25. Chapter 25
Chapter twenty-five
Loud shouts filtered down the dim hallway leading to the arena, but nothing could prepare me for what I actually saw taking place once I exited the tunnel.
I’d never even thought about Sin’s magic until now. I assumed it was the element of fire based on his personality, because there was no way someone with his temper could be anything but fire.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Sin was a water caster. A really, really, good water caster.
I stood off to the side as he took on the five soldiers surrounding him.
Moving as one, they all lifted their arms and thrust their hands forward. Wobbling orbs of water levitated from casks scattered around the arena and shifted into foot-long spears that hurled themselves at Sin.
He didn’t so much as flinch. Sin snapped his hands out in front of him, and all five javelins halted inches from his face. The soldiers shouted at each other as they pivoted back to the tubs for more ammo, but Sin was quicker. He swirled his hands in front of him, and each soldier violently flew backward, their own watery missiles returned to them faster than I could track. The pure force of the impact lifted each male from his feet and hurled them into the walls of the arena.
The soldiers struggled to get up, but Sin showed no hesitation as his hands dipped low toward the ground then flew back up. Every ounce of liquid soaking the soldier's clothing squeezed out from their uniforms and danced over to Sin. He began swirling his hands around, and the cloud of water spun just as quickly, twisting into a liquid tornado suspended in front of Sin. He swooped his hands out in an arc, and the cyclone shot around the arena, growing even larger as it sucked the water out of each barrel on the field.
The vortex descended upon the fallen soldiers, sucking each into its vicious embrace.
I watched helplessly as the soldiers flailed and thrashed within the cone of water. Sin lifted his hands high above his head, the tornado following suit as it rose up into the air, swiftly surpassing the height of the arena itself.
Horror spread across my face as he jerked his hands apart, and the cyclone burst like a balloon. Water droplets and soldiers rained down to the arena floor, hundreds of feet below.
“NO!” I shouted, rushing from the tunnel. Sin’s head jerked toward me, shock spreading across his face. The soldier's screams ripped through the air, and I closed my eyes, refusing to witness their gruesome end.
When several moments passed and I hadn’t heard the sickening crunch of bodies, I risked opening my eyes.
All five males hung suspended in a now docile cloud of water less than five feet from the ground. An amused look swept over Sin’s face as he flicked his hand toward the aqueous safety net, and the soldiers crashed the rest of the way onto the hard dirt.
Groaning, they all struggled to their feet and took up defensive stances to continue the fight. Sin yelled something over his shoulder, and the five males relaxed their postures and shambled out of the arena.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” I roared, stomping over to Sin and jabbing him hard in the chest, though I was pretty sure I hurt my finger more than I hurt him.
He smirked. “Many things, Fea Remia. So you will need to be more specific.”
“Wipe that damn look off your face, Sin,” I said, glaring at him. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. You were about to murder those guys.”
Sin casually dried his hands on the sleeves of his black tunic before replying. “You really need to make up your mind here, Rain. Today you don’t like me being amused, and yesterday you didn’t like me being reserved. I’m not sure I have another setting.”
“You’re forgetting about asshole mode.”
“No, that’s always engaged,” he assured me, the damn smirk back on his face.
“It wasn’t last night,” I said before I could stop the words from escaping.
Shit. How had I gotten so off track here? I was supposed to ask about my father, not bring up awkward topics.
The smirk faded as Sin’s facade of cool detachment slid back over his face.
“What do you want, Rain?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest.
“Well, first I’d like to know what the hell all that was,” I replied, gesturing wildly into the air where the water tornado had been.
“Training,” he said simply.
“Training? People can die when they train with you? Because if so, then maybe I’m glad you asked my father to cancel our sessions.”
He blinked at me once. “For the record, I asked Verren no such thing. And if you must know, those males were never in any danger. They were prepared for things to get rough, but I would never actually harm my own soldiers.”
I gawked at his unfettered arrogance. “What if you missed?” I sputtered. “What if you didn’t catch them in time? They would have died.”
Sin took a slow step toward me. “I don’t miss.”
I snorted. “Well that’s cocky.”
“No, it’s accurate.”
