Page 20 of Ocean of Silver

But for the moment, I was happy to be out of that cage, happy to have a bed I could sleep in, happy that I could stretch my legs. All I could do was live for one moment at a time, and right now, my focus was captured by the fact that when I went to bed that night, I didn’t remember dreaming. I was too exhausted from my training with Tezya to even recall if I had a nightmare. I woke up sweat free for the first time in months. It was exhilarating.

I rushed out of bed, only to sag slightly as I stood. My legs were wobbly and sore. All I did yesterday was run, well, walk-run. That was it, and yet I wasthissore.

My face scrunched. I used to run for miles on end every morning back in Tennebris. I ran for fun, and now I couldn’t even run a couple of laps around the track without my body aching in protest. But at least I’d slept, really slept.

Patricia forced me to eat something small before she let me leave my room. I didn’t really want Tezya saying that I needed food and watching me while I ate again, so I obliged. We walked in silence. I still didn’t know my way to the private gym, so I was surprised when we approached Tezya in a random hallway. He was leaning against the wall with one leg pressed against it, and his arms crossed over his chest.

I briefly recalled him telling me that I had to do testing beforehand, but I thought that was a part of the training. Now I didn’t know what he meant by it. I cursed myself for not asking.

Tezya regarded my maid for a moment longer than I thought was normal, then said, “Leave us.”

Patricia’s fists clenched at her sides, and she looked like she was about to say something to him. But in a split second, she changed, her wrinkles smoothing as her face went blank. She glanced at me once before waddling off. It wasn’t until we were alone that he turned to me. “Good morning, Rumor,” he drawled, pushing off the wall. “Did you sleep well?”

I nodded my head, still surprised that I had. “What are we doing?”

“The King ordered physical tests for you. You spent almost two months in different dungeons, so he wants to make sure you are healthy. He also wants to confirm that you aren’t carrying Prince Noren’s child.”

“What?” I snapped, appalled at what I had just heard. “Wasn’t going through my memories proof enough that I’m not?”

“He was a compulsion user, Rumor. He could have slept with you, then compelled you to forget it ever happened. The King only went throughyourmemories. There’s a lot that’s up for interpretation when doing that.”

“I. Am. Not. Carrying. His. Child.” I seethed, making sure to enunciate each word slowly. The fact that he even thought that could be a possibility—that Sie could do such a thing. I already felt so violated. They had already taken everything from me—hadseeneverything on the monitor screens—but it wasn’t enough.

“Rumor, I’m sorry, but you have to get the testing done.”

“Sie would never do that to me. He’s not…” I stopped myself from saying that he wasn’t a bad person. I was in Lux’s territory now. I had to be careful with what I said. I wasn’t sure how close Tezya was to the King. For all I knew, this could be the test. I also didn’t know what I believed anymore. I didn’t think Sie would do such a thing, but then again, I had never imagined he’d do what he’s already done. I didn’t know what he was capable of anymore. He sent me to a prison when I thought he was the one person I could finally trust. He got me to open up about my past—abouteverything—and then he handed me over to the Lux King as his prisoner, to the very person he warned me to stay away from.

“It doesn’t matter. The King won’t trust your memories alone. Like I said, it’s not foolproof. Your memories showed that you two didn’t sleep together on your wedding night. That’s not to say that you didn’t on a different night. The memory compulsion can’t pull up every memory you have. The user has to have specific dates in mind. The Lux King went over the dates with Kole before you were even brought into the room. And even if you don’t think the Dark Prince is capable of compelling you, the King won’t believe it. If we take his compulsion out of the question, you still could have been drunk one night and forgotten about it. Or it simply could have happened on a night they didn’t look into. There could be numerous reasons as to why you two sleeping together didn’t show on the screen or as to why you don’t remember.”

“Why I don’t remember? You talk as if you are so sure we had sex and that I simply can’t recall it. Last I remembered, you weren’t involved in our relationship,” I snapped, then internally crawled inward on myself, trying hard not to dwell on the fact that I saidrelationshiplike it was still a present thing. I hoped Tezya didn’t pick up on it. I also tried not to think about the fact that if we did have sex that night, that entire room of Advenians would have watched us on those screens. Another kind of mortification started in my stomach as my gut twisted.

“Rumor, you two were married. It’s abnormal to be wed andnothave sex. Plus, you two performed the blood bond, and in your memories from the night at the warehouse and at the lake, Sie admitted to having his ability heightened when he was around you. That only happens to people that are soul bound by the blood oath. And in order for that to happen, you would have had to have had sex to lock the bond in place.”

“So? Why does the King even care if I’m pregnant?” I asked. I knew that it was illegal, and that should be an answer in-and-of-itself, but it seemed like a big ordeal to go through all of this just to find out. According to ancient texts from Allium, a child conceived from both Kingdoms would die immediately upon birth. If the King wanted, he could just wait for that to happen, or he could have continued to let me rot in the cage I was in. I couldn’t comprehend why he wanted to know so badly or why he even let me out in the first place.

“It’s his order. We don’t have a choice but to obey them. It should be a simple test,” he diverted, not answering my question. I was just about to respond when the door swung open.

A tall, slender male with dark onyx hair stepped forward from a darkly lit room. As he came into the light, his eyes blood-red eyes met mine. “I presume this is Miss Rumor?” he asked Tezya, his voice rattling.

“Yes,” Tezya replied casually, like we weren’t just yelling at each other moments before. “Rumor, meet Semadar. He is the head healer in Lux and works for the King directly. He will be completing your testing today.” Tezya turned to look at me. “I’ll pick you up here after you’re done so we can train.”

Semadar nodded in respect toward Tezya, his head angling down just a fraction. Tezya glanced down at me one more time before turning away and leaving me utterly alone with the healer. I watched his figure disappear as he walked and rounded the corner.

When I glanced back at Semadar, any indication that this testing would go pleasantly vanished. “This way,” he ordered tautly, his voice rattling deep as he opened the door to the darkly lit room.

* * *

Hours later,I was finally allowed to leave Semadar’s exam room. He poked and prodded at me more than I thought physically possible. Sampling my blood, collecting my urine, and hooking me up to more monitors that I didn’t understand. I watched as lines and numbers appeared on the screens in pure fascination, having no idea what they meant. At one point, Prince Arcane came to collect the blood vials Semadar took. I had no idea what he planned to do with them. His cold, silver eyes assessed me once, but the quick gaze was so critical as if he knew everything about me from just one look. He pocketed my blood and left without uttering a word.

Tezya met me outside the healer’s door as promised. He walked me to our private training center in silence with a thick, tan folder pressed into his side. I couldn’t stop staring at it. Were the results from whatever tests the healer performed already back? And if so, what did they say? I didn’t recognize any of the tests he ran on me. I had no idea what other information he collected beyond finding out if I was pregnant or not and giving my blood to the heir of the Luxian Kingdom.

“Well, do you believe me now?” I asked when we finally made it to the pool area. I purposely avoided looking at the water sunken into the floor, but I didn’t shudder at it either.

“Believe you about what?” he asked as he set the folder aside. Everything in me tingled, wanting to rush to that folder and read what it entailed.

“About me not being pregnant?”

“Oh, that,” he laughed. “The results should hopefully come back by the end of the week.”

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