Page 43 of Ocean of Silver

I shook my head. “Not here.” I grabbed his wrist, the skin on his arms silky and smooth without his rank burned into him yet, and then I teleported one more time.

Greyland and I both hurled up our guts when we arrived. Him from the vertigo of teleportation and me from my body yelling at me to stop. When he finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “I forgot how much teleporting sucks.” Then he looked at me, and concern flashed across his face worse than before. “Shit, Sie, what’s going on?”

“I had to speak with you without anyone overhearing,” I managed. We were outside the cabin I brought Scotlind to after the warehouse. I was leaning against the wood flanks, trying not to collapse.

“Are you ill?”

I shook my head.

“Then what’s wrong because you look like you’re on the brink of death, and you’re scaring me.”

“I’m fine, Grey—”

“No, you aren’t,” he cut me off. “You’re acting weird, and you’re so pale you look like a ghost. Not to mention that you haven’t stopped shaking or sweating since you arrived. And you lost weight.”

“Let’s go inside, and I’ll tell you everything,” I said. I had been coming here a few times since Scottie was taken prisoner by Lux.

“The hunting cabin,” Greyland said as he looked around, noting where I had brought him for the first time. “I forgot about this place.” He grinned. “You fixed it up.”

I nodded my head, not bothering to answer, then used all my strength to push the door open. The inside now had multiple bedrolls rolled up in the corner of the room, chopped wood stacked and ready for the fireplace, fresh water, some canned food that wouldn’t expire for a long time, and a small table and chairs.

Grey strode over to the fireplace. “I’ll start a fire, but you better start talking now, starting with what’s wrong with you.”

I sank into one of the new chairs I had brought. “I’ve been taking poison every day.”

“Why,” he asked as he threw another log into the fireplace, trying to remain calm. I didn’t tell him that a fire was just about the only thing that could make me worse right now. I thrived in cold temperatures, but I knew he needed the warmth. He didn’t have time to grab a jacket before I teleported him here.

“Because King Lunder was murdered.”

Greyland stopped just as the pile of wood burst into flames. “But I thought he died eating—“

“No. He wasmurdered.”

“By who?”

“Synder, I’m certain of it, and I think he’s trying to take me out too.” I filled him in on everything that had happened with Scottie and how Peter and I believed it was a setup to get me off the throne.

“Do you remember Moli?” I asked when I finally caught him up on everything. He was now sitting with me at the table, the heat of the flames making me want to pass out.

“The healer that was assigned to you growing up?”

“Yeah, she’s at the castle with me. She’s the one that told me how Lunder was murdered, and she’s been giving me the poison every day.”

“There’s no lasting side effects that could hurt you, right?”

“No,” I lied. Moli told me that she didn’t know what taking it every day would do to me, but I didn’t care. I needed to be in control of my own future, and if this brought me closer to it, then I’d do it. “I’m going to be fine. My body just needs a couple more days to adjust. That’s all. But that’s not the reason I needed to talk with you. Do you remember how to get here on foot?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“I need to know for sure, Grey. I can mark some trees for a path for you, but that leaves this place vulnerable to being tracked.”

“I can get here on my own.”

“Okay good, because if anything happens to me, I need you to bring mom here. Take Lilia and Peter’s parents too. Don’t wait, don’t hesitate. The moment you suspect anything, you leave everything behind, and you come here. Tell no one about it.”

“Sie, you’re scaring me.” His eyes were starting to water, but the tears didn’t roll down his cheeks. “If things are really bad at the castle, if you think they’re trying to kill you for the throne, you need to step down.”

“I can’t.”

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