Page 6 of Ocean of Silver

The two guardsdragged me down the dingy hallway as they followed the stranger up the stairs. I should be happy that I was finally leaving the dungeon, but instead, I was filled with dread. Why did they need a compulsion user from Tennebris? During my torture sessions, they always questioned me about Sie. His weaknesses, his strengths, his abilities, if we had sex, which was the weirdest question of all. But I never gave up any information regarding him or my time spent there. Would they now compel the answers out of me? Would they force me to betray him?

I was brought into a room brimmed with wires and monitors. There was a mirror that took up the length of the entire back wall that I refused to look at. I was filthy and hadn’t bathed in weeks. I knew every inch of me was either covered in dirt, dried blood, or my own secretions. I didn’t want to see what my reflection would show.

The stranger bowed slightly, and that was when I noticed the Lux King. His gaze flicked over me. He was just as intimidating as I remembered. Prince Arcane and Princess Dovelyn were also in the room. Shivers ran down my spine as I searched for the youngest prince, but luckily I didn’t see him. Was he still in battle?

The two eldest royals seemed more like twins than siblings. The only difference between them was their height. They were both slender, the Princess slightly more petite. Their matching sleek, pale hair flowing past their waists would have looked ridiculous on anyone else but the two of them. Dovelyn wore a silver dress that matched her striking eyes and hair. She was impossible to miss as she was covered from head to toe in diamonds. Arcane wore a fitted blue attire, not as flashy, but still managed to display wealth at every thread. They both looked regal anddeadly.

“Hook her up to the monitors,” the King demanded. The green-eyed guard was hesitant. He flashed me an empathic look before ushering me toward an empty chair and started placing sticky squares attached to cords all over my body. By the time he was finished, I had twenty or so black wires spiraling out of me.

The multiple screens flared to life before my eyes like a mirror. But it wasn’t a mirror. I turned my head toward the Lux King as he appeared on the screen. Then I whipped my gaze toward the green-eyed guard whose eyes were blazing at me with uncertainty, like he wanted to step forward. Then the stranger appeared on the screen as my eyes settled on his affixed gaze.

It dawned on me then. These wires were revealing what I saw and was somehow displaying them on the screens. I started to shake as I attempted to stand, wanting to rip the cords from my body, but the other guard from my cell held my shoulders down. He then swiftly tied my hands behind my back, strapping them to the chair before I could attempt to flee again. I fought against the restraints, but it was no use, they weren’t budging. I had no muscle left on me anyway. The beautiful stranger shifted from where he stood.

“What is this?” I demanded at no one in particular. My voice didn’t sound like my own. It was scratchy and raw as I only ever used it when I was screaming. The screens shifted from person to person as I looked around the room.

The Lux King smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. His gaze was unwavering as it locked in on me. “I was warned that you were feisty, Miss Rumor,” he said, taking a step closer. Everyone else in the room remained silent. “I was also told that you refused to give up any information regarding Sie Noren, regardless of my soldiers’ efforts. I do not take it lightly when people don’t obey me.” His voice dropped for a moment, holding a threat. “But lucky for you, Tennebris has finally sent a compulsion user to Lux for me to use at my disposal. So I’ll finally be able to get the information I want from you.”

On cue, Kole stepped out of the shadows. Shit. Shit. Shit. I struggled more. Tears spilled down my cheeks so fast that my vision blurred. My heart hammered against my sternum to the point where it hurt. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.“No, no, no,”I think I screamed the words out loud, but I couldn’t hear them over the ringing in my ears.

Kole approached me, his steps were heavy and daunting. He kept going in and out of focus, and all I could see were white tiles submerged underwater. The room around me disappeared as my head was pressed into the bath all over again. I could feel the burning in my lungs. My eyes were seeing spots as the dizziness was taking over. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think…

“This is Kole Sanders,” the King’s voice broke through my thoughts. “He’s a Tennebrisian Council member and will be stationed here at Lux for the time being with a work visa. I was told by Synder that you two are quite familiar with one another,” the Lux King said as he gestured toward Kole, a smile blossoming on his face. “Here is how this is going to work. He’ll compel you to reveal your past memories, and thanks to our advanced technology at Lux, we will be able to see everything that is in your mind once your memories start to unfold.” My gaze whipped around the room. Half in awe, half in an absolute panic.

