Page 82 of Ocean of Silver

I hated him. I hated the King more than I ever hated anyone before. How could someone be so cruel to his own children? I gaped around the room, shuddering with the realization that this was a normal occurrence for the three Luxian Royals.

“I’m so sorry,” I broke down as I pressed into him, wanting to feel his warmth. He winced, and I stole a glance at his thigh—the dagger was still lodged in it. Tezya followed my gaze. I wrapped my hands around the handle and pulled it out in one swift movement. I couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. I didn’t want to watch Tezya yank it from his thigh one more time… I went to chuck it across the room when he grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

He gently opened my fingers and took the blade from my grip. Then he turned my palm over so that it was facing up. The scar from my marriage with Sie was staring back at me. Neither of us moved for a minute as we both stared at the raised skin. I inhaled, watching as Tezya dragged the blade over my palm, making a shallow cut right alongside my old one.

My breathing quickened, and my heart skipped a beat. Once he finished the cut, he took the blade against his own palm, mimicking the same exact cut. I looked up. He was already staring at me, his eyes never leaving mine as he reached for my hand, his calluses scraping against my fingers. I sucked in a breath as his lips met with my new cut, and he drank from me. Leaning forward, I grabbed his palm and did the same, surprised at how I wasn’t repulsed by this.

Without saying a word, we reached for each other, mixing our blood, and created the first half of the blood bond.

Only this time, it wasn’t forced. There was no one around to witness it—just us.

THIRTY-THREE

TEZYA

Scotlind helpedme back to my chambers. Going up the stairs from the dungeons was torturous. My leg throbbed every time I had to put weight on it. I leaned on her more than I should have.

“You should sit down,” she said, pointing to my sofa once we were back in my room.

I shook my head. “I’m alright. I’ve been sitting for too long.” I was beyond exhausted, but standing kept my attention sharp. I also was covered in blood, and I loved my sofa. Dovelyn tried to get me to replace it decades ago, but I had always refused. I really didn’t want to give her an excuse to throw it away now, so I wasn’t about to cover it in blood.

“Stay with me?” I asked her. I knew this was a bad idea, and if we were caught… I’d probably get a worse punishment than what I had just went through, but I couldn’t stand the thought of her leaving. I didn’t want her to go. I didn’t want her toeverleave my side. And some part of me was scared that the King wouldn’t let me see her after this—at least until Sie’s Coronation when he needed us to be together, and I tried really hard not to think about that. About how we’d be forced to put on a show all over again. I hated myself for violating her, for how I reacted to Athler’s ability so strongly.

“Okay,” she said softly. She looked toward my desk and noted the food sitting there. “You should eat something. I’ll be right back.” Before I could respond, she disappeared into my bedroom. I wobbled over to the food Dove left me. She always did this. Anytime the King punished me, she left a warm meal waiting for me when I was finished. It was always the same—carrot stew. It was absolutely disgusting, but I loved it. Our mother made it for us anytime we were sick. Dove tried for decades to replicate it, but I never had the heart to tell her it was terrible.

I managed a few spoonfuls before Scotlind came back into the living area. “Did you eat enough?” she asked once she saw me set the spoon back down. I nodded my head. I couldn’t stomach food right now anyway, and my sister’s stew was more likely to make me vomit than feel better.

“Okay. Good. Come with me.” She looked nervous. More nervous than I’d ever seen her. She held her hand out for me to take. It didn’t pass my mind that it was the hand I cut, the hand that was still bleeding. I took it in my own cut palm, furthering our bond as our blood continued to seep into one another. I felt the same electrifying shock that pulsed through me when our hands met. Scotlind’s eyes widened, and without sensing her, I knew she felt it too.

I honestly couldn’t believe that I had initiated the bond. I don’t know what came over me, but I wasn’t about to take it back. I couldn’t explain the urge that came over me as I looked at her. That having her by my side made everything okay. That I’d go through hell worse than that if it meant I could keep her safe. I’d do anything to keep her out of the hands of the Lux King.

I followed Scotlind as she led me into the bathing room.

The bathing room.

Holy shit.

The tub was already filled. Water steamed and floated around the surface. I snapped my gaze to her and was surprised to find her own steady.

“Scotlind, we don’t have to—”

She dropped my hand but didn’t respond. Taking a step back, her eyes never left mine as she slowly undressed. The black slip fell off her body and onto the floor. The material was barely staying on to begin with. She had nothing on underneath it. I already knew she didn’t from having her sit on my lap, but to see it… I swallowed.

A selfish need to take in her body came over me, and holy shit, she was so fucking breathtakingly gorgeous. I couldn’t stop staring, scanning every inch of her. Every curve. Every freckle. Absolutely everything until it was engraved in me. Her breasts rose up and down as her breathing quickened.

She was going to get into a tub for the first time since the night she had drowned. “We need to wash off the blood,” she started to say. My eyes traveled down the length of her and halted at her knees, where she’d been forced to kneel the entire time. Dark red covered every inch of her lower legs. My blood was so thoroughly matted onto her that I couldn’t see her burn scar. Some of it was splattered throughout the rest of her, kinked into the crevice of her elbows, her fingers, the right side of her face, her jagged scar that ran from her knee to hip.

I closed the gap between us. “Scotlind, if you aren’t ready—”

“Don’t.” Her fingers went to the button of my pants as she started to unbind them. “Don’t try to talk me out of it.”

Her eyes traveled down my body, lingering on the bulge of my cock before they slowly drifted back up. My shirt was already off. I never put it back on. It was lost somewhere on the floor of the cell. The idea of a stiff material against my back sounded awful. Brock healed me more than he should have, but everything still ached. If I didn’t show up to the presentation tomorrow with wounds to attest for the past twenty-something hours, I knew the King would kill my friend. He would probably make Dovelyn watch too. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that the two of them longed for each other. Despite how hard they tried to hide it, everyone knew. The King knew, and that was more dangerous than anything else. It was why Brock never tried anything. Brock saw firsthand how the King punished us. He always feared it that it would be Dovelyn in that room instead of Arcane or me. They could never be together. Even if he wasn’t a rank four and she wasn’t a five, the King would never allow his only daughter to marry for love, would never give her that happiness. I knew Dovelyn frequented the Goddess temples on the far side of the island often, praying that the King wouldn’t go through with his threats of marrying her off to Athler. He’s been holding that over her head ever since our mother died, forcing her to do anything—it was the perfect blackmail.

I looked at Scottie, and I tried to not think of how absolutely terrified I was when I saw her chained in that room. I was so scared that he was going to do something to her that I was relieved when he gave me my punishment. But we were far from out of this because now he knew what she was capable of. The fact that her power was enhancement—that she could directly make him stronger—she would never be free of him. He would never let her go. It changed everything.

I looked into her blue eyes and saw everything she had been through and everything she would still have to overcome. I couldn’t believe she was willing to do this, that she was willing to get into a bath with me right now. I had seen how fearful it made her. How fucked up in the head she had been because of that compulsion user. I honestly didn’t think she’d ever get in a bath again. I assumed I’d have to keep taking her to my condo in Miami to shower.

I stepped into the bath once I shrugged out of my pants, allowing her time to back out of this if she wanted. We were still holding hands, mine extended as she lingered outside the tub. Her breathing halted, a small hitch before she inhaled sharply, then stepped all the way inside.

---