Page 4 of Ocean of Silver

Did they not compel her? Or did they only compel her to say condemning words once she started? Maybe keeping her mouth shut was her only way of fighting it. Maybe Synder changed his mind and didn’t want Scotlind to speak at all. I should have compelled her myself. I shouldn’t have left her fate up to fucking Kole. Then I wouldn’t be standing here worried sick about what she was going to do.

Once Synder noticed that she wasn’t going to speak, he stepped forward. “Your Princess has betrayed our Prince and, in turn, our Kingdom. She has been having an affair with this male.” A few gasps echoed across the throne room from those in attendance. “Some of you may recognize him as a former ranking evaluator. Many Tennebrisians were confused as to why a rank zero was selected for our Prince. To be honest, the Council felt that having a zero on the throne would be a good thing. At the time, we hoped to separate the divide and rift that has been growing amongst our ranking system, but Scotlind has proven us otherwise. It has been discovered that Joshuan Carithin,” Synder continued as he pointed to the male, “has been working with Scotlind from the beginning to tamper with her results in order for her to be selected as the Princess.”

He paused as he looked over at Scottie, then turned toward the camera crew panning over him for a better angle. “Our system was designed to help our people thrive. It is needed in order to keep things fair, to keep things functioning. If our society doesn’t abide by their Trial outcomes, everything will go into chaos. Which was exactly the motive that Scotlind and Joshuan were seeking. They wanted to overthrow the system, the Council, and Prince Noren himself.” Synder paused long enough for whispered murmurs to echo throughout the throne room.

“It is made clear now that a rank zero will stop at nothing to get what they desire. The greediness amongst the lower ranks is amplifying, and as such, we will be investigating the ranking system further after this incident. A rank zero will stop at nothing to move up in our society, and we simply cannot allow them to do so. We will be working closely with King Arcane Xandrin of Lux to look into modeling our system more closely to theirs. More will be coming in the next couple of weeks about what to expect. But many changes will be made in order to protect ourselves from something like this ever happening again.”

“Do you admit to these charges, Scotlind Rumor?”

My own breathing hitched. This was it. They must have compelled her to only answer this one simple, condemning question. I could tell she was struggling. It looked like she was fighting as her entire body started to shake, but she couldn’t win against compulsion. Her teeth gritted as she whispered, “Yes.”

Scotlind paled after she said it. Her face drained of all color before she went to open her mouth, probably to protest, to protect rank zeroes, to plead that this had nothing to do with them, but a gag was strapped over her mouth before she could utter a word. Tears pooled and poured down her freckled cheeks.

I caught her looking at Peter, her eyes pleading with him. Peter shook his head slightly. To others, it appeared that he was just shaking out his messy, blonde locks that had gotten too long and in his eyes.

Damn. They didn’t tell me that they were planning on using her as an example to help their goals for changing the ranking system. My mind was whirling on how in the hell I could spin this otherwise, on how I could convince the High Council to not change it, but the damage was already done. Everyone would be looking at zeroes with disgust. Everyone would see this image of Scottie—chained and gagged, fighting desperately against the males holding her. She would never forgive me for this, for letting this happen. She wanted to change things for zeroes, and now she was being used as an example to demolish their rights further.

I was too lost in my own thoughts that I missed the rest of what Synder had said until he turned to speak directly at me. “It is because of this that we have brought everyone here today to annul the marriage of Prince Sie Axel Noren for the treason and deception that Scotlind Mae Rumor has committed against the crown.”

Before I knew it, the priest that wed us came up to the dais to end our marriage. I tried my best to maintain a blank face as they pulled Scotlind next to me. I tried to remain calm as I was now mere inches from her. Seeing her chained and gagged brought me back to the warehouse. It haunted me every second of the day. I wanted nothing more than to pull her toward my chest. To hug her and kiss away her tears. I wanted to grab her and teleport her somewhere far away. But if I tried anything, they’d kill her without hesitation.

