“Then what happened?”
“Scottie tried to kill me.” I stilled, unsure what to make of that statement. Dovelyn slowly picked her head back up, her silver eyes meeting mine. “And she would have,couldhave. She almost did.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s fine,” she scoffed again, but a sly smile formed over her cracked lips. “I’m glad that’s all you care about though. Where your girlfriend is, instead of how your sister is doing.”
I didn’t comment on the girlfriend part. Scotlind wasn’t mine,even if I wanted her to be. “What happened?” I asked again. Regardless that neither one of them liked each other, I couldn’t figure out what would drive Rumor to murder. She had plenty of reasons throughout her life—numerous people who wronged her—but she never did. She didn’t have a vengeful bone in her body. So what did Dovelyn do that threw her over the edge?
“She tried to pull all the water out of my body.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, unsure where this was going. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to know more:whyshe almost killed Dovelyn orhowshe did it. I told her water was everywhere and in everything. Advenian blood was made up of sixty percent of it, so I knew it was possible. But to have that kind of control to separate it and with no experience…
“Tezya, she was seconds away from doing it when I erected a shield,” she admitted. “She was going to shift every drop of water out of my cells and drain me. You know how they always say if you can create instead of manipulate, you’re a higher rank?”
I nodded.
“Well it’s not only because creating takes more skill. Usually, anyone who can create an elemental ability naturally has more reserves.”
I nodded again, already knowing all of this.
“And you know that I have the largest air reserves?” she asked, and I knew she wasn’t saying it to brag. She was just stating a fact. Her Trials had all of Lux talking about her for years. Her reserves were off the charts.
“Yes, Dovelyn, I’m aware. What are you getting at?”
“Scottie’s water ability is stronger than my air ability, despite the fact that she can only manipulate. I think she’s a lot stronger than we think.”
“What makes you say that?” It wouldn’t surprise me. I remembered how she drained the entire pool back in Lux and that was fairly early into her training. It took most Adveniansyears to master their element effortlessly, and she was learning really fast, unnaturally fast. The way she was manipulating and moving water matched someone who had been training for decades, and she’d only just started weeks ago. But I was surprised Dovelyn had noticed. She wasn’t someone who was easily impressed.
“Because she would have killed me if she wasn’t accidentally saving me at the same time. My air shield was weakening. I was on the verge of dropping it. I think Scottie could sense it with her other ability. I would have died if she hadn’t used her enhancement to strengthen my shield. Her water ability would have overpowered my air.”
“Shit,” I cursed. If the King knew how powerful she was, he would be after her even more than he already was. And she used both of her abilities at once. It was incredibly hard to do and taxing beyond belief. If you wanted a way to completely drain everything you had, that was how you did it.
It was all the more reason to train her. I knew she was improving. She could decide what ability to focus on in controlled settings with her enhancement and was starting to pick up on different powers, but if she were to fight in this war, I didn’t want to risk her accidentally making the abilities of whoever she was up against stronger. She had a habit of losing control when her emotions were heightened, and I didn’t want to give anyone an advantage over her.
“Why?” I asked.
“Why, what?”
“Why did she try to kill you, Dove?”
She was silent for a long moment that I didn’t think she was going to tell me. Her eyes were searching mine, debating. I knew she was keeping secrets from me. She and our mother had been my entire life, but I was done looking the other way. I waited for her to collect herself.
Then she told me everything.
FOURTEEN
SCOTLIND
I’d refusedto train with Dovelyn again, and mercifully, Tezya didn’t question me on it.
Instead, all I’d been doing was letting my thoughts fester, and I found myself thinking about Vallie a lot.
I missed her. I was happy she wasn’t here, that she was safe and far away from the mess I’d gotten myself into, but I desperately wanted to talk to her about everything.
She’d be happy here too. Vallie always had a fascination with the mortal territory and would probably hound the lavender-haired girl for every nitty-gritty detail about her life.
I knew deep down she’d agree with what the rebellion was fighting for, even though we never talked about it.
