Page 65 of Ocean of Silver

“The King is fascinated with the mortals. He usually sends me here for information for himself. They have many technological and scientific advancements. He likes to learn from them and adapt.”

“But that’s not why you came this time?” I took a guess.

He shook his head, one strand of white—now dry—hair fell into his eyes. “No, it’s not.” I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t, not right away. He sighed. “Rumor, I don’t mind telling you. I trust you. But are you sure you want to know? You can’t do anything with the information. You can’t tell anyone. And once you start learning things, there’s no going back.”

“I want to know.”

“Okay.” He shifted on the sofa to face me, and I tried my best not to pay attention to where that left his towel. “I believe the King plans to overthrow the mortals, and I think he will soon. He wants to conquer everything. Being the ruler of Lux isn’t enough for his greed. I think he plans to make them slaves, much like the rank zeroes are in Lux. He wants to expand from the island we live on. He wants the whole damn planet.”

“Could he really do that?” Everyone knew that the humans overpopulated the Advenians. Even though we were the stronger species, there were much more of them. It’s why our history books said we had to remain hidden. They reproduced far greater than we could and didn’t need Lakimi to be blessed with a pregnancy.

“It depends if Tennebris gets on board. If the two Kingdoms work together, there’s a chance that the Advenians could win,” Tezya replied.

“I don’t think Sie would agree to that,” I said softly, and meant it. I knew Sie didn’t care about changing our current society, at least, he wasn’t motivated enough to act upon it. He would never get rid of the ranking system. But I didn’t think he’d make things worse either. He would never agree to slavery.

“I know that. The King knows it too. That’s the reason they do not want him on the throne. I already told you that I think the King is planning on using you somehow to do it.”

“And you don’t want that?” I asked, hoping it was true, but I wanted to hear it from him. He spoke one time of not agreeing with the ranking system. Of wanting everyone to be treated equally, so I couldn’t believe Tezya would want to overthrow the mortals too. But I also had to know if Tezya had some part in planning to overthrow Sie.

“No, I don’t want that. We need to leave the humans alone. They’re innocent. We don’t deserve to take over their planet because ours died.” He paused for a moment, then added, “I envy the humans. Their worth isn’t measured by their rank. They aren’t categorized by some ability and then told what to do in their society because of it. They can love whoever they want, marry who they want. They have true freedom. I would give away all my powers to have that. A world of peace is what the humans have, and the King wants to rip that freedom out from under their noses. The abilities we possess makes our kind turn dark. It has the potential to fill us with greed and hate and a lust for power. But power isn’t fulfilling. It’s a void that, in the end, leaves you empty and alone. It leaves you starving, such a gnawing hunger that turns anyone in its path into a meal to be devoured. Power can never be quenched.”

They were my orders, Scotlind. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t have a choice, just like you don’t have a choice now,Tezya had said to me about fighting against the rebels. Did he really have no choice in that? Did he even want to be a soldier? Would he get a choice if the King forced the Luxian army to attack not only the rebels but the mortals too? Would Tezya go into battle? “Do you think that kind of a world could exist for our people someday?”

“It existed before on Allium, so I don’t see why it can’t happen again. But our people are so brainwashed into tradition, it would be near impossible to convince them of it.”

“What are you going to do then? What did you do today?” I asked.

“Another night, Rumor. I’ll tell you everything another night. For now, let’s go to bed.”

Bed. Right. There was only one bed. In the hut, Tezya had grabbed a bedroll and slept on the deck, claiming he did it often when he was there to gaze at the stars. So I had the whole hut to myself, but here, the balcony was too small. “Do you have an extra blanket?”

“No, why would I need that?”

“Because… I am… I am going to sleep out here. You only have one bed.” My hair knotted around my finger.

He smiled. “Take the bed. I’ll sleep out here.”

“No, it’s okay—” I started.

“Rumor, I sleep naked, so unless you want to see everything tonight, I suggest you go to the bedroom.” For emphasis, he stood, gripping his hand over his towel. I didn’t wait to see what he did after that as I slammed the bedroom door shut.

TWENTY-FIVE

TEZYA

A high-pitched screamjolted me from my sleep. Fear swallowed me whole as I sprinted into the bedroom, terrified of what I would find, praying the King hadn’t realized I had brought her here.

But she was alone, thrashing under the covers, fighting her mental demons. She was having one of her nightmares. I knew she had them. I’d heard enough of her screams, felt her panic stir as I monitored her room each night in Lux. I was grateful when they became less and less frequent. But tonight, I felt her panic in my bones, and I didn’t think it was the proximity of where I was sleeping that had me running toward her.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” I breathed into her ear as I knelt over the bed. “You were just dreaming.” My hands gently grabbed her shoulders, trying to stop her profuse shaking. Despite being slick with sweat, she felt cold.

“Tezya?” Her voice wavered.

“Yes, it’s me. I’m here. It was just a dream,” I said as I brushed aside the strands of hair that were plastered to her face. I stiffened as she reached over for me, one of her hands clutching my upper arm. I definitely should have grabbed some clothes before running in here. Thank the Goddess, it was still dark, and barely any moonlight was shining through the window. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked when she settled back down against the pillow.

There was a long pause, and then softly, “No.” Her voice was barely a whisper as her shaking started to subside. I nodded and started to get up to head back to the living room. “Wait,” her clammy hand slid down my arm and wrapped around my wrist, over the five that was branded into me. “Please, can you stay?”

I stilled. Only Pylemo knew how badly I wanted to. How I’d fantasized about those words leaving her lips countless times. Dreamt a million different scenarios of spending the night with her. I should say no, I knew that. This was a terrible fucking idea. Things were bad enough with her being the King’s prisoner and Sie’s ex. I shouldn’t confuse it more. I should say no. Ineedto say no.

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