Page 7 of Ocean of Silver

I watched her first kiss with Prince Noren. The passion and lust between them were evident. I turned away from the screen until it changed again.

She was now in a room full of people who were compelling her to do awful things. Prince Noren lounged on a leather sofa with two girls positioned on either side of him. I watched her crawl on the floor toward the same man she had been kissing prior. I watched as her lips pressed into his boot. Then she was forced to sit on his lap as she whispered, “I hate you.” The Prince did nothing as she was forced to strip naked in front of him—in front ofeveryone. Mercifully, before everything came off, a blonde male whisked her away. My fists clenched at my sides. I knew that the Dark Prince had a reputation with females, that he was known to be a dick, but to treat his own fiancé that way was unacceptable.

Flash. Her wedding night to the Dark Prince. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the King stiffen. I knew he wanted to know about the blood bond—if it took after their consummation, and more importantly if she was with child.

Knowing what was about to unfold, I took a steadying breath and forced myself to look back at the monitor screen. The last thing I wanted to do right now was listen to her moaning over him, but I knew the King wasn’t planning on skipping over this. I had no idea why it bothered me so much. Lux didn’t shy away from sex and nudity like Tennebris did, but this felt wrong—to go into her mind like this, to force her to display this memory.

But then the Dark Prince took off her necklace, and a conversation played out in her head, revealing more of his powers, and holy shit, he was strong. He could compel anyone from both Kingdoms. And on top of that, he possessed telepathy and teleportation. I could see why the Lux King viewed him as a threat if he ascended the throne.

I expected them to have sex, but they didn’t. They were pretending. I was shocked as I stared at the girl. Mortification and shame were painted on her face, but she could do nothing to stop the images from playing.

The next flash was of the compulsion user again. He kidnapped, gagged, and bound her. She fought against him, but he ripped her necklace off and compelled her to surrender. She woke up in a warehouse where she and Prince Noren were tortured. Then he was drowning her. I could sense her panic stirring in the chair as she was forced to relive this memory. This clearly left more of a scar on her than the physical ones scattered across her body. I ground my teeth together, trying to remain calm. This was a different level of fucked up to have the male who attempted to murder her force her to replay the night it happened for all of us to watch.

The last flash was her and the Prince training at a beautiful sapphire lake. She was using water abilities of Lux. The Dark Prince and a blonde male were trying to figure out what her markings meant. The screen showed Sie replaying her back into their minds. It was covered in Luxian symbols. Every element had a place amongst her flesh. I had never seen anything like it.

“You can stop it there,” the King interjected just as she was dragged onto a monorail and injected with some serum. “I’m aware of what happened after that.” My blood boiled as I recalled Lansting stating that he was ordered to torture her. She had been through more trauma in her short years of life than most Advenians saw in centuries. Hell, most of our kind lived a sheltered life, never knowing what it felt like to wield a blade, never-the-less, what the sting from one felt like.

The screen showed my face, and it took me a moment to realize that she was staring at me. I looked toward the girl. Her emotions were overwhelming and all-consuming. Shame, humiliation, rage, and fear were mixing and radiating off of her in waves, crashing into my ability. Once the compulsion ended, she sagged into the chair, her restraints pulling taut.

She’d been through hell and back, but the King should have no more use for her. He had what he needed. Sie clearly knew she was from Lux and still wanted to be with her. From this footage alone, Prince Noren could be declared a traitor and off the Tennebrisian throne before he was even crowned, just as the Lux King wanted. He defended her, very poorly, but he knew she was Luxian. It also proved she wasn’t carrying his child, which eliminatedthatthreat.

My mind whirled at everything that had been displayed on the screen, at everything she’d been through. I couldn’t help but think what other horrors she faced that weren’t displayed. What tortures she endured on my own soil by the same soldiers I fought alongside with. She was shaken from being compelled and coerced into reliving every humiliating and wretched thing in her life. I was shocked to find her with her head held high as she looked up at the Lux King. Her eyes narrowed and focused solely on him now. Most Advenians cowered in his presence, not daring to look him in the eye.

The King turned his attention to me, a broad smile plastered on his face like he’d just won something. I guess he did. “You will train her. She clearly can manipulate water, but I want you to find out what other abilities she possesses of Lux, and figure out how strong her water powers are. Her back markings are quite unique, which leads me to believe there is more to her than meets the eye. You have ten weeks to train her. Then depending on your reports, we’ll see if she can enter our society.”

The King stalked toward the girl and placed his fingers under her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. The room was silent as he peered down at her, smiling while casually rubbing his thumb over her dirty cheek. She tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened, cupping her jaw.

