He looked at me with such sadness in his eyes. “I still have to train you.”
“I know.”
He sighed heavily before turning toward my door. “I’ll see you at dawn.”
TWENTY-ONE
SIE
A stranger was staringat me during my training session. I didn’t take my eyes off him as I went head to head with a Tennebrisian guard. My body was finally adjusting after Moli got me up to the max dose of the poison. I was still weak and was panting way too hard over something that normally would have been a warm-up. But I was alive, and my body finally stopped trembling from the dreadful concoction. It was nice to not be constantly perspiring from every orifice of my body. Now, I was only sweating from training, and I didn’t mind because I needed to regain my strength. It’s what I had been devoting my free time to.
Out of the corner of my vision, the stranger moved. Green eyes flashed as I saw a hand pull on an ear. Thank the fucking Goddess.
Peter was back.
I reached my abilities out toward him, thankful that with the poison’s effects diminishing, I was able to use of them again. Although, I’ve been trying to save all my strength for teleporting in case I need to see Grey.You’re back,I slammed my words into his mind.
The stranger, Peter, said back,Meet me in your chambers. We have a lot to discuss.Before I could push my thoughts into the stranger’s head again, Peter transformed. The dark skinned, green-eyed stranger morphed into a fly and zoomed past me.
I threw my sword on the ground and sprinted toward my chambers. I didn’t bother to explain to the shocked guard why I stopped sparring him.
Relief swelled inside me, knowing that my friend was alive. With every pounding footstep, a smile threatened my lips. I didn’t know how damn long it had been since I smiled. Peter wasn’t caught by the Luxians. He was alive and well and here in Tennebris. I knew I shouldn’t have let him go in the first place. My exhilaration squelched as I rounded a corner. It was so fleeting that it almost seemed like I made it up.
Dread replaced my prior euphoria as one sweet, innocent name came to my mind.Scotlind.Shit. Shit. Shit. I sprinted faster, pushing my weakened body to its max. Did his return mean something had happened to her?
I was shaking by the time I finally pushed open my doors. A fly whizzed by my head buzzing impatiently. It wasn’t until I forced the heavy doors to slam shut that the fly transformed into my friend. Golden markings faded from Peter’s skin as his body adjusted back into himself.
Scottie?I breathed into his head, knowing that this wasn’t a conversation we should be having out loud.
She’s alive,Peter thought back right before he opened up his mind to me. I saw through his memories when he was a guard stationed outside her cage. A fucking cage. It was so small she could barely move. I watched as Scottie withered away into nothing. I watched as she was pulled out of that damn cage every day, then thrown back in hours later, covered in her own blood.
“Fucking shit,” I breathed out loud as Peter’s memories showed the Fire Prince coming to the dungeons. I watched as Kole compelled her to reveal everything about her past and about me. I wondered where the bastard ran off to. It twisted my gut knowing that he was in the same place as her. That he was still tormenting her, and I was stuck here, unable to do anything about it.
Peter caught me up on everything he saw during his time as Scottie’s maid. I hated that she was spending all her time with the Prince.Does she know who Tezya is?I asked him.
Peter shook his head. “At least she didn’t when I left. I’ve been trying to spy and figure out what they want with her. Why the King is wasting so much time on training her, but I haven’t been able to glean anything useful.”
We have to get her back,I gritted. I couldn’t believe she was with the Fire Prince, that she was spending all her time with him, having no idea who he was. She was probably with him right now for fuck’s sake. I bristled. Jealousy and anger flooded through me, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.
“Sie, we can’t. She’s being monitored and watched too closely by the Prince himself. There is no way I would be able to get her out of there safely. Tezya is honed into her every movement and would track us down the moment we fled. Not to mention the interest the Lux King has with her. He saw through her memories, Sie. He knows you care for her. I came back to warn you not to do anything when the annual meeting comes up. I don’t even think you should talk to her.”
What?I snapped back.How can you expect me not to talk to her? How can you expect me to just leave her there?It was eating away at me that I never got to explain myself to her before she was taken. I had spent every waking moment thinking of some way to explain myself, to try and get her to forgive me, to understand. And now there was no fucking way that I wasn’t going to tell her who she’s been spending her time with all these weeks. I planned on telling her exactly who the Prince was and forcing him to stay the fuck away from her.
Because we don’t have a choice. We are walking on a dangerous line. If you talk to her, they could kill her for it. She barely got out of the last treason accusation alive. What do you think would happen if she was caught with you again?
I hated that he was right, but I couldn’t do nothing. There was no way I could just leave her there. Leave her withhim.
Peter asked in my head,What is happening here? I heard some gossip amongst the other maids, but I couldn’t decipher what was real from the rumors.
I filled Peter in on everything, from King Lunder’s murder to Synder changing the laws to Moli giving me poison every day. When I was done, Peter looked as if he saw a ghost. I knew that Lilia flashed in his mind when I told him about the rights being taken away from rank zeroes. I knew he would be worried about his younger sister. And even though I assured him that my brother was looking out for her at school, we both knew it wasn’t enough.
I’ll go back to Lux for now. I’ll continue to monitor Scottie, and I’ll work harder on discovering the Lux King’s involvement and what his plan is because something else is coming, Sie, I can feel it.
Be careful,I pleaded to my friend, unsure if I should let him go again. I swore to myself I wouldn’t let him leave my side if I ever saw him again. But Scottie… she was with the youngest Prince. The one Advenian that was claimed to match the power of the Lux King. Even Prince Arcane wasn’t as strong as his brother.I need you.I finally said to Peter, accepting that I had to send him again. Scottie needed him more, and there was no way in hell I was leaving her vulnerable now that she was with the Prince.Synder threatened to name a second for me if you weren’t back by my coronation. He plans to select himself, and then it will only be a matter of time before my death follows Lunder’s. He plans to rule for good.
I’m always careful.Peter tried and failed to smile. This was some deep shit we were in.Sie, we have to stop them. We can’t let Synder win. We can’t let him do this to rank zeroes. I know you are worried about Scottie, but she is safe for now, trust me. We will bring her back to Tennebris eventually, but we have to get rid of the threat here first. We can’t bring her back until Synder is gone. We have to make sure you become King.
Peter hugged me tightly before he transformed in front of my eyes, and then the friend I knew and loved was something else entirely. I watched as the fly fitted through the cracks of my window, only to become a bird soaring in the wind the moment he was outside. My eyes never left his changing form until he was only a speck, disappearing into the clouds toward Lux.