Page 57 of Ocean of Silver

She froze, her fingers hovering over an old book. “You found them? Are they alive?” The hope in her eyes fluttered and wilted away as I shook my head. “Oh… I figured. I just… Can I see?”

“Yes,” I handed her the paperwork that I’d kept hidden ever since we got back from the hut. I honestly had no idea what possessed me to look into it in the first place, but seeing her reaction made me happy I did. Her eyes frantically scanned the pages, her lips parted and moved as she silently read. She slumped onto the sofa with a hand clutching her heart. I watched as she unraveled her truth, discovering everything she’d been told was a lie.

The only accuracy that was fed to her was that she was an orphan. Her parents were killed in a fire the night she was kidnapped. The fire was declared an accident and marked as classified. Her records indicated that the little girl that lived there was killed along with her parents. It claimed there was nothing left of her body, but the fire wasn’t an accident. It was orchestrated.

“My name isn’t even Scotlind,” she whispered, her eyes still glued to the paperwork.

“No,” I said gently as she finally tore her gaze away from the truth to meet my stare. “Your real name was Haevely Sirena.”

“My parents…” she didn’t finish. I knew what the paperwork stated. I’d read it over multiple times before I finally decided to show her. Her mother was Rosemilly Sirena. Her elemental ability was water. It was where Scottie got her power from, but Rosemilly didn’t just manipulate water. She could create, making her a rank five.

“My water powers are from my mother,” she said softly, her voice cracking. I hoped sharing this information would only strengthen her need to control the element. She was growing tremendously, but I prayed that maybe having this glimpse of her past would connect her more to her powers.

“She was powerful too,” I said. “Your enhancement must be from generations back as it’s an extinct power, or itwasan extinct power. It’s not uncommon for children to be born with different abilities than their parents, but the gene has to lie dormant somewhere in their line of genetics.”

She nodded, her eyes once again glued to the papers.

“I don’t understand my father’s powers.”

The first time I read about her father, Lincoln, I was shocked. He was a powerful rank five with the same ability as the King’s second, Athler. With a single look, he could manipulate how anyone was feeling. He could make someone fearful, lustful, agitated, or confused without those feelings being previously there. It was chilling to know that she came from such power. “He possesses pheromone control,” I said, not wanting to go into too much detail about how lethal the ability actually was.

“Is it common?”

I shook my head. “I only know of one of other person who possesses it.”

A shudder ran through me as I recalled the times Athler manipulated my own feelings. I already felt everything stronger with my heightened senses, but when he messed with me, when he used his ability on me, I couldn’t control myself. As a child, when I was too weak to undergo more physical punishments, the King liked to have his second instill an unending fear inside of me. It was so overwhelming that I wanted to end it all. He filled my head with so much terror and only stopped when I was sobbing, pleading, and begging for death. It was the second most frequent punishment the King requested done to me.

“You can’t tell anyone you know about this,” I said, wanting to bring the topic away from her father’s abilities. “The world believes that you died that night. Whoever caused that fire and purposely left you in Tennebris is the only one who knows differently.”

“Why are you showing me this?” she asked.

“I thought you deserved to know the truth.”

“The truth,” the words were soft leaving her lips as she looked up at me. “Tezya, just promise me that. Promise me no more lies. Promise me that you won’t keep anything from me or lie to me anymore. Do that, and I’ll forget about what happened.”

I swallowed. “Okay.” The word felt wrong leaving my mouth because I knew that I was already breaking that promise. I was keeping massive secrets from her. Secrets that I knew she’d never forgive me for. But I prayed that whenever she did discover what I was hiding, she would understand.

TWENTY-THREE

SCOTLIND

“Are you sure?”Tezya asked me the following day.

“Yes, I’m positive.” We went through our usual routine of training in the private gym. “Besides, if I don’t go with you, I would just be cooped up in my chambers with nothing to do.”

He told me last night that he would be away for a couple of days. On top of being the commander of the Luxian armies, Tezya also oversaw the mortal territory and was in charge of monitoring the humans, whatever that meant, and he was leaving to go there.

“Alright, but I’m taking you to the training grounds where I take all of my soldiers before they go to the mortal territory. The land there isn’t protected from the atmosphere like our Kingdoms are. There are no shields to protect you from what this planet unleashes. If you are coming with me, you’re going to familiarize yourself with what could happen. You have two days before I have to leave, so we’ll get started now.”

“Deal,” I grinned, knowing that Vallie would be jealous. She was fascinated with the humans and always talked about wanting to see their world and learn how they lived. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t something I thought about too. I just never believed I would get the opportunity to even cross paths with one, and now Tezya was offering me to stay a night in their lands.

“Alright, enough training here. Save your energy for the grounds. Go eat lunch, and we’ll head there after.”

* * *

Tezya madearrangements for the training grounds to be cleared for the rest of the afternoon. When we arrived, I was disappointed. Massive domes were scattered across a flat, muddy terrain, but that was it.

“Um, what is this supposed to train me for exactly?” I asked through pursed lips. If this was what the mortal lands looked like—endless muddy pits—I didn’t care for them.

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