“How?” My voice was breathless, but I managed to get the word out.

“You will find that Lux, unlike Tennebris, isn’t as transfixed in the olden ways of traditions from Allium. As you might know, Miss Rumor, Lux oversees the mortal territory of this planet. While Tennebris has focused its efforts on the space program, we monitor and study the humans and their way of life. We learn from the mortals. Then, we recreate more powerful technology. Better. Stronger. More adaptable to our needs. So there’s no use in struggling as you cannot resist. We will get the information we want from you.”

He didn’t give me a chance to retort as he turned toward Kole and commanded, “Begin.” Kole hadn’t stopped looking at me since he came out of the shadows. His expression was just as dark as the version of him I concocted in my nightmares, just as cruel and menacing. He nodded as the King continued to bark orders. “Start the memories from when she first arrived in Tennebris. I’ll tell you to skip as needed or rewatch anything if it’s not clear.”

“With pleasure,” Kole took one last step toward me as he cracked his neck from side to side, his arms turning from his tanned skin tone to golden as he prepared his ability. Then, he compelled me to reveal every single awful detail of my life.

FOUR

TEZYA

I hadno idea the Luxian soldiers were torturing her daily for information and that the King granted them free reign to do so. I thought this entire time we were just waiting for Tennebris to send their compulsion user. But judging from the way I found her today in that cage, the way she had been treated… I wanted to beat the living shit out of Lansting once he admitted to torturing her.

I stared at the girl chained to the chair before me. She looked terrified of the compulsion user. They must have had some sort of past. And based on her reaction to him, it couldn’t have been a good one.

She clearly had been through hell in the month that she’d been in Lux, and she smelled like death to prove it. I inhaled once, reaching out my heightened senses to her. Fear, agony, and desperation were radiating from her.

She might have been pretty if she wasn’t covered in her own piss, blood, and vomit. If she wasn’t withering away to nothing. She barely looked Advenian. Her thin gown was shredded in the back, revealing old and fresh scars that I was surprised the fabric stayed on her skeletal shoulders. Her joints were too large for her failing body. Like the weight of each prominence was a struggle for her to hold upright.

The Tennebrisian male began speaking his compulsion, forcing the girl to reveal her life. I watched the large screens as she started reliving her past for us to see. A terrified little girl hacked up her lungs on a beach in Tennebris. She was crawling away from the crashing waves, a raw burn covering her entire right calf as she favored her left side.

The screen flashed and the girl was in a school, pleading with a counselor that she was Luxian. The counselor dismissed and threatened her. She cried herself to sleep over her presumed dead parents until she was out of isolation. Then a beautiful red-headed girl gave her a lollipop. A younger version of the male in front of me tormented and compelled her for his own amusement.

The screen flashed again. She was older but not by much. She started training, waking up early every morning, even during the dark winter months of Tennebris. She enlisted in Tennebrisian Guard classes. Her classmates made fun of her, teased her, and attempted over and over again to persuade her to stop, but she only trained harder. She woke up earlier and earlier until she learned to fight back.

The screen flashed again, and she was older—gorgeous now. Her bright sapphire eyes were striking against her pale brown hair and freckled, pointed nose. Her body was nothing like the one chained to the chair. She was still small and too short for our race, but she filled out her uniform, and I could tell she worked hard for the lean muscles hidden beneath it. She looked alive.

She fought in the Tennebrisian Trials against the same male compelling her now. I felt pity for her as she was forced to rewatch him beat the shit out of her while she was pinned against the walls of an arena. She took every blow, never giving him the satisfaction of surrendering, even though she used no abilities to fight with.

Another flash, and she was running into Prince Noren, and he was flirting with her. My gut twisted as I watched them together. I watched her cheeks turn bright red as she tried to run away. Then her name was called to be his bride, and I could see the dread and fear written all over her expression.

Another flash, and she was drinking with a red-headed pair. Then, she was stumbling, laughing, and slurring her words. The Dark Prince carried her home.

Flash. Prince Noren gave her a Complete Alluse necklace. He knew something was off about her being chosen. I looked toward the Lux King to gauge his reaction, but he revealed nothing as he glared at the screens on display.

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