Page 80 of Lake of Sapphire

I workedon Kole until the healers begged me to stop again. I didn’t want to head back to my own chambers. I didn’t want Scottie to see me caked in more blood, so I headed to Peter’s room.

I washed three times, scrubbing Kole’s blood off that had dried on me like another layer of skin. The prick hadn’t admitted to a single thing, no matter how much agony I’d put him through. I rubbed my temples, trying to press on the headache that was now forming from lack of sleep.

I pulled a pair of black pants and a shirt from Peter’s wardrobe. They were slightly tighter than my usual clothing, hugging my thighs, but they would work. The door to his room burst open as I threw the charcoal shirt over my shoulders.

“Where have you been?” Peter yelled at me.

“I was in the dungeons all day, trying to get the prick to talk. I came up here to bathe.” I said to him. “What is this about?”

“Kole is gone.”

“What?” I spat. “What do you mean he is gone?”

“I mean, he escaped. He isn’t in his cell.”

“That’s impossible. I was with him all day,” I seethed. “I only left the dungeons an hour ago.”

“Well, within the hour you were gone, someone worked to release him, and now he is nowhere to be seen.”

I could feel my blood boiling over as his words sank in.

“Does Scotlind know?” I asked because I had seen the look of terror on her face. This would affect her, even if she denied it.

“No.”

“Where is she then? You should be with her,” I snapped, furious that he disobeyed my order to protect her. “If Kole is gone, she is the first person he will come after.”

“I know,” Peter said, letting out a frustrated sigh. “She insisted on going back to her own room to bathe, but she is with Abherham and two of your personal guards. They know not to leave her side. But our connection wasn’t working and when I couldn’t find you… I had to make sure that Kole didn’t come after you—”

That’s when I realized just how breathless Peter sounded.

I cursed. My headache and lack of concentration must have dropped the pathway between Peter’s mind. “I will be fine, Peter. I can take care of myself, but I told you to protect her. No, I gave you an order to protect her.” I pushed Peter aside and started sprinting toward Scottie’s room.

Peter followed closely behind. “You know she isn’t going to like that,” he said through pants. “She doesn’t like to feel watched and feels that she can defend herself.”

I don’t give a damn about what she wants until we get Kole. He can’t be compelled. He is using Alluse in the form of some sort of serum that is running through his fucking veins, making him dangerous. No abilities will work on him and whoever he is working for is probably using it too. I don’t trust the guards. And I don’t give a fuck if Scottie is mad about us watching her. It’s better than her being dead. We need to assume that everyone in the castle could be immune to abilities now, that their blood could be flowing with Alluse. And now, Scottie is wounded and completely fucking defenseless,I seethed in his mind, not wanting to alert anyone to how weak she was right now as we sprinted past.

“Shit, shit, shit,” was all Peter said as he kept his pace to match mine.

Half way to her room, I remembered my abilities and teleported the rest of the way, leaving Peter behind.

I let out a sigh of relief as I emerged in front of Scottie. The servants had done a good job cleaning her room. All the blood and pieces of broken furniture were cleared. Scottie was curled up on the thick leather sofa facing the empty, unlit fireplace, reading a book. A blanket was thrown over her, but it fell slightly off her uninjured leg, revealing her bare skin. I noticed a burn scar on the back of her calf. Her eyes went to where mine were fixed, and she immediately covered the scar. “What is going on?” she said slowly. Her sapphire eyes met my dark ones.

“Leave us for a minute,” I ordered Abherham and my two guards, Bradwick and Danes. They all nodded and stepped out of her room without question. The next moment, Peter burst through the doors. “Thank Pylemo,” he panted when he saw her.

Scottie closed her book and sat up straighter on the chair. Her eyes widened as she looked between the two of us, noticing our ragged breaths. “What is going on? Did you figure out who Kole is working for?”

I didn’t want to tell her that Kole had escaped. I didn’t want to cause her more fear, to have to admit that we failed. But she needed to know. She needed to realize how serious this fucking was. She needed to know that she couldn’t go off on her own, wandering the library and patrolling the gardens close to the woods, which I knew she liked to do frequently with Abherham. So I told her everything.

She listened.

Once I finished, she visibly swallowed as her hands clasped onto the pendant of her necklace. “So Kole is gone, and no abilities can work on him?” she barely whispered. Her eyes flared with shock, not looking at either of us now. She just kept clutching that damn necklace. The fucking necklace that wouldn’t help her now. It wouldn’t protect her.

I knelt in front of her, trying to get her to look at me. “Yes,” I said slowly. “The possibility that others are working with him are high, so I want you to always be with Peter or me. I am serious when I say I don’t want you alone. I don’t trust anyone else, so please don’t go wandering off on your own, at least until we can figure this out.” I expected her to fight me on it like she did earlier this morning, but she just nodded her head.

“Okay,” she murmured and then finally looked up at me. Her beautiful eyes swirled with tears that threatened to spill over her high cheekbones. Her bottom lip was swollen from her endless gnawing. “I’ll stay with you—with one of you.”

I knew she meant Peter.

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