Page 53 of Ocean of Silver

Then he sauntered up the dais and took a seat on the last empty throne.

TWENTY

SCOTLIND

No.No.No.He couldn’t.

My lungs felt like they were collapsing in on themselves. My breath hitched and halted in my throat as my heart hammered against my sternum so fast I felt dizzy. My lips dried, and any heat from my earlier embarrassment left me. I felt empty.

All at once, the Lux King and the three Royal siblings rose from their thrones. I watched as Tezya stood next to Dovelyn. “All bow to our sovereign of Lux, King Arcane Xandrin the Seventh.”

Dresses sifted, shoes scoffed, and chairs groaned across the marble as everyone rose from their own chairs to kneel on the ground. The King’s domineering gaze was looming as he casually glanced around the room.

My own body moved without thinking, without me processing what it was doing. I thought Kallon might have gripped my elbow, might have ushered me forward. I couldn’t feel anything until my knees slammed against the hard marble. The echoing thud sounded piercing to my ears, but no one turned their gaze toward me. No one heard it. The sound was an echoing box, only in my own head, growing louder and louder until everything would burst.

The ground was cold against my bare skin as the slits in my gown shifted, exposing too much of my thighs. The entire length of my scar, knee to hip, was on full display. I should have cared. I should have repositioned myself, but I didn’t—couldn’t.

I was frozen as the announcer continued to introduce the Royals one at a time. “Bow to Prince Arcane the eighth, heir to the Luxian throne,” his wheezy voice echoed. Prince Arcane moved to stand next to the King. Princess Doveylyn was next. Then…

“Please bow for Prince Tezya, Commander of the Luxian army.” Tezya’s blue eyes met mine, pinning me to my spot on the floor as he moved from the blackened throne.

No, his eyes weren’t just that beautiful crystal blue. They were lined in silver. I could make out the bare traces of it from my spot on the ground. His moon-white hair was so pale, only a shade off from Prince Arcane’s and Princess Dovelyn’s silver. He was broader, taller, more muscular, but he resembled them. Slightly.

He wasn’t identical as Arcane and Dovelyn were to each other, but he still had Arcane’s straight nose and angular jaw. He had Dovelyn’s shaped eyes and the same thick, dark brows. His face was haunting, the difference being his nasty scar straight across it, defacing his beauty. No, that wasn’t true either. I loved his scar.

My mind whirled on how he earned it. Was it in battle? Was it from the rebels that he left in ashes?Commander.He was the commander. Not just a Luxian soldier, not just someone who trained new recruits. No. Hecommandedthem. He led them. Bile rose in my throat. I wanted to vomit. I felt like my life was an endless deception. I couldn’t handle any more surprises. I couldn’t fucking handle it.

“At this time, it brings me great honor to announce the selection for the Yule Carvot. The Royal Princes and Princess, would you please select your chosen Advenian for the night.”

Tezya moved first. I refused to look at him as he made his way toward our table. My stomach shot up in my throat. My mind couldn’t wrap around the events that just happened within a matter of minutes. Tezya Xandrin. He was a Royal. He was the youngest Luxian Prince.The Fire Prince. The Prince I feared. The Prince who murdered all the rebels with his flames, turning them to ash. The same Prince who burned my testing paperwork. The same Prince who claimed to hate the King and his rule. I gulped as he continued to make his way over to our table. Was he going to pick me? Would I say yes?

My body tensed when he reached his hand toward Kallon, and my heart stopped. “Kallon, may I have this dance?” His voice was colder, tension radiating off him.

“Always,” Kallon said softly. A small smile appeared on her lush lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She rose from her spot on the ground to join him. Tezya’s own mouth was turned down. His presence was palpable, mere inches from mine, but now he was the one who wouldn’t meet my gaze. I was forced to awkwardly gawk up at him. My mouth surely hung open. I was still on the cold floor, the slits of my dress hiked on either side.

I thought that he was engaged to Dovelyn. I thought that was his connection with the Royals, not that he was one. And his fiancé—I swallowed as I looked up at him again, at how he was touching Kallon’s back lightly, leading her onto the dance floor. Tezya was engaged toKallon.

Prince Arcane lingered on the stage as he shifted uncomfortably, searching the crowd, unsure of who to pick. Princess Dovelyn moved next. Her movements were elegant as she glided off the dais. But she didn’t walk toward our table. She didn’t even bother to glance once in Brock’s direction as she chose an attractive ginger-haired male as her partner. He bore a five on his left wrist. Brock’s face was emotionless and hard as he watched Dovelyn sweep to the dance floor with the male in tow. I wondered if Brock loathed his four as much as I did my two zeroes.

After Prince Arcane and the Lux King selected their partners, both beautiful females, the music began. I’d never seen the Carvot dance before, but it was mesmerizing. The way they moved across the now empty dance floor. I couldn’t tear my eyes off Kallon and Tezya’s form. They were a breath apart, his hand flat against her lower back. A wave of jealousy formed low in my gut and rooted itself there as Kallon’s full breasts brushed against Tezya’s chest.

I couldn’t tell what I hated more—Tezya and Kallon dancing, or this new knowledge of him being the Prince.

He lied to me on the beach that day when I asked him if he worked with the Fire Prince. I asked him if he was as scary and awful as the rumors portrayed him. He probably was laughing about me to his friends, wondering how long it would take me to figure it out. I felt foolish for not piecing it together. All the signs were there—his closeness to the King, his relationship with Dovelyn, his abilities were fire for crying out loud.

Elemental abilities are really common here. A lot of people have water, fire, air, or ground abilities,Tezya had said when I first saw his flames.

The song changed into another, a slower dance than the one before, and other Advenians of Lux started to fill the dance floor along with the Royals. Tezya and Kallon didn’t stop dancing. They remained pressed against one another and whispered briskly as they moved and spun around the floating newcomers. I was in awe. I couldn’t stop staring at how eloquently he moved. How he and Kallon flowed in sync…

I jolted as a hand pressed into my shoulder. I turned to face Brock standing above me. “Come dance with me, Scottie,” he said as he held out his hand for me. When I didn’t take it right away, he added, “Trust me.”

There was something about his tone and the look in his eyes that had me agreeing. I didn’t know if I trusted him or if he was using his ability on me again. I took his hand anyway, not really caring. “I don’t know the steps,” I started as he led me to the floor.

“It’s okay, I’ll show you.”

Tezya—the Fire Prince—finally glanced my way as if he was zoned in on my movements and knew now that I was on the floor. Good, let him look. I didn’t care if it pissed him off that I came here tonight, now. I didn’t care if he didn’t want me dancing with his friend. He could burn in his own flames for all I cared. Anger boiled in me. Was this why he didn’t want me to come? Why he insisted that I stayed in my room tonight? Not because the King would see, but becauseIwould see. Because I would find out who he really was.

Brock twirled me in a circle before our bodies connected. “I know you are upset,” he said gently, softly. “He should have told you sooner, but you need to calm down. Don’t let your emotions show. If you need help, I can take them away for now.”

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