Page 10 of Ocean of Silver

“You’re the one from earlier. You brought me to that interrogation.”

His eyes narrowed at my arms, which were now crossed against my own chest. “And you’re the prisoner that I am stuck training. Now that that’s settled, come inside.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He paused to study me for a moment, then said, “You will if you want to eat.” I hated that he was using food against me to get me to do what he wanted. I hated it more that it worked. I was being led by my gnawing hunger right now. It was as if he could sense that I would do anything for food.

“Fine,” I grumbled and pushed past him, trying my best to appear nonchalant. I scanned the room in a blindly obsessive and fascinated manner. It felt like I was seeing things for the first time. Everything in Lux was so different from Tennebris. Everything was… well, lighter, more extravagant. I’d never seen so much silver scattered throughout the walls and trim of a room. But it was more than just the burnished metal. Everything seemed to actually glisten. It reminded me of a diamond sparkling under the sun.

The things inside the room—the furniture that filled its space—seemed less imposing, like it didn’t belong. The door I walked through opened up to a greeting area that held multiple brown, worn-in leather sofas. A dark desk sat in the corner with books and papers scattered across the oak, making the wood barely visible under all the clutter. The chair was pushed out like he had busied himself in the work moments prior.

I followed him as he led me through another set of double doors. My eyes widened as I realized it was his bedroom. A beautiful allotrope chandelier hung low over the center of the ceiling, illuminating white walls and porcelain floors with more of that silver-diamond trim. My head spun as I took everything in. His bed was massive and spread across the room. The silver comforter briefly piqued my interest as I wondered what it felt like to lie in its silky embrace. A large monitor was displayed before the bed, and I frowned slightly at what that could be used for. Did he interrogate people in his bedroom?

“It’s a television,” he said, eyeing my curiosity. “Come.” He gestured toward the small table on his balcony, already set for two. “I thought you’d like to eat outside.” He pulled the metal chair out, dragging it across the balcony floor before he took a seat.

I stepped outside and halted. His balcony overlooked the bay. I gawked at the setting sun, casting hues of pink and purple across the glistening water. For years, I’d longed to see the sunset, and it was more beautiful than I could have imagined. I could almost hear the waves tumbling and crashing against the light brown sand in the distance. A warm breeze swept the hair off my shoulder and down my back. I closed my eyes as I inhaled the salty, citrus scent.

Home. This was home. If nothing else in Lux was, I at least belonged to the waves. This was the bay and the ocean that I longed for. The scent filled my nose, engulfing me as it entered my soul. With my eyes closed, I saw images of me playing in the surf. Kicking up sand as a musical voice laughed. Then, I was laughing with the voice, coloring waves onto someone’s forearms.

I couldn’t convince myself that my mind was playing tricks on me. It felt too real. It was as if being in Lux brought back what I lost. As if I stayed here longer, I might be able to uncover more of my childhood, more stolen memories of my real parents. The thought alone was intoxicating. And the sun. It was better than I could have imagined, so different from the rays in Tennebris. The sun here seemed to melt off the numbing cold I’d felt since the dungeons. It felt like a warm hug, completely engulfing me—

“It’s beautiful, the bayside,” he said, breaking the tranquil moment that took over me. My eyes flew open, and I stared into a different intoxicating blue. His irises were almost translucent, rimmed with silver, where the light blue color filled the rest. A striking contrast next to his thick, brutal scar. The one that kept drawing my attention. I looked closer, and I thought I saw a smaller scar, the top of it just barely visible through the messy mop of his sun-bleached white hair cascading down his face.

A sudden urge to run my fingers through his hair came. I wanted to feel the buzz of his shaved head on the bottom as I moved up his scalp to the thick strands that surrounded his face. I wanted to know if his hair was smooth or coarse…

I shook my head. What was wrong with me?

He nodded subtly toward the open chair across from him, and I realized I was still standing awkwardly in the doorframe. I slipped into it, careful to avoid his now outstretched legs before me.

“What do you want with me?” I spoke for the first time since coming outside. My voice came out scratchy from the lack of water.

He leaned back in his seat as he assessed me further, a relaxed arrogance radiating off of him as he sipped slowly from a crystal glass filled with amber contents. “I’m going to train you.”

I perked up in my seat. “Train me for what exactly?” I was trying to remember what the Lux King had said to me back in the monitor room, but everything was blurring together, and my mind was fuzzy.

He gave me a half smile, noting my excitement. “I will be helping you access your Luxian abilities, to discover what and who you are.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “As you heard earlier, it was requested by the King of Lux. I don’t know what he has planned for you. I’m just a soldier, doing as I’m told. You are to discover your abilities over the next couple of weeks with me, and then you will be granted a private ranking assessment where he will decide then what he will do with you—where you will belong in this society.”

“So I’m not to be kept your prisoner then? Why the sudden change of heart?” I asked.

“Unless you want to be a prisoner? I can arrange for you to return to the dungeons. It would save me a lot of time and effort.” I thought I caught a glimmer of humor in his expression, but I couldn’t tell.

I narrowed my eyes as I glared at him. “So I’m really going to be allowed to rejoin your society after everything that has happened?” I didn’t need to say the details. He saw everything about my pitiful life on those monitor screens. I was an ex-princess, a traitor to them, and as far as anyone was concerned, a liar. No one had any explanation as to why I was in Tennebris.

His dark eyebrows furrowed beneath the white locks that flowed down his face. “I don’t know. It depends on how well you prove yourself. If the King finds use for you, then maybe he will grant you that. This training will not be easy.Iwill not be easy on you. You will be expected to master what most Advenians do over years in just ten weeks.”

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. Anything was better than that cell. I didn’t want to go back there ever again. “What does this training entail?”

“You won’t go anywhere in this castle without the maid that was assigned to you or me. You won’t be allowed to. You will wake up at dawn, train with me, and do exactly as I say. Then, once we are done, you will return to your chambers to eat and rest. You will eat a healthy diet and sleep regularly to keep up with the training regime. You should try to build some strength back into your body too. I’ll train you in both. Physical training as well as your ability training.”

“Why?” I couldn’t help the question. I wanted it. I wanted to get strong again, but I couldn’t help but wonder what would be the benefit to him. What the benefit to any of this was? Why was the King even going through all this trouble?

“Why what?”

“Why train me in both? The King only said to train my abilities?”

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