Page 56 of Ocean of Silver

TWENTY-TWO

TEZYA

Frustration and rageplunged toward me as I kept my ability locked on Rumor’s room last night. Her maid was still home visiting family for Yule, so I monitored her constantly. It didn’t take much focus to hone in on her. Even though she was across the castle from me, her emotions were a palatable, living, breathing thing. It flung toward me, crawled under my skin, and settled there, making it impossible for me to forget what happened. Not that I would ever stop seeing the look of hurt and confusion on her face as I walked toward that stupid throne. The Lux King rarely forced his offspring to sit on the dais with him. Arcane does willingly, but then again, he agrees to anything and everything the King wants, not wanting to risk his disappointment. Dove and I never sit on the thrones, and we’re rarely forced to. I knew the King only mandated it once he saw Rumor at the Ball. He probably guessed that I was hiding who I was from her and wanted to punish me for bringing her against his orders.

I sighed heavily, shaking away last night and trying to focus on the present. We were in the gym section of the training room, and she hasn’t spoken to me throughout the entire morning. She didn’t even look at me when I picked her up from her room at dawn. I walked her to the gym since her maid wasn’t back yet. I could have easily assigned her to train with someone else, but I couldn’t get myself to do it. Some sick part of me just wanted the excuse to stay connected with her. I didn’t know where that put me. I was only assigned to train her for ten weeks. Then what would happen? I prayed to each and every Goddess that the King wouldn’t discover that she possessed enhancement. I couldn’t stomach to see her chained to his side.

Without meaning to, my senses reached out toward her throughout our workout. And every time I did, it came up blank. She was zoning me out and blocking me from her mind. She was emotionless, and it killed me. It actually fucking killed me. She wore her emotions on her sleeve. I could usually tell how she was feeling without using my abilities on her, but today she was empty. Void. Numb. Fuck, I did that to her.

“We’re sparring now,” I said after lunch, not giving her the opportunity to ignore me anymore.

She turned to look at me. Finally, and damn if those eyes didn’t kill me. “Fine by me. I wouldn’t mind punching you.” I couldn’t help but smile as I followed her back into the gym. She was getting stronger. Her body was corded with lean muscles, and I couldn’t help but watch her from behind as she stepped up into the ring.

I tore my gaze away and smirked. “If you can manage to land a hit on me.” She didn’t hesitate to spring forward, aiming for my middle. I dodged her effortlessly. Again. And again. And again. She was good, quick on her feet, fast thinking and agile. She would have probably landed hits on many of my soldiers.

She grunted as I stepped out of the way, evading her next kick at the last second. I grabbed her still extended leg and pulled her toward me. My hand slid to her back as she slammed into my chest. My other hand inched up higher on her thigh to hold her leg in place.

She hopped on one foot and pushed, trying to break free from me but couldn’t. “Get off me,” she swore.

“Make me,” I smiled, knowing full well I was pissing her off. Good. At least I was getting some emotion out of her. Even if it was a negative one, it was better than feeling nothing. She pushed again, but I tightened my hold on her and smiled as a small growl escaped her lips.

I laughed. “Come on, Rumor, you can do better than that.”

“I’m trying,” she grunted as she pushed again. I pivoted with her in tow as I saw her try to hop and slam her heel on mine.

“We can do this all day long, but you won’t get anywhere. I’m stronger than you. If I have you in a hold, physical strength won’t do anything,” I whispered in her ear as I turned her around and held her back against my chest. Shit. This position wasn’t doing me any good. I could feel her ass against me—

A flood of water came rushing toward the ring as my words dawned on her. The water was flattening and pouring in from under the cracks of the door. But once it reached the gym, it rose as she manipulated it into a wall.

She drained the pool.

I wanted to let the water hit me to test the effectiveness of it. So I turned my back to the threat just as the wall slammed against me, shielding her from the brunt of it. I grunted as I toppled forward with Scottie still in my arms. She tried to escape as we fell but only managed to turn herself around. I barely caught myself in time as I landed on my forearms, my knees on either side of her hips, hovering above her, careful not to crush her beneath me.

“Good,” I breathed against her face. A jolt of energy went through me at her closeness. She was panting under my arms as I straddled her, her sapphire eyes wide and staring up at me. I couldn’t tell if her ragged breath was from the effort she just used to move that amount of water or from the position we landed in. I was amazed by the speed at which she was able to make the water move and the power she was able to create with it. She still had a long way to go—I knew with practice she would be able to do so much more—but for such a short time training, it was impressive.

Scottie shifted beneath me, and the movement caught my attention. We were both drenched. Her hair was sprawled out around her, with some strands plastered against her neck and cheek. She pulled her lower lip into her mouth, biting it out of nervousness.

Without meaning to, I leaned into her, my hands now pressed against either side of her face. I was drawn to her. I had been since the moment I saw her. Her bottom lip fell out from between her teeth and parted slightly as her eyes searched mine. She wasn’t breathing, and I didn’t quite know if I was either. I expected her to push me off by now. But she didn’t.

She was still, deathly still, and waiting. Before I did anything I regretted, I pushed up and stood, shaking my head to alleviate the excess water. She followed, her eyes were furrowed in concentration. Then the water was sliding off my skin. I looked up to see the same thing happening to her. Her dark wet hair was slowly returning to its light brown coloring as she manipulated the water off of us, drying us in the process.

I remained silent, watching her as she moved every drop of water back into the pool. She was panting by the time she was done. That was the largest amount of water she moved and the furthest she got it to travel. The concentration to move every last speck of water, to focus on each individual drop, was monumental.

“Come with me,” I said. “I have something to show you.”

She looked apprehensive. “What is it?”

“A peace offering.”

* * *

I watchedScottie as she scanned my room. She’d only been in here the first night she got out of her cage, and I honestly didn’t know if she remembered the conversation we had on the balcony. She’d been so out of it…

“Why did you bring me here?” she finally asked, her gaze settling on me.

“When you had the testing done by the healer, Semadar, he also ran a blood sample on your DNA,” I explained as I walked over to my desk and unlocked the top drawer. “Every citizen in Lux is required to give a blood sample when they are born. It’s a way to keep track of everyone. Then after the Luxian Trials, their results, along with their abilities, are listed. You said you don’t remember anything about your childhood, who your parents were, right?”

I waited until she shook her head before I continued, “Well, I took your sample and ran it through the tracking system. I found out who your parents are, and I know what happened to them.”

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