Page 37 of Ocean of Silver

“Dove, stop—” Tezya warned, but the Princess cut him off. His grip on my arm tightened as she continued.

“We just received word that your husband, I’m sorry, ex-husband, is remarrying.”

I took an unsteady step backward on instinct as two things became utterly clear. The first was that everyone in this room knew who I was and seemed to know everything about my past. The second was that Sie was getting married.

“W-what are you talking about?” I barely registered that I had backed up into Tezya.

He gave her a stern look, his hand still gripping my upper arm, which was the only thing holding me upright right now. “Are you serious, Dovelyn? You couldn’t keep your mouth shut for one damn night.”

Then another thing hit me. Tezya knew. He knew, and he didn’t tell me. Not that he was required to, not that he owed me anything, but he was so open with me last night at the hut that the shock of it hit me.

“Well, she deserves to know,” Dovelyn replied. Then she shrugged, grabbed a glass of wine, and walked back toward the sofa. I just stood there, dumbfounded, not sure what to do next. Sie was remarrying. Sie was actually going to get marriedagain.

Tez looked down at me, noticing the anguish on my face. “Come on, I’ll get you a drink.”

“No, I’ll do it,” Kallon said as she pried my arm out of Tezya’s death grip and ushered me away. “This calls for girl talk.”

“Here you go, babes,” she said as she gently placed a glass of wine into my hands and led me through the sliding doors, which opened to a beautiful view of the city. I wordlessly followed her, staring up at her blue and black parted hair. I sat furthest from the ledge, not wanting to know what seventeen stories high looked like from up here.

She took the seat opposite me as I pulled my coat tighter around my arms. The night air had chilled, or maybe I just felt numb now. “Sie’s getting remarried?” I asked her, unsure why I felt so comfortable being vulnerable and exposing that Dovelyn’s words affected me. She was a complete stranger, and I knew nothing about her. Maybe I was just done wearing a mask and pretending. It was too exhausting, and I barely had any energy left.

“Yes,” was all she offered. She was being careful not to upset me.

“How… how do you guys know about…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I couldn’t get the words out.

“The Royals are always made aware of the happenings in Tennebris. The two Kingdoms stay informed about each other. Dovelyn found out the news first and told the rest of us this afternoon.”

“Do you know who?” My voice was a whisper. I was surprised she heard me.

“I don’t know much about her. I heard that her father is a part of the High Council there and that she has known Sie since childhood. Ugh, why can’t I think of her name…”

“Reagan,” I said with dread, knowing before she answered that it was true.

“Yes, that’s it!” Kallon exclaimed before she looked over at me. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. It shouldn’t. Sie and I were never really married anyway, at least not in the kind of way I would have wanted to marry someone. We never loved each other. Maybe I would have loved him if time went on. If he never betrayed me—hadn’t hurt me.

The thing with Sie was that I never understood my feelings for him. The only thing that was clear was that I found him ungodly attractive, but I couldn’t decide if I liked him or hated him after that. He was confusing and twisted. One second, he would do awful things to me or not stop his friends from tormenting me, but then the next, he was protecting me, jumping head first into saving me.

I was starting to trust him. I had finally opened up to him. I told him everything, only for his father to imprison me the next day. It broke something in me when Sie annulled our marriage and sent me to be a prisoner here.

It hurt worse than any cut or scar on my body. I dreamt of Sie being my savior, of him swooping in and taking me out of the dungeons. I dreamt of him changing the ranking system for me—with me. Of him and I changing our society for the better. But that was all it ever was. A dream. Because he never would be that guy. Sure, he didn’t completely agree with the ranking system, but he didn’t seek to change it either. He never admitted to wanting to change it.

There had been plenty of opportunities for him to talk to me, to at least explain what was happening while I was left to deteriorate in the Tennebrisian dungeons. But instead, I rotted in that prison cell while he what? He got closer to Reagan. Was that all a part of Sie’s plan? Did he want to marry Reagan all along? Was he really only using me to seek his own answers with the Council and always planned on this outcome? Reagan flirted with him all the time. She was there the night Sie didn’t stop Alec from compelling me. She lingered by his side and had leaned into him as they both watched me humiliate myself.

“I’m sorry about Dovelyn,” Kallon said softly, breaking my train of thought. “She is nice once you get to know her. She’s just overprotective of Tezya to a fault, and you being around him worries the living shit out of her.”

“Why would I worry her?” I asked.

“It’s a long story. They’ve just always had that kind of relationship. Once you get used to her overprotectiveness, she’ll eventually warm up to you.”

I really didn’t know what kind of relationship she meant, but I nodded my head anyway. It was strange yet comforting that Kallon was speaking as if I would be around for a while. I wanted to belong somewhere. I wanted to just live. But that was just another dream that wouldn’t come true.

“Look. I know you cared for him, for Sie, but don’t let him ruin your night. Males have a way of trying to do that, and I sayFthem all. Tonight we’re celebrating Brock’s day of birth. He just turned a hundred today. Don’t let what Dove said to you get under your skin. Come drink with us. Forget about your Dark Prince for the evening.”

“I don’t care for him. Not anymore.”

“Well,” she smiled lightly, raising her own glass in the air, “the best way to get over a man is to drink.”

FOURTEEN

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