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“I’m going to die because of you,” I muttered into his chest as my sobs took over. He pulled me closer to him, and I let him as he ran his fingers through my matted hair.
“No, you won’t. I promise,” he said, but it seemed like he was trying to convince himself more than me. We both knew that someone out there had the knowledge that I was Luxian. Whoever Kole was working for now knew about me.
It took multiple jumps,but once we were close to the castle, Sie teleported us right into our room. Peter was already waiting for us, along with a healer. Sie told me that he had used his telepathy to explain everything to Peter once we got in close range of the grounds. I could tell using his abilities was taxing on him, the Alluse injection not entirely out of his system. His face was drained of color, and beads of sweat had formed on his forehead by the time we stumbled into the room.
Sie looked at the healer. “Heal her first.” He walked away before the healer could respond. I strained to listen from the sofa as Sie and Peter spoke softly.
The healer worked on me, scanning my body for cuts and bruises, allowing them to heal faster as that strange blue light radiated from her fingertips. I recognized her from the first time Kole attacked me. The only difference between now and then was that there was more of me to heal. She didn’t waiver. Even as her hands shook with the effort, she kept healing.
When she started to restitch my thigh, I asked, “What is your name?” I needed a distraction. Not from the pain of the needle, my body was oozing in agony already, but from my thoughts, and I realized I’d never asked her before.
Her beautiful, coral eyes locked on me. They were the deepest pink I ever saw with small specks of gold so tiny that I wouldn’t have noticed it if I wasn’t gawking at them. She was breathtaking. Her black, coily curls were tied up in a high bun, showing off every detail of her rich skin. Three large freckles rested on the center of her cheek like a triangle that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from. “I’m Molilyn,” she said sweetly, “but everyone calls me Moli.”
“Thank you, Moli, for helping us.”
She paused from her healing, her blue light fading back into her as she looked me over. “It is my pleasure, Princess.” Beads of sweat rolled down her beautiful face and were slowly drenching her healer’s uniform. A golden sun was etched onto the fabric between her breasts, indicating that she was from Lux here by a visa. Looking into her gaze, I would have known even without the symbol of Light that she was from my home island. Her eyes reminded me of a setting sun, so low in the sky that the colors of gold and pink took over its descent. I hated that Tennebris didn’t have sunsets, that I could only see them through pictures in a book.
“Scottie. Please call me Scottie.” I smiled as Peter made his way over to me with food—bread, fruit, pastries, and eggs. My mouth watered as I filled my stomach with as much of it as I could.
Sie walked into the bathing room shortly after eating himself. I assumed to bathe and wash off the blood. Once he re-emerged with wet hair and mostly clean skin, he ordered me to do the same.
Sie barely sat for ten minutes with the healer before walking out of the room. He only had her heal crucial injuries and his superficial wounds. Enough to appear that he wasn’t injured when he wore his usual black shirts and pants.
“Where is he going?” I asked Peter. I instinctively reached up to clutch my necklace, but my hands came up bare, remembering that Kole took it off of me.
Peter looked over in the direction Sie had left. “Just wash, Scotlind. You will find out soon enough.” I didn’t have the energy to fight back or ask more questions. I realized that I trusted them, both of them, so I did as he said.
The walk to the bathing room wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was surprised at the extent to which Moli had healed me. I barely limped as I opened the door.
But then I saw it. I vomited three times before glancing at the tub. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get in it. I kept thinking about Kole pushing my head against the tile, holding me there. I could feel his chest vibrate against my back as he laughed while I struggled. My body felt chilled from the coldness of the water. I heard Sie’s muffled shouts. A burning rose in my chest as I started hyperventilating.
No. I couldn’t get in. Even though I knew now that it wouldn’t kill me.Water couldn’t kill me.There was something about the tub itself I couldn’t face yet. I asked Moli to wet some washcloths for me and bathed the best I could after she left.
I’d almost gotten all the blood and grime off of me by the time Sie cracked the door open and stepped inside. I tried to cover myself with the fabric I was holding, but Sie didn’t seem to notice.
He glanced from me to the empty tub. I was sitting furthest from it on the other side of the room, doing a terrible job of a cloth bath. He didn’t say anything about why I hadn’t gotten in it, or why I could barely look at it. His eyes drifted back to mine as he said, “We have to leave.”
“Leave to go where?” I asked as I quickly grabbed fresh clothes to change into.
He smiled lightly, not quite reaching his eyes. “I believe I owe you a honeymoon.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
SCOTLIND
Sie must have teleportedus thirty times before we reached our destination. I swayed on my feet when he finally set me down on the ground, my vision still blurry from the dizzying world that flew by from the speed we were traveling. I made it all of two jumps before my stomach threatened to spill the remainder of the food Peter gave me that I clamped my eyes shut the rest of the time. My knees wobbled as I tried to steady myself. A wave of nausea ran through me as my stomach was in a constant flutter.
“That feeling is normal,” Sie said. “It used to take Peter an hour before he felt okay after a teleport. Now he refuses to come with me when I jump.”
I nodded my head, unable to muster a conversation, too worried I would vomit. Taking a few steady breaths, I finally willed my eyes to open. I gasped as I looked around.
I’d never seen anything so beautiful. A massive lake stretched before me with white glaciers settled in the back. A fog was floating above the surface, but underneath it, the water was unmoving. A few birds chirped from within the shield, an echoing song, letting me know I was alive. I survived. I hadn’t truly let myself believe it yet.
My toes curled into the rocky ground. Small pebbles and stones ran from the woods at our backs to the edge of the water, a long wooden dock stretching between them. I inhaled deeply, letting the woody scent linger in my lungs. It was so refreshing after being locked in that cell—after only smelling blood and sweat.
Other than an occasional chirping, we were alone.
“What are we really doing here?” I asked Sie as he started to set up a camp with a makeshift fire and tent. One tent. I didn’t know what a honeymoon was, but I had the feeling he’d made it up.
