Page 31 of Ocean of Silver

She nodded her head. “Thank you for telling me.”

I stood up, brushing some sand that was still on my black shorts. “You’re welcome.” I started to walk toward the sliding doors.

“Tezya?” She said my name in question. I turned around to face her and saw that she rose from the sofa, but hadn’t move toward me yet. “Why did the King think it was me? That Sie and I were a part of some prophecy? Why was I kidnapped and brought to Tennebris all those years ago?”

“I don’t know, Rumor. Just make sure it doesn’t come true. During your interrogation, the King learned that you are Sie’s weakness. Once he finds out that you aren’t pregnant, I wouldn’t put it past him to use you until he has completed what he wants with Sie.”

“Which is what?” She swallowed again, bracing herself for the answer that, deep down, she probably already knew.

“He wants him dead or locked away. He doesn’t care which one happens first as long as he’s off the throne. He doesn’t want Sie to rule the Tennebrisians. Luxians breed and control who their citizens reproduce with. It makes for a strong Kingdom. We have tons of rank fours and fives because of it. But in Tennebris, you are still free to marry for love. Rank fives marry rank twos and so forth, which in doing so, dwindles and lessons their abilities in future generations. Tennebris is seen as weak because of it. Sie is the first rank five born from Tennebris in a long, long time, and he’s strong. The Lux King is threatened by him, by what he could do as a leader.”

“So he wants him off the throne before he takes it.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “And I think he is now going to use you to accomplish it. I’m not sure how yet, but he will probably force you and Sie to see each other during the annual meeting, which is only two weeks away. The date is still to be determined, but it’s coming up. You can’t be left alone with him. Even though you two aren’t married anymore, if you were to fulfill the prophecy, if you were to conceive a child, he will kill you, and he won’t wait for a baby to be born either. He’ll murder you on the spot just for sleeping with him.”

“I’m not going to sleep with Sie,” she said in a rush. “The last time I saw Sie, he wanted nothing to do with me.”

I hesitated before saying, “Rumor, I saw your memories together. He cares for you. You have to be careful.” I could tell she didn’t fully believe it, that her feelings were conflicted and full of confusion when it came to him.

“I’m not going to do anything with him,” she said again. This time her voice came out louder, more determined.

“Good,” I said in a flat tone, trying to hide the fact that her statement relieved me. “Because you need to be careful. Especially with him.”

* * *

Rumor’s testresults weighed heavy in my pack when we finally returned to the castle the next day. I knew the Lux King would be paying me a visit shortly to review them. He was probably pissed that I hadn’t handed them over immediately.

We did one more training session in the water this morning before we headed back, and I was finally able to look at her back markings. Last night, it was too dark to even attempt to see all the peculiar designs. And when I finally saw her back, I was livid. Her back was still mutilated. It was hard to see exactly what her markings were through the scars from the lashings. A few of them were still open and in various states of healing. She had too many scars for such a young age. Most of the Luxian soldiers that had seen battle weren’t as covered as she was.

She did a good job of hiding what was done to her. I hadn’t realized that she wasn’t fully healed. I was pissed at myself for not noticing it during our swim. I was too preoccupied with other parts of her… I thought Semader would have healed her. I thought that was what had taken so long during her visit with him. I forced her to train every day in that state when the average soldier would have barely been able to stand with the same amount of wounds, yet she didn’t complain. Not once. I hadn’t even known she was in pain. My senses were confusing any physical pain for emotional ones whenever I got a read on her.

I called Brock the moment we returned to pay her a visit. I hated asking my friend to use his abilities, I knew what it would cost him, but he was the only healer I could trust with her. Brock, being who he was, didn’t hesitate when I asked him. He didn’t even ask a question. He just nodded and made his way toward her chambers. I owed him.

I had to rely on my memory from what Sie revealed of her back when the King forced it out of her. What I could make out of her markings baffled me. I’d never seen anything like it. She had to have more than just manipulating water. I just had no idea what else she possessed. Her markings were so unique and had so many elements entwined in one. But yet, she couldn’t manipulate fire, air, or the ground like her back would suggest. I had her try all of them over a fire I made on the porch last night. Then during our hike back through the jungle, we practiced with air and ground powers, but nothing came out of it. She didn’t possess another elemental ability. It had to be something else.

I walked toward my desk with her file in my hands. I’d worry about her markings later. I just hoped that her other ability would manifest itself soon. Maybe she’s been using whatever this ability is the entire time without even realizing it? It took me a while to figure out what my second ability was as a child. But we didn’t have the luxury of time.

Slumping into my chair, I opened her file again and started to read through it for the hundredth time. After being imprisoned for two months, she was fairly healthy. She was still severely underweight, and her iron levels were too low, but those were easy fixes. I flipped some pages, skimming the rest of her file. I froze when I saw her blood type was listed. It made me wonder if she knew who her family was and if they were still alive. Were they missing her and looking for their lost daughter who was stolen years ago?

During her interrogation, the King hadn’t gone that far into her past. He didn’t look into who captured her that day and brought her to the Tennebrisian soil. A pang of unwanted guilt was bubbling in my stomach because I knew I could have spared her from all this pain. Deep down, I knew who probably orchestrated it. After meeting her, I started to doubt more and more that the prophecy was about her. At least, her involvement had nothing to do with producing the offspring. I had to start accepting the truths right in front of me.

Almost all of her memories were laced with pain and fear. I hated that. I hated that I might have been the cause of it. It was one of the reasons I was determined to train her, and not just in her abilities like the King had requested. I would train her like I trained the soldiers. I wouldn’t stop until she was back to the girl who stood up against the Dark Kingdom’s Council. She wouldn’t remain weak.

Hell, she hadn’t seemed weak last night. She actually smiled and laughed. Seeing her in the ocean… like she belonged to it, or rather the ocean belonged to her. It was hers to live and breathe in. Hers to control. I was surprised by how much I wanted to see her smile, how I wanted to hear her laugh as we raced in the water.

The corner of my mouth twisted and curved into a grin as her image flashed in my mind from last night. I couldn’t stop replaying her rose colored blush when she thought we’d have to sleep in the same bed. Her innocence was amusing. It was refreshing to me compared to Luxian born females I was used to. I couldn’t decide if I liked her blushing and flustered or happy and laughing more. Laughing, I realized.

My grin faltered once I saw who was lounging on my sofa across the desk. Her legs were propped up on the table adjacent to it, resting on a stack of my books. She materialized out of thin air.

A high pitched voice echoed from across the room. “What has you smiling like a pup?”

“How long have you been there, Dovelyn?” I sneered at the Princess.

“Long enough to see that handsome face of yours go from brooding to that disgustingly lopsided grin.”

“You know I hate it when you use your ability like that. Just because you can make yourself invisible doesn’t mean that you should use it to trespass into someone’s private chambers.”

“But that wouldn’t be any fun,” she pouted as she flicked a silky, silver lock of hair over her thin shoulder. “Plus, I recall a certain someone who always asks me to spy and snoop for him.”

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