Page 2 of Ocean of Silver

“Did you miss me, little nix? Because I certainly missed you. We have some catching up to do, but I’m afraid it’ll have to wait until later.” He looked me up and down before turning his attention to the guards that accompanied him. “Bring her up.”

Kole looked different since I saw him last. He looked older, stronger, more tenacious. He no longer donned the black uniform of the Tennebrisian guard with the twin pink moons over the chest, but instead, he bore the outfit of the High Council. I toppled over myself and threw up bile all over the cold floor.

The guards that flanked Kole didn’t seem to notice as they unlocked my cell door and grabbed the chains that connected to my wrists and ankles. My bare feet scraped against the stone as I was dragged out.

My eyes squinted shut on instinct, blinded by the sun pouring in through the stained glass windows of the castle halls once we exited the dungeon. Was this going to be my last time seeing the sun? Were they going to kill me? Surely Kole being here wasn’t a good sign. He was marked as a traitor when he tried to kill me, but now… now, he was a member of the High Council.

I could do nothing as the guards pulled me behind him. Kole occasionally glanced over his shoulder at me and smirked. He’d won, and he knew it. I knew it.

They halted outside an oak door. “Leave us,” Kole ordered the guards. The authority in his tone, the way the guards cowered to him… This wasn’t good. They dispersed immediately, leaving me alone with the male I hated more than anyone else.

He leaned forward, grabbed a lock of my brown hair, and started twirling it around his finger. My body locked, unable to do anything but stand there and gawk at him. Letting my hair fall back down over my shoulder, he leaned in closer, his breath hot against my own.

“I can’t believe, after all these years, you aren’t even a nix. If I had known…” He paused as his gaze roamed over my body. “I wouldn’t have tried to drown you.”

Before I could respond or even process what he had just said, he pushed the doors open with me in tow. My mouth gaped as I finally took in the black and green I’d been dreaming about.

Peter. My heart stopped beating. Sie.

They were waiting across the room. I glanced over at him. He looked good, better than good. He must have seen a healer again because there wasn’t a scratch on him. The same couldn’t be said about me. Finally in the light, I could still see bruises across my arms and legs, turning from purple to yellow. The only indication of how long I’d been stuck in that cell.

Sie sat next to King Lunder with Synder flanking his other side behind a thick table. His father, the Commander now, was also in the room. Braven Bask stood behind them all. I searched Sie’s black eyes, trying to find a small glimpse of the guy I knew back at the lake, but his cold, blank mask was back on. The door slammed shut behind me. A second later, Kole pushed me toward the center of the room.

Sie didn’t do anything. He barely reacted to my presence. I bristled at him. I couldn’t understand how he could have left me there for so long. He was also trapped in Kole’s cage—how could he not understand what that would do to me? How, after everything we had been through, could he act like I was a stranger? I was hiswife.

“Thank you for bringing her to us, Kole,” King Lunder said before turning his attention to me. “Do you have anything you would like to say before the we start, Scotlind Rumor?”

I blinked. Once. Twice.Rumornot Noren. “I’m not sure what you mean.” My voice was hoarse and rough. I barely recognized it as my own. How long had it been since I last spoke? Days? Weeks?

King Lunder met my gaze for a moment before turning toward Kole. “Strip her. I need to see it for myself.”

Kole didn’t hesitate as his body lit up with his golden markings. It took me a moment to realize what he was doing as he used his telekinetic ability to remove the dirty slip I was wearing. He was leaning against the wall, hands still in his pocket when I heard the fabric tearing. I looked down in time to see my torn dress falling past my shackles. I was naked before I could so much as blink, my clothes in shreds around my feet.

I tried to cover myself with my hands, but the chains met resistance leaving my body exposed. Peter flinched. He stood in the corner, away from the men who were domineering the table before me. Sie wouldn’t even look at me.

“Turn her,” King Lunder ordered as he twirled his finger in a circle. I felt a tug on my chains as Kole spun me with his ability so that my back was exposed to everyone else. Then, one of the guards poured a bucket of freezing water over my body, revealing my black markings. Proof that I was Luxian.

Lunder gasped. “So it’s true. She really is from Lux—a traitor.”

Kole turned me back around to face the councilmen, this time using his hands to do it instead of his mind. Bumps rose all over my body, and my teeth began to chatter. I was already numb from my time in the cell, but now, without clothes and soaked in water, I could feel myself stiffening, my blood thinning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. A black swoop, then a blonde head of hair stood before me as Peter wrapped his long coat around my shoulders.

“That’s not necessary,” Kole said. I hated how I cowered at his tone of voice and the authority it held as he looked at Peter.

Peter didn’t return Kole’s stare. He barely acknowledged him as he responded, “We need her alive, so having her freeze to death is not an option.” He cupped my shoulders, only for a split second, as he clasped the ends of the coat together, his green eyes boring into mine, before returning to the corner of the room.

“For now,” Synder murmured under his breath, or at least I thought that was what he said. I couldn’t feel my fingers and toes, and a quiet ringing noise reverberated in my ears as I started swaying where I stood. It felt like forever since I stood on my feet, and my body was dizzying from the effort. But I couldn’t stop replaying Peter’s words in my head,we need her alive. So they weren’t planning on killing me, then why was I here?

As if reading my thoughts, King Lunder spoke again, “Miss Rumor, I do not know how you infiltrated our Kingdom, but we will surely get to the bottom of that in due time. We have contacted King Arcane the Seventh of Lux, and he was willing to make arrangements for you. We will be returning you to him as his prisoner. Seeing as you belong to the Luxian society, he will deal with you accordingly. From this day forward, you are the property of the Lux King and belong solely to him.”

No. My eyes snapped up to meet Sie’s, but he still wouldn’t look at me. This couldn’t be happening. Sie couldn’t send me to him. He warned me against the entire Luxian royals at our wedding. He told me to stay far away from them no matter what. He wouldn’t do that to me. And the Lux Prince—the Fire Prince—the youngest son who I hadn’t met yet. I couldn’t. He wouldn’t force me to go. I was still his wife… but they kept calling me Rumor.

King Lunder spoke again, “For now, no one outside this room will know the truth about you. As you will be a prisoner of Lux, we will not be telling the Tennebrisians about this predicament. Our people will continue to believe that you’re Tennebrisian and that you are a rank zero. That being said, we cannot allow you to continue to be wed to Prince Noren. Sie, would you care to elaborate on what is to happen.”

I looked at Sie again, and this time he met my gaze. I shivered as I didn’t recognize the man I had trusted before. The man that I was beginning to develop feelings for. Now all I saw was a stranger. A shiver went down my spine as he spoke, and I fought to hold back the tears that threatened to spill.

His voice was cold and distant as he finally acknowledged me. “As part of our agreement with the Lux King, your true Kingdom will be kept hidden. They are going to have a broadcast where you will admit to being unfaithful. The Council needs a reason to end our marriage without revealing that you are Luxian. We will annul our marriage publicly and our people will believe that you are imprisoned for adultery against the crown. Once the Lux King arrives, you will leave with him immediately and discreetly.”

I went to open my mouth, but Synder stopped me. “It will be wise for you to accede. If you do not, I will have no issue sending Kole to dispose of you for good. Or maybe I would give Prince Noren the honor of killing you. But mark my word, if you do not admit to having an affair, or if you alter what we order you to say in any way, you will regret it until your last dying breath. Do I make myself clear, Miss Rumor?”

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