I narrowed my eyes. “It’s none of your business.”
She shrugged. “Seeing as we’re risking my brother and the safety of the camp to get this girl back, I would say it’s a little bit my business. I don’t see how one girl is worth all of this.”
Was she? Was Scotlind worth risking the camp? Her sapphire eyes seemed to stare at me even though I knew she was in Lux at the King’s mercy. I owed her this much. I owed it to her to be the one to rescue her this time. Sending her to Lux in the first place was my biggest regret. I was constantly thinking about how things would have played out differently if I’d just rescued her in the Tennebrisian dungeons, if we ran away together and escaped all of this, leaving our world behind. But somehow I didn’t think Scottie would have been happy. She wasn’t the type to be content while others suffered. I knew she wanted to change things. Knew her dreams were equal parts risky and terrifying, but she would have always regretted not fighting back. She would have resented me if I had taken her away back then. And now, if we can manage to save her, she’d finally get the chance to do what she always wanted.
“Scotlind would think it was worth it if it was you in her place. She wouldn’t hesitate to risk her life to save someone she didn’t know,” I finally said because it was the truth. She would have stopped at nothing to help someone. She fought fearlessly for those who needed it. “She was only captured because she saved us, giving us time to escape. If it wasn’t for her we would all be rotting in the dungeons in Lux right now.”
Savannah nodded. Her lavender hair falling over her face before she tucked a strand back. More silver jewelry lined the curve of her ear.
We both mindlessly went to work, scoping out the rest of the area in silence. When we finished and were certain therewouldn’t be any surprises, she said, “I have a question about your abilities.”
“Okay.” I didn’t know if I was going to answer her or not. I hadn’t spoken a lick of my powers to these people or to anyone really. It was technically considered rude to ask abrupt questions in Tennebris, but my interest was piqued.
“If you teleport today, would it drain all of your reserves or would you still be good for tomorrow?”
“Why?” I asked. I was even more surprised she understood how our abilities worked. That she knew about reserves and how only time refilled them. I guess having best friends as powerful Advenians would do that.
“Because I want you to take me somewhere.”
“I can jump and be fine by tonight.”
“Great,” she smirked, closing the distance between us. I stilled as her hand slid into mine, surprised that they were just as callused. I could feel her knuckles jut out from the rest of her fingers. “I’ll tell you which direction to go.”
The girl was crazy. The fact that this didn’t scare her, the fact thatIdidn’t scare her. Half of Tennebris was terrified of me, and they had some sort of power to defend themselves with. But she had nothing, yet she wasn’t intimidated at all.
I had to be just as insane to agree, to actually use my ability for a mortal’s request, but gazing into her eyes, she didn’t look very human.
THIRTY-FIVE
SCOTLIND
I jumpedat the sound of her voice. I was numb, frozen in time, that I’d forgotten where I was and what had happened. I tried to disassociate, to imagine any other outcome of my life other than what it actually was.
Four days had passed. Four days of not speaking. Four days of not being able to stomach looking at Vallie, of being too much of a coward to muster the courage. Her nickname for me flashed in my mind:Scottie-cat.Because growing up Vallie was always the fearless one. I just put on a brave face and pretended—pretended because I had no other choice.
But I couldn’t pretend what happened away. I couldn’t pretend Miles was still alive.
Arcane came to sample my blood every morning, my only indication another day had ticked by. I was thankful the King was preoccupied with preparing for the broadcast that he didn’t force me to eat my daily meal. I preferred the hunger. If there was anything in my stomach, I would have just vomited it up the moment I was forced to shove it down.
He barely slept in his bed, which meant it had been four days since he used Athler’s pheromones and forced Vallie into it. Wewere chained in his antechamber room. Forced to do nothing but try and avoid looking at what was left of Miles.
The stench of all the death was appalling, but the King’s pride wouldn’t move the dead servant or my friend from the floor. Miles was starting to decay now. I knew the servant was worse, but I couldn’t brave a look. All I could do was stare forward and pretend he wasn’t there. But we were forced to stare at Miles… He was positioned in between Vallie and me in a way that made it impossible not to see what was left of him whenever I looked at her. My vision tunneled in on him before I quickly jerked my head up to find Vallie already staring at me.
“What?” I asked. My voice was raw. We hadn’t spoken. I’d thought about what to say every second of every day that had passed, trying to figure out how to apologize. But every time I tried to speak, words never came out. I didn’t know where to start. I couldn’t fix this.
“I said I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” I breathed. I would do anything for her.
“I need you to not go through with whatever the King wants from you,” she whispered, surprising me.
“What? Vallie, I can’t. If I don’t…” I hesitated, trying to avoid looking at what was left of Miles, but it was impossible. I focused on the chain link in front of me, on where it connected to the floor. I counted them numerous times. There were fifty of them in total—at least the portion of it I could see. “Vallie, if I don’t do it, he’ll kill you too.”
“I know.”
My eyes snapped up, meeting her gaze, and I was surprised to find them clear. Some time during the third day she stopped crying, but her eyes were still red and swollen. She was determined, her mind made up. “Don’t let him die in vain. Don’t let the King win. Whatever it is he wants you to do, don’t do it.”
“No.” I shook my head, tears falling down my cheeks. “No. I won’t let you die. I can’t…”
