Page 1 of Ocean of Silver

PROLOGUE

Princess Dovelyn

I hated Tennebris.The cold and darkness of the Kingdom seemed to have seeped into my bones and lingered long after I’d left. And now, my father was forcing me to go again. Only this time, it wasn’t for a celebration. We were going to collect a prisoner. It was bad enough that I had to meet Scotlind when she married the Dark Prince, but now, we were bringing her back to Lux.

I visited the Goddess temples on the outskirts of the island multiple times, praying to Pylemo that the girl would turn up dead before we were due to retrieve her. She was supposed to be dead. Only when my father got the message regarding the trade, everything had changed. His greed for power outweighed any rational thought. He couldn’t stand to see a Luxian without their abilities on record. He wanted to know what her powers were and if he could use them—useher.She would have been better off dead.

I looked up at my two brothers. The King was forcing all of us to go. He wanted to present a formidable front. Everything was calculated with him, every single painstaking detail. My youngest brother met my stare. For a moment, I saw the hard gaze that most of Lux saw. The look that set his reputation ablaze as the Fire Prince. But then it softened. An unspoken understanding flowed between us. He was dreading this as much as I was, just not for the same reasons.

My older brother, Arcane, moved to sit next to me on the underwater monorail. We were waiting for our father to board before we would start the dreaded journey to the frozen Kingdom.

“What are you planning?” he whispered to me. He looked so much like me that sometimes it seemed like I was staring at my own reflection.

I spoke at a normal volume. It didn’t matter anyway. Our younger brother could hear everything we were saying no matter how softly we spoke. “It’s none of your business.”

“It will be my business if Father catches you.” He gestured toward the corner of the monorail where I was hiding Kallon under my invisibility. “You shouldn’t have brought her.”

“Relax, Ar. He won’t find out.” All I had to do was keep her hidden until we entered the Dark Kingdom. There she’d create a portal that would take her back to Lux. The only Advenian who’d be able to sense what I was doing was my father’s second, and I knew he wouldn’t risk bringing him. He needed to leave someone in charge while all the Luxian royals left the city.

“I pray for your sake, sister, that he doesn’t.” He stared at me for a long moment before sighing, “Wipe the sweat off your forehead before he arrives.” Then he moved back to his original seat without another word, leaving me alone to my reckless fate.

I did as he said, but felt two more beads of sweat already forming over my brow. Of course that was what tipped Arcane off and how he knew I was actively using my powers. My older brother was meticulous with detail. He missed nothing.

I just hoped that my father would be too preoccupied with his success of getting Scotlind Rumor that he wouldn’t notice the friend I was hiding.

ONE

SCOTLIND

I was going to die.I just didn’t know if it would be from the cold or lack of food. They were both vying for first place. The guards stationed outside my cell didn’t seem to notice or care. At first, I pleaded with them, begged for water, food, a blanket, a toilet, anything, but I’d since given up. I could barely lift my head now, nonetheless speak. And it didn’t matter how much I screamed, they never acknowledged me.

I didn’t know how long it had been since I had woken up in the dungeon cell. I remembered Peter’s words when I first arrived at the castle. He told me during his tour that the dungeon was located below ground, which meant no windows. Only a lone torch broke the darkness from the room. There was no way of telling if it was night or day. No way of telling if I had been here for hours or weeks. The last thing I remembered was being taken away by Sie’s father and a sting radiating up my thigh before everything went black. He had injected me with something. I expected Sie to put up a fight, to try and stop it, but he didn’t.

When I awoke, I was hurled onto a damp floor. Chains were clamped tightly around my wrists, covering my zeroes from view. I knew the rusty metal contained Alluse as I tried over and over again to move water into my cell. A small puddle was located by the door of the dungeons just out of reach from me. I watched every single guard walk through it as they switched rotations. Their muddy boots splashing and spraying droplets, but it never reached me. I tried relentlessly to draw upon my abilities, to will the water to move and glide toward me. My throat was scratchy and raw, and I honestly didn’t care if the murky mess was just mud brimmed with filth. I needed water.

But I was left with an emptiness whenever I tried to use my ability, a void that was hard to explain. Even though I had only just discovered it, it felt like a piece of me was missing—my power was gone. Completely and utterly blocked. I hated Alluse.

All I could do was wait. Wait and think and think and wait. Every time the dungeon door groaned open, I perked up in my cell. A newfound wave of energy bolted through me like electricity as I scanned the guards who passed, searching for black or green eyes. But they never came.

I fantasized about Sie or Peter barging in and freeing me. Sometimes it would just be one of them. Sometimes they’d both come. They would explain to the dungeon guards that this was a misunderstanding—a terrible mistake. Then, they would whisk me far away from this wretched place, and everything would be fine. But that was only in my dreams.

Whenever I didn’t see either of my would-be savior’s eyes, I sank further into my desolation. As time went on, I stopped believing in fantasies, and my mind drifted to darker places. Places I didn’t think I would ever come back from.

Was this Sie’s plan all along? I told him about my past, about being from Lux, and how I ended up in the Dark Kingdom. I told himeverything. And then, the next morning, his father showed up with High Council members and Tennebrisian guards. At first, I didn’t connect the two, but with nothing to do but let my mind wander, I started to believe it couldn’t have been a coincidence. Sie barely protested as they led us to the monorail and then drugged me. Heletthem do this to me. And where was he now?

I tried to push those thoughts away because they hurt more than the gnawing ache in my stomach and the emptiness in my veins. I didn’t want to think about how the one time I opened up to someone—to him—he abandoned me. So, I focused on the cell. It was larger than the previous one from the warehouse that Kole had stuck me in. I could stand up and walk about five steps in each direction before the chains went taut.

A nudge tapped my knee, and I looked down to see Scarlet, a mouse that had shared the cell with me since I got here.I don’t even have a crumb to offer you,I thought as I pet the top of her head. I’d truly gone crazy as this mouse was the closest thing to a companion I had these days. I had no idea why I decided to name her Scarlet, but it felt wrong for something to go through life unnamed.

Whenever the nightmares were gone long enough for me to dream, it would be about what my life could have been—if I had never been kidnapped from Lux and I’d been able to live a normal childhood with my parents. If I never had to pretend to be something I wasn’t. If my life wasn’t the shit show that it currently was—I always imagined that I’d have a pet. I guess this was some sick way of the Goddesses giving me what I wanted.

Scarlet scurried away to her corner as the door to the dungeon rasped open. I could just barely make out the figures through the cracks in the bars. Lifting my head, I squinted in the dark to see who was approaching. Even though I told myself not to, to save myself from the impending disappointment, I searched for black and green in the sea of eyes.

“Hey, little nix.”

My body revolted at the words, at the voice.No, no, no.It couldn’t be him. I sprang to my feet too fast, only to lose balance and fall back onto my knees. His laugh focused my vision on two brown eyes. Eyes that haunted my nightmares.

Kole.

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