya and I were the last to join. I had no idea where the mortal boy went after we dropped Arcane off, and I already knew Vallie wouldn’t show up until dinner was officially over and the dining tent was transformed for the meeting. I was slightly disappointed because Vallie would have absolutely loved tacos. Freaking loved them, but I knew from Peter she was still barely eating. I tried not to think about it, tried to not let it stop me from enjoying them, because I was pretty certain tacos were my new favorite food.
I moaned loudly as I took my first bite. I stuffed mine with avocado, salsa, beans, beef, cheese—literally as much as I could pack into the small tortilla thing as I could.
Kallon laughed. “Slow down, babes. The food isn’t going anywhere.” I barely paid attention and just kept shoveling bite after bite of the taco into my mouth.
“Oh, that reminds me.” Kallon smirked. “I totally forgot I found something out earlier today.” That got everyone’s attention. Whatever side conversations anyone was having at the dinner table ceased. Even Sie looked away from Peter to give Kallon his attention. She grinned broadly, satisfied that everyone was listening. “I found out that the noises Scottie makes when she’s eating food is actually nothing, and I mean nothing, compared to what she sounds like when she’s having sex.”
The taco dropped from my hand and all the contents spilled out onto my plate. I had a bite still in my mouth, half chewed, that I just completely forgot about. “Kallon, what the—” I started, trying to think of every curse imaginable for what she just admitted to everyone.
Peter was the first to break the silence with a belly churning laugh. “I was curious,” he started, but I shot my gaze at him, and he rightfully shut up.
Kallon just shrugged. Took a leisurely sip of her ale before saying, “If you don’t want people to hear you, maybe don’t continue to fuck when someone shows up at your tent.”
Savannah looked between Tezya and I, biting her lip to mask a smirk. I glared at Tezya who tried to grip my thigh under the table to calm me down. I swatted his hand away, pissed that we were in this situation because of him, but another part of me kept replaying what happened. How he covered my mouth and thrusted into me… I really, really tried to not think about it because it was sending butterflies down my stomach, making me want him to take me again and again and not care who overhears. But I was equally mortified, and I couldn’t decide which feeling was trumping the other at the moment.
Kallon was about to add something else when I cut her off. “Don’t you dare say another word. You will shut up right now if you still want to be my friend.”
Kallon just grinned, passed me a full glass of her ale, and smirked. “We’ll always be friends, babes. You love me.”
I didn’t know what else to say so I chugged the entire ale she passed me. It was disgusting and burned the entire way down my throat. I half remembered Brock telling me how strong it was, but at the moment, I didn’t care.
Dravenburg started the meeting after the tacos were cleared from dinner. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people stayed and wanted to fight. It seemed like almost all the Advenians that Tezya saved from the King’s dungeons were eager for vengeance. I knew it was them, because even though they’d seen the healers numerous times, there were remnants of their maltreatment that would probably take months to properly heal. The ones that were kept there the longest, that the King was drinking from for centuries, had permanent scars from all the nicks made on them.
It made me happy to see so many people willing to fight for a change, to know how many others agreed with me and wanted a better life. But it was also unsettling. Ability wise, they were some of the strongest Advenians in Lux, but physically, they were nowhere near ready to fight. Their bodies were too malnourished even afters weeks of healing. I was scared we were setting them up to die when they clearly weren’t ready.
Dravenburg was rambling on about the exact date we would attack as he ran through the numbers of everyone that signed up on the paper. As much as I wasn’t a huge fan of him, he did think of everything. He told the saved Advenians—the ones from the dungeons—they’d be paired with someone from the camp. The people in Brighta had been training daily, and it was a smart tactic to implement.
After the meeting ended, Arcane stalked to the front of the tent, his posture at ease, regardless of the Alluse users trailing behind him, and I caught a glimpse of who he would have been as a ruler. Calm, poised, tranquil .
“What did you find out about the ring?” Dravenburg asked, not wanting to bring the prince out until after everyone left.
“Tezya needs to wear it when he goes up against my father,” he said, and my heart stopped beating. “The ring will allow him to use his powers past his reserves.”
“Going past his reserves will kill him,” Dovelyn screeched. “Our reserves are the limits gifted to us by the Goddesses. It’s their way of protecting us from having our abilities consume us.”
“I know,” Arcane replied, and this time he turned to look at his younger brother. “But if he wants to win, I think it’s going to take everything he has. I think the ring was made specifically for him for this reason alone.”
I was holding Tezya’s hand, gripping it so tight that my knuckles were white, and from the contact, I could sense him. Tezya would. I knew he would. He would use everything he had. He would go past his reserves if it meant saving everyone.
“I tested it out on my own powers, and it still stops at my reserves. It doesn’t work for me, but I can tell it’s there. There’s magic in it. If Tezya wears it, it’ll work.”
