Page 15 of Ocean of Silver

“I’ll eat this later,” I said as I reached for a banana, tucking it under my side. “I’m ready to go now.”

Patricia eyed me closely, then looked longingly at the flakey croissants.

“You can help yourself to anything. I only want this.” I raised the fruit for emphasis. My maid hesitated for only a second before scooping up the croissants and shoveling them into her mouth. I swallowed down a giggle as crumbs peppered her thin lips.

“Follow me, dear,” she muffled between bites.

My stomach turned in knots just thinking about the training and what was expected of me. I was grateful and excited even. Anything was better than that cell. I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance to build my body back to health and become strong again. Especially now that Kole was on Luxian soil. I didn’t have a choice.

As Patricia led me through the winding halls, I realized it would be a miracle if she knew where she was going. She kept muttering to herself and repeating turns out loud like she was memorizing a pattern. Maybe it was her old age that made her mind slowly decay. I never knew that could happen to Advenians, but I also had never seen one who looked as withered as she did.

“Shit.” My eyes widened at the curse coming out of her mouth. She seemed to realize it too, then added, “Wrong turn. Sorry, dear, follow me… um…” She put a finger to her lips as she longingly searched the hallway, “This way.”

I turned my head in the direction she was pointing, but my eyes kept wandering all around. I didn’t mind the detour. I couldn’t stop staring at everything we passed. I knew I probably looked like an outsider, but luckily only a few Luxians crossed our path. I was slightly disappointed when they didn’t even look my way. I wanted to see their eyes, to see what colors they had.

The castle at Lux was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Such a contrast to the cold darkened one in Tennebris. Lux’s castle was bright and cheerful and full of lights and ornate decorations. Paintings framed with silver swirls filled every inch of the walls, consisting mostly of Advenians with silver eyes or drawings of the ocean. It added color and life into the space.

The entire castle held the extravagance that the single Throne Room had in the Dark Kingdom, making me feel like I was living inside a diamond. The only similarity between the two castles were the excessive amounts of windows. But unlike Tennebris, Lux’s windows had no glass, making it open to the elements. I could feel the warm breeze as I walked. The curtains flapped against the wind as wafts of briny and citrus scents filled my nose. Sunlight dripped through the open panes, adding a glow and shine to the speckled floors.

After what felt like forever, we arrived in front of a pair of alabaster doors. Gauging the distance we traveled, it seemed like we were somewhere toward the back of the castle. Either that or my maid had me walk in circles. I cursed my body as I already felt drained. The walk alone was taxing, and I didn’t know how I would make it through whatever training with a Luxian meant.

“Tezya will be waiting through these doors. I will be outside after your training is finished to walk you back to your room,” Patricia said with another awkward curtsy. I honestly thought I had just as good of a chance of finding my chamber as she did.

“Thank you,” I attempted a smile but failed miserably. I stole a steadying breath before pressing into the door and opening it. I took one step inside, allowing the door to shut behind me, and froze. The banana fell from my sweaty hand and dropped onto the floor, but I didn’t notice—didn’t care—because the largest bath I’d ever seen was directly in the center of the room. The tub was carved into the floor, making it so that if you took a wrong step, you would fall right in. I’d never seen a bath that was built in the ground, nor a bath so grand and large. It was the size of the bedroom they had me staying in.

Then my eyes caught sight of the floor. White tile. The same tile that my head was pressed against in the tub. The same tile that was in my childhood bedroom. Flashes of that night peppered my vision. The masked men, the smoke wafting into my room, the flames looming just outside. Then of Kole drowning me, of everything that happened in that warehouse, of Sie.

My back slammed against the door as I retreated further, wanting to put as much space between me and this place as I could. I couldn’t do this.

Tezya appeared from a door I hadn’t noticed before. When I finally looked up, I saw that there were three doors toward the back of the room, all the same, leading to other areas. He stalked over to me, assessing my appearance. He was either oblivious to my apparent distress or didn’t care.

“You need to change,” he spoke firmly. That was when I realized what I was wearing. I was in such a rush to leave my room this morning that I never changed out of my nightgown or even washed off the sweat from my nightmare. I felt disgusting and was sure I looked worse. With my sweat plastered to my skin, the nightgown was even thinner and more constricting than the tan dress I was forced to wear last night.

“I… I don’t have clothes,” I said softly as he closed the gap between us. I didn’t have it in me to be embarrassed, not when all I could see was that bath. I tried to focus on his form and not the room we were in. He bent down to pick up the banana I had dropped and extended the fallen fruit out to me.

“The last door to the left is the changing chambers. There’s workout and swimming attire for you there. I want to start on your abilities, so put the swimsuit on.”

“No,” I blurted as I grabbed the banana from him. “I’m not going in that bath.”

“That’s not a bath. It’s a pool, and yes, you are,” he ordered.

“Please, I can’t swim.” I stuttered pitifully.

“Can’t or won’t?” When I didn’t answer, he sighed before adding, “I’m here to train you. In order for this to work, you need to be honest with me.”

“Won’t,” I admitted, my voice barely audible. To my relief, he didn’t ask me why. He just looked at me like I was some mystery to uncover or some experiment to be tested.

“Fine. For now, change into the workout gear, but you will be getting into that water.”

I scurried to the third door before he could change his mind. I walked embarrassingly close to the edge of the wall, avoiding the looming doom of sinking water in the middle of the room.

A crystal chandelier hung over my head in the changing room, illuminating the pale blue walls. A set of gray clothes were folded on one of the light wooden floating cabinets. I reached for it, not even bothering to look at whatever swimming attire was acquired for me as I stripped out of my sticky nightgown and threw it over the bench. I left the banana untouched next to my clothes, knowing that there was no way I could stomach to eat it now, not with that bath just outside the door.

The pants that Tezya left for me were the exact same shade of gray as the shirt, and they were both skin-tight. I had to pry them over my legs which surprised me as my legs were basically twigs now. They left little to the imagination, which I was gathering was a theme for Luxian fashion. The shirt, luckily, was slightly looser and not as constricting, but I could still make out the swell of my breasts through the material in the mirror. I was just thankful that it didn’t show my ribs through the fabric. I didn’t dare look at my face as I moved my hands to braid my hair down my back. The effort from just holding my hands up for that long was taxing. I hated the reminder of what I’d become.

Tezya was watching me as I emerged from the changing room. “We are going to do both physical training and ability training. You are too weak right now, so we’ll work our way up to the harder stuff…”

Frustration coursed through me. I couldn’t stand to hear him talk about how weak I was, even if he was just stating facts. He pointed toward the first door. “There’s a private gymnasium inside there.”

---