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He arched a brow. “Then I’ll do it to myself. Get back to work.”
I nodded my head as he walked back over to the fire. I wasn’t going to let either of those things happen, but there was no use in arguing with him over it now. I’d find another way to test if I possessed healing and Alluse powers.
Even though my body ached and throbbed all over and my eyelids grew heavy, the adrenaline pumping through my veins was nothing I’d felt before. I felt wired even though I was drained. I wanted to cling to this feeling—of feeling strong—of controlling elements with my mind. If I could master my abilities, I could fight back. No one would be able to capture me again. I silently made a promise to myself that I would never be locked up in a cell ever again.
I didn’t realize how much time had past until the chill of the night crept back in. I stood on the dock all day practicing. I was thankful whenever I did spray myself with water, even if it was by accident. It helped to wash away the sweat and grime that I knew was all over me. I’d still never properly bathed since the night with Kole, and I didn’t know when I would have the courage to get in a tub again.
A massive wave moved along the lake’s surface, breaking my concentration. Shaking and throbbing, I did my best to focus my thoughts and send it toward the shore but I couldn’t control the momentum. The water had a mind of its own. I turned from the dock to see where it had landed and realized our entire camp was soaked with water.
Oops.
Luckily, the wave just missed our tent and was still relatively dry, but the same couldn’t be said for Sie. The fire was now doused from the water, and Sie was completely drenched. His dark wavy hair fell into his eyes as he peered up at me. I would never forget the smile he had on his face. He seemed young and alive as he looked at me.
“Nicely done. I could have done without being soaked, but good work. Now you need to eat. You look exhausted. Then we can move onto fire.” His grin was flashing wickedly and brilliantly and everything I wanted it to be as I walked over to him and took up a soggy seat by the water-filled fire pit.
I spentthe rest of the night roasting in front of the hot flames of the fire Sie had relit. He stayed awake with me the entire night. I knew he had to be just as tired as I was, but he didn’t show it.
I told Sie about the night I was captured, how my parents died in the flames, or at least, I thought they did. I left out the burn mark on my right calf, and the fact that the flames still haunted me. I didn’t want to possess fire. I didn’t want the ability that killed my family and changed my life. I thought knowing I had water abilities would help overcome my fear of it, but I was wrong. As I stared at the red amber flames licking the night, I heard my mother’s scream. I heard my own screams as the males dragged me over the tile floor, as they held me down, as the skin on my leg melted off. I saw their dark masks, lavender eyes, and smoke seeping in.
So I stared at the flames, watching the wood crackle. The summer sun hung low in the sky, reaching slightly lower and lower each day, warning us that winter was approaching and that the constant six months of darkness was coming.
The water from earlier had dried up from the heat of it. Sie used the remaining sunlight and the orange glow from the pit to continue researching through the Luxian book. I didn’t mind his presence now. I didn’t feel so foolish being around him because I knew at least I had something—some ability. I hadn’t realize how badly I’d wanted that my entire life until I felt the power of commanding the water with my mind, or attempting to. Now, I didn’t know how I’d lived without it.
I slumped down in the seat next to Sie. Only a single small spark flew from the fire throughout the night, and I couldn’t convince myself that it was my doing. I knew I didn’t do anything to the flames. I hadn’t tried as I stared and stared at the thing that haunted me. The fire became a living creature in my nightmares. It moved and breathed and acted on its own accord.
Sie finally convinced me to go into the tent to sleep. “You need to rest, Scotlind. Your mind needs rest and recovery just as much as your physical body does, and you’re shaking from exhaustion. Your reserve isn’t used to being under constant stress.”
“I know,” I admitted, looking down at myself. I’d seen better days. I hadn’t had a proper hot meal since our wedding, and my body was still bruised and cut. “I just really wanted to keep practicing but not with fire anymore.”
He looked at me through the glow, and I thought he was going to ask me why I didn’t want to keep practicing with fire, but instead, he just nodded. “Okay. I know you want to keep going, and we will figure it out, I promise you. But you aren’t doing yourself any favors running yourself thin. We won’t leave until tomorrow night, so you can practice all day tomorrow if you wish. We can move onto air and ground. I’ll find other excuses for us to leave the castle once we return for a bit. You will have more opportunities to practice. We just have to be careful about it, but I need you to sleep now.”
“Okay.” We were both quiet for a few moments. “Sie, can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“When we get back, and you become King, will you change things?”
“What do you mean?”
“You told me on the monorail when I first came to the castle that the High Council was going to make me a servant before my Trials just because I was a rank zero. That’s not fair. There are many rank zeroes in Tennebris. They deserve more than that. They deserve to be treated the same as other ranks. They deserve for things to be fair, to be equal. You will have the power to change things. So will you?”
He sighed loudly, and I knew right away that he wasn’t going to say what I wanted to hear. “No, Scottie. My only concern is you. It will always be you. My focus is to keep you safe, keep you alive. Right now, that’s all I care about.”
“How can you say that when you are going to rule these people? How can you say that you only care about me, one person, when thousands of our kind need your help? You can make a difference.”
“You aren’t a nix anymore, Scotlind. You aren’t one of them,” he said with such a bite that I cringed. The wordsnixandone of themrang through my mind. He’d never said it to me before. He’d never called me a nix.
“Does that really matter? I am still seen as a rank zero to our kind, and even if I wasn’t, it shouldn’t matter. I was treated like them. I know how they feel, what they go through. They’re abused, Sie. I know what they suffer. I know what Alec does to them, and that’s only one Advenian. I cannot stand by anymore and let it happen. I want to fight, to go up against the Council. I want to fight this—”
He cut me off. “They want to kill you. This isn’t the time. Maybe afterward, when you are safe, we can talk about how they are treated and try to come up with a better solution, better conditions for them. We can make it so servants are respected.”
I was fuming.Servants.He said servants like they still only deserved that role. I looked away from him, barely able to stomach it. I was thankful I hadn’t admitted to him that I wanted to join the rebellion. That I’d been thinking about it more and more every day. Even if that meant I had to go up against the youngest Prince of Lux—the Fire Prince.
“But for now,” Sie continued, “I just want to focus on keeping you safe and finding out who is behind this.”
I nodded as I stepped inside our tent and crawled over to my bedroll. Despite being furious with Sie, exhaustion won, and sleep found me immediately. If I had a nightmare, I didn’t remember it.
I wokeup to the sound of footsteps. Multiple footsteps. My eyes bolted open to find Sie in the same shocked position as me. I was about to ask him what was going on when he leaned forward and pressed his hand over my mouth. His other hand went to his own as he held a finger over his lips, ushering me to keep quiet as his golden markings spiraled out across his arms.
