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I knew he was using his ability to access the minds of whoever had come to our tent, so I kept quiet and waited. When his markings faded, he couldn’t hide the terror on his normally blank face.
“Stay here,” he breathed, but someone pulled open the flaps to our tent just as he was about to exit.
I blinked, once, twice, before my mind believed what my eyes were seeing. Sie’s father, along with ten other guards from the castle, were standing outside our camp.
His father drew a mischievous grin. “Son, I think it’s time you and your nix get out of your tent.” Nix.Nix.He couldn’t even refer to me by my name or acknowledge me as Sie’s wife. I’d been called that my entire life, but something about the way he said it, his tone, seemed different. Like I was just Sie’s useless property.
A muscle quivered in Sie’s jaw as his hands balled into fists. Releasing, flexing, releasing, flexing. I kept staring at his hands, waiting for what Sie would do. He finally nodded and said, “We’ll be right out. Give us a minute.”
His father looked at me and smiled. “Make it fast.”
As soon as the tent flapped shut, Sie swung over to me and had my necklace off before I could even blink.Don’t tell them anything, Scotlind. Not a damn thing.
My eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of their sockets as I stared into his black ones. I swallowed and nodded as he re-clasped the necklace back around my neck and tucked it into my shirt. Then, he took his calloused hand in mine and ushered us out of the tent.
“Interesting,” Sie’s father mused with a horrid smirk on his face as he looked between the two of us. His gaze flicked over my disheveled hair, then our hands. “It’s funny. I returned to the castle to find out that my son, the future King, had decided to take a little trip with his whore. You must have had a rough night because she doesn’t look well.”
His father ignored Sie’s death glare and the puff of breath he released. Instead, he held up the restricted texts of Lux. “It’s interesting how you found the time to do leisurely reading amongst all the fucking. That is what you told the Council was it not? That you wanted alone time with her?” Now his gaze rested on me.
“First off, she is my wife. Not awhore. You can refer to her by her title as she will be your future Queen. I don’t care if you and I are blood-related. If you offend her again, it will be your last.” Sie paused. I saw his chest rise and fall. He squeezed my hand before he continued, “And secondly, I will be the King. I thought it would be best to do my research regarding the Lux Kingdom. A good ruler would be wise to know their potential enemies and what they are capable of. I do believe that was one of your lessons. Wouldn’t you say so,Father? Or should I say Commander now? I guess congratulations are in order. You seemed rather busy while I was away.”
The Commander laughed. “I hope you enjoyed her while you could. You’re needed by King Lunder and the High Council. I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut your little trip short. My apologies.”
“Fine. We’ll meet you back at the castle tonight,” Sie said, unflinching, unyielding any hint if he was nervous about what was to come. I didn’t know if the Commander’s comment meant something more.
“I’m afraid we are leavingnow.”
“You and I both know I am capable of teleporting. I’ll take Scotlind back to the castle myself,” Sie remarked.
His father held out a piece of paper and passed it to Sie. Sie dropped my hand as he reached for it. I tried to see what it read but couldn’t with the blinding sun in my eyes. “As you can see, it’s a direct order from the King himself. We will be escorting you both back by our own transport immediately. Your teleportation is not necessary. I think it would be best for yourwifeif you did as you were told. And I would strongly advise that you don’t ruin everything we’ve worked for just for one girl because it won’t matter in the end. According to that,” he gestured to the paper, “we have permission to act as necessary if you do not comply.”
Sie’s jaw tightening and clenching was the only indication of worry on his face. He didn’t say anything back to his father or the other guards. He didn’t bother packing up our camp as he stalked off after them. Whatever that letter said, it wasn’t good. Not knowing what else to do, I followed Sie, not daring to speak a word.
They directed us into a black car that zoomed off immediately for the monorail. No one said anything. No one spoke. Once we got to the monorail, I was all too aware of the three guards hovering close to me and the other seven by Sie.
Then everything happened so fast. They separated us, pushing us into different compartments. My stomach tightened as the Commander followed me into mine. The door slid shut behind us.
“What a magnificent little thing you are. I have to commend you for your efforts. You almost, almost, got away with it,” the Commander sneered. Shackles clamped down on my arms and my legs. I immediately felt the Alluse running through my veins, working fast to halt my newly-found powers. I was about to fight back when a sharp pinch flared on my thigh as one of the guards injected me with something. I saw a flash of the clear liquid before it disappeared beneath my skin. I looked into the Commander’s dark eyes before the world around me went black.
Another damp,cold cell greeted me when I woke up from whatever sedative they had injected me with. My hands reached for my throat, but my necklace was gone. I was stripped of my clothes, and in its place was a thin, scratchy, brown slip. At least I thought it was brown through the dim flicker of a torch a few feet away.
A shiver went through me as my bare thighs touched the cold stone floor. My back was propped against a concrete wall while the other three walls were contained of thick iron bars, clustered together so tight that only my arm could pass through them. My legs just barely stretched out in front of me. I brought my knees to my chest, holding on to myself for warmth and comfort that didn’t come.
Closing my eyes, I tried to steady my breathing as I desperately convinced myself that the walls weren’t caving in on me, that I was breathing. I was still alive, that had to be a good sign, right? How could I end up chained again and in another cell? What did that letter say to change everything? The past couple of days, Sie talked about how he would protect me, how nothing would happen to me, and now here I was in another prison, but this time I was alone.
I didn’t see Sie again for the rest of the day. I didn’t know if I would ever see him again.
FORTY
SIE
I knew instantlywe were caught. My father knew about Scottie and wasn’t planning on keeping it a secret any longer. There was no other explanation as to why he was here. But I didn’t think it would go down like this. I thought, at least, we would make it back into the castle. Then I planned on grabbing her, finding Peter, and teleporting us away.
But they pushed her into a compartment before slamming me into another one. Seven guards held me back as I started to fight them to make my way toward her. I was seconds away from using my compulsion even though I hated it. It felt sick and wrong to control people, but I didn’t care. I would use it to get to her. I would do anything to keep her safe.
But then I felt it. My powers fading into nothing until I was empty. Alluse shackles were clamped around my wrists and chained to the wall.
My father wasn’t in the compartment with me, and a horrible feeling washed over me once I realized who that meant he was with. Shit. Shit. Shit. I couldn’t do this again. I couldn’t watch her be hurt again.
