Page 81 of Ocean of Silver

Tezya rose from the chair on shaking legs. I watched through blurry eyes as he was forced to hold onto the dangling ropes for a second time.

“Again,” Athler said as he sunk back into the shadows, once again becoming a pair of glowing, opal eyes.

THIRTY-TWO

SCOTLIND

Athler gaveTezya a break only twice in the twenty-eight hours we spent in that cell. Just twice. He had five minutes to drink water and go to the bathroom, before he had to sit back down in that wrecked chair. He didn’t hold me to the same standards. The only liquid I came in contact with was Tezya’s blood, and Athler never bothered to unchain me to use the bathroom.

My mind was too foggy, too weak, to be embarrassed as I realized a pool of wetness on my lap. I was covered in filth, urine, and blood—mostly blood. But I didn’t care. It was nothing compared to what Tezya was going through.

I kept wondering what was going through his mind. Did he hate me? Did he regret helping me? Did he wish he had never been assigned to train me? Because this was all my fault. He was going through this because of me. I deserved to be cold, starving, and thirsty, but not Tezya. He didn’t deserve this.

It was the longest twenty-eight hours of my life. It felt like years, decades, centuries even. I sobbed when Brock announced that the time was up. Athler’s form emerged from the shadows.

“There, that wasn’t so bad,” Athler crooned. Tezya still clutched the top of the dagger, the blade poking through his thigh. “Now get out of this cell so we can have the blood drained and cleaned.”

Athler kicked my chains, causing me to fall face first onto the floor. Tezya’s blood covered every inch of my body, splashing up onto the right side of my face.

“The keys—” Tezya grunted as he tilted his chin toward my chains. His voice was scratched and as raw as I felt. Athler dropped them, and I watched as they disappeared into the pool of red. I looked up at Brock. It was the first time I took my eyes off of Tezya. He looked pale and clammy. His brown eyes were dull, black circles were painted under them. He was drained, probably having used too much of his healing reserve to keep Tezya alive.

Athler followed my gaze to Brock. “Get some rest. The King has a presentation planned tomorrow morning with the army, and he needs your reserves replenished.” He looked at Tezya. “You are both expected to be there.”

Athler walked through Tezya’s blood toward the door. The sound of it splashing against his boots nauseated me. Brock looked over at his friend once, then silently followed Athler out of the cell, leaving us alone.

Tezya fell to the floor in front of me the moment they left. He started to unchain me immediately. I hadn’t realized he had even found the keys in the blood. “Tezya, I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault…” I sobbed as he worked on the last lock. It felt weird to hear my voice again, to use it after wanting to scream for so long.

“Scotlind, this isn’t your fault. Do not blame yourself for this. I knew the risk when I kept your ability from him.” He pulled me into his chest and wrapped his strong arms around me. “It’s not your fault,” he whispered again because I needed to hear it.

I cried harder. “It is. If I hadn’t interfered with Peter, if I hadn’t used my enhancement in front of them… You warned me, and I didn’t listen, and I hurt you.”

“Scottie, it was only a matter of time before he found out. I knew the consequences if we were caught. I know who he is, what he is.”

“Why?” I asked as I looked up at him. “Why did you protect me if you knew this would happen?” He barely knew me when he discovered I had this ability.

His jaw clenched. “I’m afraid you’re about to find out. He collects Advenians like they are belongings.” He paused and then said more softly, “I didn’t want him to get his hands on you. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to see you after this. He won’t have me train you anymore. I’m not sure what’s going to happen now.”

I couldn’t think about that. I didn’t want to think about what would happen next, now that the King knew about my powers. They had Peter. They knew their plans during the celebration worked against Sie. They punished Tezya. Everything was going to shit, and I didn’t want to think about it.

“Scotlind.” I looked up at him. “No matter what happens, I won’t let him hurt you like this, I promise.” I stared at him, at the intensity of his gaze. His scar moved slightly as a concerned expression crossed his face. How many of the scars on his body were caused by his own father? How much had he endured over the past century from him? I assumed when I first met him that every marred inch of his flesh was from being in the army, that he earned every scar during battles. But now… now I didn’t think so.

“What happened to you,” I whispered as I moved my fingers down the larger one—the scar that went from the bridge of his nose and disappeared behind his jaw. Blood followed where my fingers trailed, leaving a line of red over the raised area.

He shivered. Then swallowed before he spoke. His voice was hoarse. “When I was younger, I used to fight what was expected of me.”

It unnerved me to know that Tezya went through these horrors. Based on his reaction to his punishment tonight, this wasn’t the first time he’d endured things like this. He grew up with the King as his father, and I couldn’t imagine what that was like. His hatred for him made sense now. Beyond not agreeing with how he ruled, beyond having to ensure the ranking system was enforced even though he was so passionately against it, his father was a sadist and tortured his own children.

“What were the King and Dovelyn talking about when they said you could perform a task?”

Tezya sighed as he leaned back against the cell wall. He was still shaking, and I was wondering if I needed to bring Brock back in here. I didn’t think he’d be able to stand up right now if he tried. “The King punished Arcane and me a lot. Me more than my brother, but he always had the same rule for the both of us. Dovelyn, too, although she hasn’t been subject to his cruelty as often. We could always get out of whatever punishment was thrown at us if we agreed to kill someone.”

“Have you ever done that?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I’ve killed lots of people Scotlind, but not like this. I refuse to kill forhim. Arcane does, or he did in the past. The King rarely punishes him as he now makes it a point to not step out of line. He was forced to become the obedient son and follow without question. It really messed him up. My brother isn’t a natural-born fighter. He isn’t a killer either, although he’s been made into one. He is still tormented by the men and women he was forced to kill.”

“Who are they? Who would you have had to kill tonight if you said yes?”

“Anyone. That’s the catch. We don’t know until after we agree. The King selects someone for us. Usually, it’s someone he planned to kill anyway. He has numerous assassins, but it wasn’t about that. He wanted us to take a life. But there’s been innocent people before too. I’ve watched Arcane have to take someone out of their home while they were eating dinner for no reason other than the King knew it would fuck with my brother’s head.”

---