I flinched as I took in her expression. One of hurt and abandonment. I knew how this looked. HowIlooked to her. She had finally opened up to me and told me everything, and the next day my father imprisoned her. And now, I was standing here, agreeing to send her to Lux, agreeing to this stupid facade that she had an affair so that the High Council could spin this on the fact that she was a nix seeking power. That they could mold this to their advantage.

Even if she made it out of Lux alive, there would be no way in hell she would forgive me. No way she would forget a minute of this.

The priest’s voice felt like daggers embedding into my heart as he brought me back to reality. He’d just cemented the end of our marriage, taking away the only good thing that had ever happened to me. Scotlind was no longer my wife.

THREE

SCOTLIND

Heat engulfedmy entire body as everything lit up in flames. I tried to move, to run, to do anything, but I couldn’t. I was paralyzed, and all I could do was stare at the fire dancing toward me, licking the oxygen of air. Sweat coated every inch of me as I stared at each flicker of the orange hue. I prayed for the heat to leave my body. I prayed that the flames wouldn’t reach my skin. I knew what it felt like to have my flesh burned off.

Then I was shivering. I recognized the warehouse. But this time, there wasn’t an array of men—just two. Kole stood before me, his brown eyes blazing as two black ones came into view. Sie. Unchained. Unharmed.

Then I noticed the tub looming in the distance as Kole closed the gap between us, a wicked grin plastered on his face. I looked toward Sie. “Please, help me. I’m your wife. Please, Sie, don’t let him do this to me.” Tears sprang from my eyes as I took in his cold, detached expression.

“You’re not my wife anymore.”

Then there was darkness. Kole plunged my head into the tub, but when I opened my mouth to breathe in the rushing water, it clogged my throat. It burned worse than the flames as it filled every space left in my lungs. I tried to fight him, but no matter how hard I fought, the burning grew. Laughter echoed throughout the empty room as I struggled. I knew that laughter. I seldom heard it, but I knew it. It belonged to Sie, and he was laughing as Kole drowned me.

You’re not my wife anymore.

My body grew lifeless as the laughter grew louder and louder. Soon it was the only thing I could hear.

* * *

I was drenchedin sweat despite the draft. This was how I awoke every day since I was brought here—the Luxian dungeons. I glanced at my right forearm, where I used the ragged, sharp end of my fingernail to tally the number of times the moon rose from the small window in my cell. Twenty-seven.

Twenty-seven bloodied tallies. Twenty-seven days of torture. Twenty-seven days of little food and water. Twenty-seven days of being questioned for information by different Luxian guards. Then, when I didn’t—couldn’t—speak, I was thrown back into my cell with my skin flaming red. I thought so many times I was going to die, that I’d bleed out before they could finish, but somehow they stopped precisely at my body’s breaking point. The blood from each session continued to cake on me, layer after layer, until it became a part of me. I knew I had black and blue splatters of bruises beneath the running crimson because everything hurt.

Next came exhaustion, and sleep usually found me. Every night was the same. It was a nightmare where I couldn’t tell if it was worse to be sleeping or awake.

This place was hell and made the Tennebrisian dungeon seem like heaven. Everything about my situation now was so much worse. Everything I’d ever known was left in Tennebris. I was completely and utterly alone. The only time I saw anyone was when the Luxian guards made their daily rounds and tortured me. Most of my time spent in the cell was in isolation, my only company was the writhing agony I was left with.

I didn’t know how much more of theirquestioningmy body could handle. My mind was already letting go. The only thing that was better about the Luxian prison than the Tennebrisian one was the lone window. It was smaller than my fist, not big enough for the taunting sun to reach my flesh and provide the warmth it tempted each day, but I often stared up at the sky.

I knew what the window resembled. It gave the prison dwellers a sick form of hope that would never come. It felt like the Goddesses were playing a sick joke on me. Like they were reminding me that I should be grateful. I’d prayed and prayed to return to Lux. I longed to see the sun set and rise from the island, to be able to see the ocean and feel the sand beneath my feet. But that wouldn’t happen. I wasn’t getting out of here. The small window was a reminder that everything I ever wanted was within my reach, but I was chained to a different, crueler life.

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