Page 47 of Ocean of Silver

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember in your memories when Sie said he felt like his mind compulsion and telepathy were stronger around you?” I nodded my head as Tez continued, “I don’t think it was because of the blood bond. I don’t think you were ever blood bound to begin with. You should have felt something once you joined your blood if you were mated in that way. I think you were subconsciously using your enhancement around him. Anytime he made that comment to you, you weren’t wearing your necklace, meaning your enhancement could have been gravitating toward him without meaning to.”

My mouth gaped open. I replayed every memory I had with Sie. I had my necklace on during our wedding ceremony, but Sie took it off of me in his bedroom that night. It was also off the night Kole captured us and brought us to the warehouse. It would explain why bits of Sie’s power was pushing past the Alluse. Why Moli was able to use her abilities on me so thoroughly the second time. She couldn’t fully heal the gash on my leg the first time Kole cut into it. But the second time, when my necklace was off… I was in worse shape, and she healed me better somehow. It took me over a month to recover when she healed me with my necklace on, but that second time… I was walking fine at the lake with Sie.

I didn’t know what to make of it. Sie and I were never blood bound? We didn’t share any special connection this whole time. Was it really just my ability making him think we were?

“You can’t tell anyone about this. No one can know you have this ability, especially not the King.”

“Why?” I asked, looking up to meet his gaze. “I thought the whole point of you training me was to figure out my abilities. That I might be able to rejoin your society.” I was terrified that if the King wasn’t impressed with me, I’d be going right back into that cage.

“If the King learns that you possess enhancement, that you can makehimstronger, he would chain you to his side and never let you go. You would spend the rest of your life as his prisoner.”

EIGHTEEN

SCOTLIND

“This is the waterfall,”Tezya said to me the following night. It took us an entire day to hike through the woods from the hut. Dusk was only a few hours from settling over the dense canopy of trees by the time we arrived.

“Beautiful,” I breathed as I took in my surroundings.

He didn’t say anything, but I could feel his gaze assessing me. We hiked along a river which he told me was the Sunindaya River. “It runs the entire length of the forest,” he said. “Eventually, the Sunindaya opens up to the ocean on the west side of the island, but no one really knows about this place. It’s too deep in the jungle. Most Luxians don’t dare to hike through here.”

The woods opened into a small clearing, where the river widened in response. Water poured from the rocky cliff edge, dumping into the river so violently that we had to raise our voices. I was surprised the current wasn’t overflowing onto the ground. Empty lanterns were scattered throughout the opening, hanging from long tree branches. Tezya added a tiny ball of flame into each one. The fire was more blue hued, illuminating the entire place and reflecting off the water. It was the first time I saw fire and actually thought it looked pretty. It was the first time I saw beauty in the element instead of untamed death. Maybe it was just the enclosed glass from the lanterns that gave a false sense of security or the fact that the blue coloring looked more like water.

“What took you so long?” Kallon shouted to us over the roar of the water. The side of her head that was dyed blue the last time I saw her was now a vibrant orange that contrasted against her yellow eyes. The other half of her hair remained shiny black. I looked up just in time to see Rainer standing on a large tree branch high above our heads. He was clutching the bark for dear life.

“We had another training session this morning, then we had to hike here from the hut,” Tezya called out. It was true. My body was drained by the time we finally left. Using enhancement was more taxing than calling to water. Tezya still didn’t think I hit the bottom of my reserve, but my muscles were limp and shaking by the time we finally stopped.

Kallon’s lips perched as she cocked her head at me. “Well, you’re just in time to see Rainer act like the total baby he is.”

“I am not a baby,” Rainer snorted from the limb but clutched the bark even harder. “I just don’t see how jumping from this height into the water is fun. I actually enjoy my life, and I intend to live it for a long, long time.” Rainer added, “On the ground.”

Brock snorted. His body was glistening as the water dripped off of him. His short brown hair was a shade darker where the water touched it. Two black slashes formed a large ‘x’ over the center of his broad chest with four circles in between each line, and twin thick black bands encircled both of his forearms. I wished I knew what the Luxian markings meant to understand what abilities he possessed. I knew he was a healer—since he used his ability on me the first time I met him—but I got the feeling that wasn’t all he had. He was sitting on the edge of a rock in the middle of the river, his legs still in the water. “He’s not going to jump, Kallon. He never does.”

Kallon’s smile turned wicked as she glanced my way again. “Well, now he has a certain someone to impress. He won’t back out now that Scottie is here.”

I spotted a flash of silver to my left, and to my dread, I saw Princess Dovelyn was here too. She intimated me more than I liked to admit. But luckily, she was too busy sunbathing on a patch of grass by the bank to acknowledge us, though I was certain she knew Tezya and I were here. The trees parted enough for the sun to shine down on the river, making the heat worse and the cool river sound more and more enticing. I stole another glance at Dovelyn. I assumed all citizens of Lux would be tan from the constant rays of the sun, but she was so pale that her iridescent skin seemed to reflect back.

Rainer glanced down at me. I couldn’t tell if he was covered in sweat or water as he flashed his ample smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hi, Scottie, I’m—” he started to say but didn’t get to finish. One moment Kallon was knee deep in the shallow end of the river, and the next, I saw a quick flash of purple and black, and she was standing behind Rainer on the tree branch. She pushed him off before he could even register what had happened.

Tezya and Brock both let out husky laughter as Rainer screamed all the way down, his arms flailing. I couldn’t help it as a smile crept over my lips as well. Once he came up from the water, spitting out a mouthful he must have swallowed, he cursed Kallon. His black markings were now shining over his onyx, slender chest. They blended so well against his skin that I couldn’t decipher all the markings at first. Jagged, zig-zag lines started at the base of his fingers and trailed up his arms and chest, ending at the top of his neck.

He shook his long curly locks out like a wet dog, water splashing everywhere, as his amethyst eyes pierced into Kallon.

“What? You weren’t going to do it yourself,” she shrugged. “I just thought I would help.” Then she dove into the water after him.

“You better watch it, or I’ll electrify the water and shock you,” Rainer warned Kallon once she surfaced. Her landing was much more graceful than Rainer’s. She didn’t take the threat seriously as she swam past him and gently pushed his shoulder back.

Tezya leaned in, and I could smell his scent—musk, pine, and something else that was entirely him. “Rainer has an elemental ability like us. He can create electricity. It’s an extremely rare form of an air user.”

“What about Kallon?” I was still baffled at how she traveled so fast from the river to the tree.

“Kallon is a portal jumper. She can create portals for herself and others, if she chooses, to go through. She has to have been to the location before in order to create the portal. Close distance portals like you just saw her use are nothing to her. But it becomes really taxing on her the greater the distance between the portals or if she’s creating a new one.”

I nodded, remembering having this conversation with Sie on the monorail when he first explained the differences between his teleportation from a portal user. I noticed all of Tezya’s friends had a five branded onto their left wrists except Brock. His wrist held a four. “What’s Brock’s ability besides healing?”

He arched his brow. “What makes you think he has two?”

---