There was a stilled silence that followed. I wondered why Arcane needed access to his powers when we were with Wells, and now that I knew…
“There’s more,” Arcane said as his gaze shifted to me. “The bond has opened up a permanent link between you two. Tezya and Scotlind can powershare. From the blood bond, she technically has my brother’s blood inside of her now, his Tennebrisian blood. It’s the reason she can’t be compelled anymore. I’m not sure if it means Scotlind could go up against the King using my brother’s ability instead of—”
“That is out of the question,” Tezya spat, his hand still in mine. “The prophecy was clear on who had to be the one to do it, and we only have one chance. We’re not using Scotlind so don’t ever fucking suggest it again. ”
I knew then Tezya wouldn’t help me with his abilities. He wouldn’t risk me learning how to wield fire until long after this war ended, and that was only if he survived.
“Scotlind, wait up,” Savannah called after me once the meeting ended. She was the last person I expected to want to talk to me.
“Um, hi,” I said as she jogged to my side.
“Hi,” she answered, then looked at Tezya. “Go away. We need to have some girl talk.” Tezya was about to open his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. “I’ll return her to you in a few minutes.”
He gave me a once over before heading back to our tent. Savannah didn’t start talking until he was well out of ear shot. Knowing his abilities, I was pretty certain that he’d be listening to our conversation anyway.
She pressed a cylinder vial attached to a long needle into my palm. The inside looked like clumpy milk. I looked up at her in confusion, having no idea what I was holding.
“You don’t have to inject it,” she said quickly. “I was just thinking about what Kallon said at dinner, how you and Tezya are… well you know what you’re doing. Anyway, I just wanted to give you some options in case you didn’t want to…” She paused. “I know Advenians have a hard time conceiving so you’d probably be fine, but just in case…”
“What is this?” I asked, not following her train of thought and completely confused as to why Tezya and I having sex would have anything to do with the conversation we were having now.
“It’s birth control, Scotlind. It’ll stop you from getting pregnant.” There was a long moment of silence before she added, “I had some healers look into it, and they’re fairly certain it would also work on an Advenian’s reproductive system. You don’t have to take it. I know you might want that with him, but with the war, I just wanted to give you the option, in case you didn’t.”
I didn’t know what to say. The fact that she even cared enough to think about this was beyond me. “Thank you,” I whispered a little breathlessly. I hadn’t thought about it. I’d been so consumed by having sex, about how it felt with Tezya, that I hadn’t even considered getting pregnant was a possible outcome. What Savannah was giving me was completely forbidden. With how rare it was, it was illegal to do anything to prevent bearing children. “I don’t really know what to say, but thank you, Savannah.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. “If you decide to take it, you have to inject the entire thing into your muscle either here or here.” She tapped the very top of my arm and then the outer edge of my butt. “It’s a hormone shot. It lasts three months for humans, but the healers think it might last closer to a year for you since your reproductive system works slower.”
“Thank you,” I said again, not sure what to make of it.
She nodded once before leaving.
I walked back to the tent clutching the injection like a lifeline. Tezya was standing when I arrived. His eyes flicked to the vial, then up at me. He didn’t say anything. I knew he wouldn’t. He’d heard everything Savannah said, and he was letting me decide.
Pylemo could curse me for taking it—
I took a steadying breath, then uncapped the needle and put the tip into my upper arm like she said. My finger was on the plunger, but I paused.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t push the liquid in.
Tezya was purposely trying to keep his face blank, but it felt like he had ten thousand emotions coursing through him as he watched me.
I withdrew the needle and tossed it before I second guessed myself .
If he didn’t survive, if I got pregnant and his baby was all I had—
No. I wasn’t going there. Goddess, please let there be an after the war with him. Please, please, please, let Tezya live. Tears pricked my eyes. I’d been trying so hard not to think about it, even though my brain recited Dovelyn’s chant so many times, I had longed since memorized it.
“Are you okay?” Tezya asked cautiously.
I shook my head. Please, please, let him live. He has to live because now that I let my mind think about it, I wanted it. I wanted kids with him. I wanted a future. But I needed him to be with me for it.
Tezya didn’t ask me what was wrong. He didn’t need to. He pulled me into a hug and it just felt so right, so perfect. Nothing had ever been this perfect before. Nothing ever would again if he died…
No.
He’d live. He’d live. He’d live.
He had to live.
I recited my own chant over and over in my head, desperately trying to fight off Dovelyn’s voice and the three words that haunted me.
He will die.
That night, we didn’t have sex. We didn’t do anything.
I wasn’t aware of when he guided me to the bed, but at some point he had, and I’d spent the entire night wrapped in his arms, reciting my own chant until I started to believe it, but sleep never found me.