That’s when I saw him. I was looking up into familiar dark eyes. Sie materialized out of thin air as Dovelyn’s invisibility went away. A soft clapping noise sounded from behind us as Arcane and Athler came into view. They had black masks covering their noses and mouths.
“I’m quite impressed,” Athler crooned, his voice altered through the mask. The only thing I could see were his dull opal eyes. “You managed to hold off longer than I thought.” He was pushing Dovelyn in front of him, a knife held to her throat, as Arcane was holding Brock.
He was alive.
Thick-chained shackles were clamped over his wrists and ankles. He was still a massive, looming figure—still the strongest Advenian I knew—but it was due to his broad frame and height. His muscles were melting off his body from weeks of being the King’s captive, and any part of his skin that was exposed through his ragged clothes had varying colors of bruises hidden underneath layers and layers of dried blood.
His left eye was sunken in while his right was swollen shut. I caught a glimpse of red covering each of his fingers, but Irefused to look at the cause. And by the way he was limping, his ankles had to be mangled…
Guilt wrecked me because while we’d been safe at the camp, Brock was here, being tortured by Athler and the King.
Sie slowly trailed his hand down my shoulders to wrap around my waist. Once he tightened his hold on me, he teleported—or he tried to teleport. We both fell to the ground a few feet back from where we were originally standing.
Athler’s laugh was piercing, echoing through the open rotunda. We never made it to the beach. We were nowhere close to the portal. The streets were eerily quiet. All I heard was the distant lap of waves, teasing us that the ocean was just out of reach.
Opal eyes stared right into mine as Athler pressed the knife further into Dovelyn. Tears streaked down her face, and I knew it wasn’t for the blade at her throat, but the man she loved next to her.
“You’ll find you won’t be able to use your abilities for a long, long time,” Athler said, and I knew he was smiling without seeing his mouth.
“What did you do to us?” Sie seethed.
“It’s called vapor Alluse. All you have to do is inhale the substance, and you’ll be rendered powerless. It’s relatively new. Prince Arcane just finished creating it, so beyond knowing it will linger in your systems, side effects haven’t fully been worked out, and you both just breathed in a rather large dose.”
Terror ripped through me as I realized the vapor was why I felt so drained. Even without the Alluse now coursing through me, I’d used all my enhancement trying to fight it off. The same thing must have happened to Dovelyn. Air users could erect a shield to protect themselves against Alluse, but if the vapor was in the air, if it was too overpowering, it would have completely depleted her reserves. None of us had our abilities, and I had no idea how we were supposed to get out of this.
“What do you want,” Sie gritted from behind me, his arm never left my waist as we both slowly stood up.
Athler tilted his head. “I want all of you.”
“I’ll make a trade,” I blurted before I even registered what I said, but I couldn’t let us all get caught. If I did, this would all be for nothing. And Tezya… I couldn’t imagine what they’d do to him again. I kept picturing that room, that knife in his thigh…
He laughed. “What can you offer us that we can’t already take?”
“Let them go free,” I gestured toward Brock, Dovelyn, and Sie, “and I’ll willingly go with you.”
Dovelyn’s eyes widened. Brock stirred from where he was barely standing up but didn’t say anything. I didn’t know if he was even capable of words right now. Sie’s grip around me tightened, but I forced myself to shrug him off.
“No,” Sie said, but I ignored him, looking only at Athler.
I gestured to Sie. “He escaped the most dangerous prison both kingdoms share, and he was wearing Alluse chains at the time. What makes you think he won’t escape your dungeons? Escape and free us all too. You’ll be left with nothing when the King comes back.”
Athler and Arcane both shuffled from foot to foot. They assessed Sie in a new light, looking at him like he was a threat too dangerous to handle, and by the way Sie was seething over my words, it was working.
I was bluffing. Sie was strong, but without being able to use our abilities, we didn’t stand a chance against them. But they seemed to be considering it, so I prayed to Pylemo that I could make this trade before Tezya showed up. Dovelyn said the King’s priority would be me, so I just had to convince them to take the bait.
“The last time you were supposed to watch two prisoners,we both escaped. Do you really want to disappoint your father by letting that happen again?”
“I accept,” Arcane said, and I knew I struck a nerve with him.
Athler whipped his head to the prince. “Don’t be stupid. One prisoner, no matter how badly the King wants her, is not worth more than others.”
“I’ll switch her for Brock then,” Arcane said. Sie was still free. He could escape easily if he wanted, but I knew he wouldn’t leave without me. I looked over at the princess and found her already staring at me, a pleading look in her eyes. The knife at her throat had slackened by Athler’s shock from Arcane. He wasn’t paying attention.
“Let Brock go, and I’ll take his place,” I said, willing my voice to be steady, to sound sure of myself, but my heart was hammering in my chest, and I couldn’t fully comprehend what I was doing. I started slowly making my way toward Brock. Sie went to move as Athler turned his attention back to him.
Arcane straightened. “Deal. You for Brockwich.” I could tell they weren’t planning on letting Dovelyn go. They’d still try to take us all despite the trade.
I searched my strength for any last remnant of my power. Then, struggling through the emptiness in my veins, I sent one last message to Sie.Trust me.The words came out weak, but I knew he heard it. His fists clenched into balls at his side, but he let me go. I needed him to believe I had some sort of plan in order for this to work. Because the reality of this was a fool’s errand. I knew that, but I couldn’t think about it right now. I just needed to make sure he didn’t come after me.
