“I’ll tell you, but only if you prove I can trust you. For now, all you need to know is you aren’t on Luxian or Tennebrisian soil. Now, do you want to eat or not?”
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to say, “Fine,” because my stomach was growling, and I felt like I was going to pass out if I didn’t get food. But— “Scotlind, can we talk?”
“Um,” she hesitated, and I didn’t miss the subtle glance she gave Tezya. “I think it’s better if we eat first.” With that, she walked out of the tent with the Fire Prince trailing behind her.
Peter grumbled under his breath, “A ‘thank you’would have been nice,” before following both of them out into wherever the hell I was now.
ELEVEN
SCOTLIND
My chest was risingand falling out of rhythm, and I couldn’t steady my heart long enough to hear properly. I was terrified of what would happen when Tezya and Sie saw each other, but I wasn’t expecting to see Tezya holding him down or Sie trying to attack him. I was in more trouble than I thought.
I did my best to ignore the two of them following me. Peter came up next to me, grinning stupidly from ear to ear.
“What?” I snapped at him.
“Nothing. I’m just really,reallygoing to enjoy what you do next. Which is what, by the way?”
I gritted my teeth because I had absolutely no idea what to do.
“Rumor,” Tezya’s voice caught me off guard from behind me. “This way.” He pointed toward a large tent off to my left.
“Right,” I said as I turned to follow him. I had no idea why I decided I could lead the way to dinner. I’d never been here before and had no idea where anything was located.
I followed Tezya toward the dining hall with my head down. I could feel Peter still grinning beside me and knew Sie was somewhere behind us. Loud chatter and the clanging of drinksechoed throughout the tent—tent wasn’t the right word for it. It expanded so far in either direction that it seemed more like a building than fabric thrown together. There was a singular step to get inside with plank flooring covering the ground, giving the illusion it was a room.
A slight hush went over the hundreds of Advenians crammed inside the massive space, but it never fully quieted. An unsettling feeling washed over me as everyone’s eyes momentarily glanced our way. Numerous heads bobbed in time with one another before I realized they were just recognizing Tezya. It was eerie to see so many faces, knowing the King of Lux ordered them all dead. That they would have all been dead if it wasn’t for him.
A girl with lavender hair chopped to her shoulders ran over as soon as she saw us. “Tez!” she screamed and jumped into his arms. He picked her up, her feet lifting off the ground as he twirled her in a circle.
“Sav, I’ve missed you.” He smiled once he set her back down. She was tall, about a whole head over me, but Tezya still towered over her.
A flash of saffron and black whipped through the crowd as Kallon walked over to us, a pitcher of ale in her hand. It was the longest time I’d seen her sporting the same hair colors. “Let me introduce you,” Kallon grinned as she came up next to her.
The lavender-haired girl smiled and it was warm and sweet. She was breathtaking in a unique way. I’d never seen a female like her before. Her energy matched her bouncy form. A thick silver hoop jutted from the side of one nostril and large feathered earrings dangled from her ears.
My eyes drifted down her outfit. She wore a similar shirt to the one Tezya gave me when we visited the mortal world for the first time. It had the same ugly green man on it holding a beverage. This time reading,the froth is strong with this one.A jacket was tied around her waist, leaving a small sliver of her abdomen ondisplay from where the shirt cropped. I couldn’t help but notice she didn’t have any scars—at least none that were showing—and I wondered what that was like.
“Sav, this is Scottie, Peter, and Sie. Everyone, this is Savannah Dravenburg,” Kallon said, in between taking a sip from her ale.
“Nice to meet you all.” Savannah grinned, and I hated how musically sweet her voice sounded. My gut twisted with unexpected jealousy as I kept wondering who she was to Tezya, and the image of him picking her up as she jumped into his arms kept replaying in my head.
“Sav is the daughter of the commander who runs the camp,” Kallon added.
“And how do you all know each other?” the girl asked, tucking a strand of her purple hair behind her ear. More earrings went up the entire length of her earlobe.
Kallon answered her. “Well, Scottie here was married to Sie, who used to be the Dark Prince of Tennebris, but he isn’t anymore. He’s technically a convict now. They annulled their marriage prior to him becoming a criminal-on-the-run-fugitive, and now she has a thing for my fiancé. Really, I can’t blame the girl, she has a hot prince complex.”
My jaw dropped. “Thanks for that, Kallon,” I muttered, heat rising to my cheeks.
“I’m just stating facts, babes.” Kallon winked.
Peter grinned so wide I thought his dimples would reach the inside of his skull. “I like you. A lot.”
Kallon returned his smile and offered him a sip of her ale. “And this is Peter, from Tennebris. No one knows anything about him, except he’s friends with these two, and he was kidnapped wearing a dress.” She gestured toward Peter who was taking a long sip from Kallon’s drink, but I could still see him grinning through the rim of the glass.
“It’s better that way,” I mumbled, knowing full well Peter was going to hound me for the introduction later.