I glared at him. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Sin grinned at my words. Not the heart-stopping smile he gave me last night. No, this grin was positively devilish. “I’m glad we agree then,” he said smoothly before slipping his mask of indifference back on. “Now, do you plan to tell me what you’re doing here, or did you honestly just come to give me a lecture about my own abilities?”
“No, I came to talk to you about my father.”
“And what would you like to know about the illustrious Verren?” he asked, turning to cross the arena toward the weapons room.
“I need to know if… Is he…” I tried to figure out how best to formulate my question.
“Spit it out, Rain.”
“Is he evil?” I finally managed to ask. “Like, is he a genuinely bad person?”
Sin stalled halfway across the arena. “Evil is a relative term,” he answered. “And I don’t think I’m the best one to ask about that.”
I don’t know why I had thought that he would make this easy.
“Fine. How about this? Is he keeping secrets from me?”
Sin resumed his trek across the arena. “Everybody keeps secrets, Fea Remia. Even you, I’m sure.”
“You are being incredibly unhelpful,” I stated, following close on his heels.
“Perhaps you should ask better questions.”
I grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn back to me. I wanted to see his face when I asked this question. “Then tell me… did you know that he found my purse and was hiding it from me?”
His eyes locked on mine. “No,” he calmly replied.
“Liar!” I hissed venomously, his denial fueling my anger. “Last night during my panic attack I heard you tell Dey that I didn’t have my medication. There is no way you could have known about that unless my father told you what was in my purse.”
Sin pivoted sharply and started to walk away. “That’s not how I knew about it.”
“Yeah, right. You’re clearly lying, Sin. You and everybody else in this damned castle. Is that another Vitaean trait?” I shouted at his back. “Are you all just a bunch of deceitful jerks?”
Sin stopped in front of the steps down to the hallway, still refusing to face me. “I’m not lying, Rain,” he said, his voice tighter now.
“Oh, really? Then tell me how you could have possibly known about my meds if it wasn’t from my father.” I waited, but he remained a stone statue. “Tell me!”
“Because I’ve seen you take it before!” he shouted, as he whirled around and closed the distance between us in a flash. “Back in your world. I saw you struggling to breathe, struggling to even stand. You opened that orange bottle, took whatever was inside, and then you were fine. It was the same thing I saw happening last night, and if I had known Verren had your pills I would never have kept them from you. I may be a monster, but I’m not that kind of monster.”
I just stood there, our chests one good inhale from touching, as I soaked up the intensity in his eyes that had been absent since our kiss. I searched his face for the truth and found not one hint of deception.
“But you never found me in my world,” I whispered, my voice soft with confusion. “Dey found me first.”
Sin closed his eyes tightly and took a step back from me. When he opened them again, they were as cold as ice.
“There are so many things you don’t know.”
“So tell me,” I begged, hoping to see a hint of the old Sin again.
“I can’t,” he said, turning his back on me again.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Take your pick.”
“So what can you tell me?” I asked, exhausted. I waited, watching his shoulders rise and fall as he neither spoke nor walked away. “Please, Sin. Tell me something. Something useful.”
His voice was quiet when he responded, almost as if he was speaking to himself. “You need to pay attention to the man behind the curtain.”
His long legs carried him from the arena before the words even registered. When they did, I was only more confused.
Another Wizard of Oz quote. I'd dismissed his earlier reference as a common saying in my world but now…
The film played every Wednesday night at the old rundown theater in Jersey, and I knew nearly every line by heart. I think I loved it because it was about an orphan who got to visit a magical world and escape the depressing life forced upon her. The one thing about the Wizard of Oz I could never understand, though, was why she wanted to leave so badly. She could have been a queen in that world. A world full of beauty and magic. Why would she want to go back to being poor in Kansas?
I understood it now. Ever since arriving in Rivella I wanted nothing more than to go home myself. I didn’t want to be a princess. I just wanted to hug Jenn, have a drink at Dingo’s, and play my violin.
What I didn't understand was how Sin knew it.
Regardless, it sounded like he was telling me that if I wanted my life back, I needed to figure out what was going on behind the scenes.
So that's exactly what I was going to do.