Page 67 of Ocean of Silver

“Well, I didn’t,” she retorted back.

“Whatever you say, Rumor. Come on,” I laughed as I held my hand out to her. “We need to go back now, or Kallon will close the portal.”

* * *

“Why can’tyou just let her live the rest of her life in peace?” I seethed at the King. “She’s seen enough of both courts to last a lifetime. Just let her go.”

“It’s unsettling that it bothers you what I do with her,” the King retorted. Once Rumor and I returned, I was summoned into the council room. I left Scottie to train in the private gym by herself until I got back. “But, no matter. It would work in my favor if you did develop feelings for her.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“This year’s meeting is being held in Lux, and Prince Noren will be arriving by the end of the week. You will be her escort throughout the meeting.”

“I’m aware of the meeting and that he’s coming to Lux, but what I don’t understand is why you are forcing her to be present for it.” My gut clenched as I prayed it wasn’t what I thought.

“Because I want their Dark Prince to see her in your arms. You will make him jealous, and based on his desire for the girl, I believe he will act irrationally, which is precisely what we need in order for this to work.”

“You asked me to train the girl, not seduce her.” I was trying my best not to fume, trying to keep calm so I could figure out a way out of this. I had guessed that he wanted to use her. He wouldn’t have let her out of that cage if there wasn’t a purpose, some ulterior motive, but this…

“You will do whatever I tell you because I am yourKing.”

A long moment of silence stretched between us before I tried another tactic. “In case you don’t remember, I am betrothed by your request, and now you want me to openly court another female in front of our entire Kingdom? Kallon’s parents will not take that lightly.”

“Oh, save your breath for someone who will believe it. We both know you and Kallon are going to push off your wedding for as long as you can, and her parents are paid handsomely, so they won’t be a bother.” He paused. “I honestly thought I was doing you a favor, son. I know you aren’t happy with the future wife I selected for you. And well, our little prisoner isn’t bad on the eyes. I thought you’d be pleased.”

Little prisoner.My teeth ground together as I tried to mask my hatred for the male in front of me, tried to stop myself from punching him in the throat. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed over the past century to master my rage, to will my emotions back. It only landed me with a visit from the King’s second, Athler, if I didn’t.

“And what is it that you hope to gain by me escorting Scotlind to the annual meeting?” No way in hell was I calling her a prisoner. He seemed to notice.

The King looked at my clenched jaw and smirked. “Once Prince Noren is crowned, there won’t be much we can do to stop him. From my reports from Synder, he isn’t as on board with my plans for our society as I would have liked. He is a strong rank five and, therefore, a threat to Luxians. We must keep the Tennebrisians weaker than us in order to maintain control. So I struck a deal with Synder a long time ago. He helps me get the Prince off the throne, and I allow Synder to rule Tennebris, modeled directly after our own Kingdom.”

“And how exactly are you planning on getting him off the throne?” I asked as I threw my hands in my pockets to keep him from seeing them fisted.

“Our little prisoner’s memories aren’t enough to condemn Sie and commit him of treason. Even if we displayed them for the courts to see, the Dark Prince could claim that they were tampered with. Since she is still being seen as a nix in order to facilitate the changes for the ranking systems over in Tennebris, we can’t argue with that. We aren’t able to kill him as that was how King Lunder was dealt with. Too many deaths would raise suspicion. So we need to catch him committing treason. He needs to make a move on the girl again. Then, when he does, Tennebris will come out with the news of her being a claimed Luxian. It would be enough to imprison him for life.” He paused as he assessed me.

I let out a deep breath, trying not to think about the fact that he actually considered displaying Scottie’s memories for both Kingdoms to see.

“You only have two chances to do this, Tezya,” he continued. “This week, when Sie and the Tennebrisian High Council come to discuss the further development of the ranking system, I expect Scotlind Rumor to be all over you. I want to use this as a test, as you will, to gauge the Prince’s reaction and confirm he still has feelings for her. If he doesn’t react, we need to know so we can initiate the backup plan. But I’d rather not have to use it as it means getting my hands dirty, and I can promise you that you won’t like the consequences, so I expect you to not fail me.”

He paused for a moment, letting his gaze settle over me as his threat lingered. “That being said, based on her memories of him, I don’t think you two will find it difficult to make him jealous. Use your heightened senses to gauge how he is feeling. I expect a full report. Then the night before his coronation, we are to attend a ball in his honor. We will set up a trap for them to be caught. It will be your last chance, so you better make it count.”

“And what makes you think Scottie will agree to this?” She would be caught in the crossfire. She would be equally as guilty as Sie would. But they probably wouldn’t spare her a life of imprisonment. They’d just kill her when the two of them were caught. Fuck, I couldn’t let that happen.

“Scottie?” He huffed a laugh. “My, my. You did let her get under your skin. I knew it would work in my favor to have you train her personally. Good, it will make this all the easier if you aren’t faking it. Because if you can’t do it with your looks and charms alone, I’ll have Athler mess with her pheromones, and I highly doubt that is something you want. Athler will find great pleasure in making her go out of control. So for her sake, I hope you can manage.” He smiled, watching my face closely.

“And she will agree to this,” he added. “You will make her, because if not, she will find herself a permanent place in the dungeons, and I will be even less kind than I was before.”

I bristled, thinking back to how I found her in that damn cage. How she was tortured for information… It was a power move then, just as it was now. He knew that she wouldn’t talk and that Tennebris was sending a compulsion user. The King just liked to elicit fear whenever he could.

“And our Council has approved of this?”

“Both of our Councils have agreed upon this, at least those important enough to know. Sie has different views than us. He sympathizes with nixes and doesn’t seek to claim the human territory as our own. It’s revolting. Synder is set up to rule once we can eliminate the Prince. The first act he will do as King is abolish their stupid King’s Tournament, and then he will run their Kingdom by bloodlines like ours.”

“What else are you planning for the Dark Kingdom?” I knew he wasn’t motivated enough to help Tennebris just because they now wished to make their ranking systems more ruthless. Regardless of how much he hated nixes and humans, he wouldn’t risk treason and murder for justhelpingtheir society. There had to be something in it for him.

“Ah, yes. I forgot how observant you are. You and Arcane are so much alike in that regard. It’s why I originally wanted you to rule over your brother. You both have the strategic mind and attention to detail needed to rule, but your brother lacks the willingness to see it through. He’s too obsessive over his stupid lab to get anything done.”

“You benefit greatly from Arcane’s lab.”

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