She snarled and bared her teeth at him, her blue eyes flaring. “Such a fiery one,” he chuckled. “If only you had answered our simple questions before, it could have saved you a lot of pain. We wouldn’t have had to resort to such methods on you.”He tsked before adding, “It is rather quite amusing, though. While we werequestioningyou for the Dark Prince’s weaknesses, it seems we were staring at it this whole time. All you had to do was tell us that he cared deeply for you.”

“You’re wrong,” she said softly as if she didn’t quite believe it.

He paused as his fingers made another long stroke down her cheek. “You will behave, or I will send you back down to that cell to finish out your days.” She fell silent at the threat. With a smug smile plastered on his face, the King turned away from her to address the room. His fingers still clamped under her jaw, forcing her head to twist with him. “No one outside of this room will speak of what we saw today. To anyone in our society, she is just a Luxian nix, as that was part of my arrangement for her with Tennebris. She is not to talk to anyone or give any indication that she was the Princess of the Dark Kingdom. The people of Tennebris believe she’s imprisoned on their soil as we speak, and it’s better to keep it that way… for now.” He turned back to face the girl. “You will train with Tezya as he is accustomed to working with the new recruits in our army, but I don’t want anyone finding out what happens between the two of you. You will train in secret and only come out in public if he or I deem it necessary. I won’t hesitate to kill you, so don’t break my rules. I don’t show mercy for those that cross me.”

He finally dropped her chin and said to the two soldiers, “Show her to her chambers and give her a bath. She can learn the details of this arrangement later.”

I didn’t wait to see if Lansting or the other soldier unchained her as I stormed after the Lux King. I made a quick mental note to myself to scold Lansting later for his treatment regarding the girl. I didn’t think the other soldier tortured her, not from the longing and worry that lingered in his gaze as he watched her, but I did want to look into the ginger-haired male. It was unusual for me not to recognize someone from the army. He must have been a new recruit who hadn’t come to training yet. Maybe he never saw how Luxians regarded their prisoners and couldn’t stomach her treatment. He would have to get used to it. Being in the army, we were forced to witness many abhorrent things.

“What is this about?” I asked the King once we were alone in the hall.

His silver eyes whirled on me. “I don’t trust anyone else to train her. She has to be special in some way. Her back markings are identical to the ones shown in your sister’s visions. Make her trust you. Do whatever you have to do in order to figure out what her abilities are.”

“I know what you ordered me to do,” I said through gritted teeth. “What I want to know is why? You have proof that the Dark Prince knew about her. Why do you have to keep dragging her along? She’s been through enough.”

His smile reached his inner cheeks as he looked over at me. “Why do you care what I do with her? She’s my property, and I do not owe you any explanation.” He paused for a moment before adding, “But you’re wrong. Regarding the Dark Prince, we don’t have enough to charge him. Her memories could have been tampered, and if we try to go after him with that alone, we’ll lose. So we have to catch him in the act. What I sought from her today was to gauge how much he knew of her. What we discovered was even better. The young fool is in love with her.”

Realization hit me as I guessed what the King intended for her. There was no way he would ever let her go. It was more than just a curiosity of what powers she might possess, more than just his obsession to find powerful and rare Luxian abilities. He wanted to use her in every way possible—for her powers and for leverage against Sie…

“I also want to know if their blood bond took, and if they are with child for obvious reasons,” he continued. “I don’t trust her memories. She might not remember sleeping with him, or for all we know, the Prince could have compelled her to forget about it, so I expect testing to be performed to confirm it.”

My gut twisted. “This is about that damn prophecy, isn’t it?” When he didn’t respond, I added, “And what will you do to her if she is with child? Will you kill her?”

“Mind how you speak to your King, boy. All you need to concern yourself with is making the girl trust you and figuring out her abilities.” He turned to leave. “And Tezya, no one is to know about her. Tennebris is using her to keep the lower ranks in line, so keep the training a secret and keep her and that marvelous back of hers hidden from the public. I might just kill her andyouif you fail in that.”

FIVE

SCOTLIND

I was broughtinto a small room with a bathing chamber off to the side. The entrance was just big enough for a small table with two chairs tucked into it and a bed that took up the majority of the space. The frame was a light, ashy wood with a soft pale comforter tucked tightly into it. The checkered white and pale gray floors were cold against my bare feet. A small window was carved into the far wall with the curtains pulled shut and a chair positioned in front of it. Everything was light and airy and, to me, seemed like heaven. Anything was better than that cell. No, not a cell—cage. That was what I’d been living in since I got here.

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