“Save my friend.” Arcane leaned back slightly at my request. “Please. She’s innocent in this. Just get her out of here, and I’ll do anything you want.”
“I can’t help her. My father is obsessed with her. You don’t understand what you’re asking.”
“Please,” I added as I looked into his deep silver eyes. They were darker than Tezya’s, not having the added pale blue mixed into it.
“No.”
Heat rose in me as my anger boiled. “Then I’ll tell him about Wells.” I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t risk Savannah’s brother. I knew he didn’t deserve to be brought into this. But if I could convince Arcane I would, if I could get him to help me…
“My father won’t believe you. I never visited the mortal territory like my brother had.”
I needed him to believe me, but I was running out of ideas. If I didn’t get Vallie outnow, I was going to do whatever the King asked during the broadcast.
I felt sick. A lightheadedness took over me, and I became feverish. Arcane was still leaning over the chair, staring directlyat me, his fingers digging into my chin. I glanced down. The needle that was draining my blood was burning my skin, and the collection bag was full, threatening to explode. The next second, the wires burst into flames, catching on the monitor system.
“Shit,” he swore as he leapt off me, out of my line of fire. Without the Alluse chains I could feel the draw to my own powers. I called to the water in the room and doused the fire before the flames burned me.
“Your system is faulty,” I commented as I wiggled out of the crisped, charred wires.
Arcane just looked at me, his eyes widened in shock. “Interesting,” he murmured so softly I almost missed it.
I was about to ask him what was interesting when the King burst into the lab, confirming he was watching us. He seethed at the eldest prince. “What the fuck happened here?”
The silencing bubble disappeared the instant he arrived. “Faulty machinery,” Arcane said.
The King glared at his son as he snapped his fingers. Soldiers rushed into the room and started to surround us. “All you had to do was get a sample of her blood. I told you I needed her unharmed for the broadcast.” I looked down and realized my dress was ruined. “We’re going to the confinement room,” the King added when Arcane didn’t respond. “It seems you require alesson.”
I swallowed, knowing full well what the King’s lessons for his children entailed. Arcane straightened but still didn’t say anything.
“Put her chains back on and bring her to the servants. She needs a new dress,” the King ordered. “I’m going to teach my son what happens when he disappoints me.”
I watched as Arcane followed his father, and as I stared at the back of his silver hair, any hope of saving Vallie before this broadcast went with him.
THIRTY-EIGHT
SCOTLIND
I still wasn’t toldwhat I was expected to do during the broadcast. Soldiers dragged me onto an outdoor stage after servants shoved me into a new dress. I was dripping in diamonds and jewels, and my makeup was done perfectly, hiding any dark circles under my eyes.
The new dress I was in was similar to the first—silk, little fabric, and barely covering. It was more cream than white, and I realized one part of the King’s plan. Almost every inch of my skin was on full display. It was proof I was left untouched. I’d been fed. My body wasn’t too thin for my frame anymore, and there wasn’t a single scratch on me—except for the one on my palm. I didn’t look like a prisoner at all. To anyone else, I looked healthy. The picture perfect image of a guest.
Dying is better than this.Vallie’s last words kept replaying over and over in my head. Would it be a mercy for her if I didn’t obey the Lux King? My throat ran dry. I knew the answer to that. She just watched her twin get maimed and murdered before her eyes. Her twin who she loved more than anyone else in the entire world. Her twin who she gave up her dreams of studying the mortal territory for so she didn’t haveto travel to Lux and be away from him. I was Vallie’s best friend, but Miles was half of her, and now that part of her was dead.
And beyond having to relive the horror of his gruesome death over and over again, of having to stare at his headless body, she was tortured, raped, and abused. While I had been kept unharmed, Vallie wasn’t. She was living through a nightmare. I knew the answer to my question. I knew what I needed to do. I shouldn’t go through with whatever the King demanded. I should set her free, even if that meant destroying myself in the process.
I thought of Sie, of when I was captured by his father, and he had to make the decision to send me to the Lux King instead of killing me himself. Was this how he felt? Because I knew,I knew, I couldn’t do it. I knew I would obey the King. I would recite every damning word he ordered of me. I would stand in silence. I would look pretty. Hell, I’d smile if he asked me to, if it meant keeping her alive. Because I couldn’t live without Vallie.
The Lux King was standing in the center of the stage with Synder as more Tennebrisians started to trickle in. I had no idea what angle they were playing at or what they hoped to accomplish by doing this. It was the first time a broadcast was going out from both kingdoms, the first time they were making one together.
I was left mostly alone, standing off to the side. I assumed it was late in the afternoon, but the sun was still high in the sky, beating down against my back, as everyone worked to set up. Monitors were being stationed throughout the area, and massive cameras were positioned at every corner, exposing every inch of the stage.
The King noticed me. “You lookwell,” he said as he approached.
I straightened my shoulders. “You forgot one minor detail,” I sneered as I held my wrists up before him, my chains rattlingagainst all the jewelry I was wearing. “It will be hard to pass me off as anything but a prisoner while I’m wearing these.”
He smiled and it was all but serpentine. “Do you see that man over there?” he whispered into my ear as he leaned forward. I could feel his breath caress my bare shoulder. My eyes went in the direction he was pointing, and I nodded. “He’s a Vir Alluse user. He’ll be casting his ability on you the entire time your chains are off so you won’t be able to use your abilities. And as far as those go…” He burned the metal off my wrists and ankles. I screamed in surprise as it melted. The King flicked his wrists and blew the remaining ash away on a gust of wind so the stage was left pristine. Then, he used his healing magic to erase the bruises where the shackles had been—the only indication I wasn’t here by choice was now gone.
The moment I was free, I felt new chains clamp around my wrists, neck, stomach, and ankles. I gasped as I looked down at my body but saw nothing. “Your newshacklesare created by my air ability. If I tighten everything just right, they work just as good as metal ones.” An immense pressure pressed against all sides of me, everywhere his air touched, agony followed. He walked, and I fell forward, following him on an invisible tether. He stopped in the middle of the stage. “You will stand here for the duration of the broadcast. You will not show any expressions of malcontent or disagreement. You will follow along with everything being spoken today. You don’t even have to say a word. All I need is for you to stand there and look pretty. If you do anything I don’t agree with, your friend will be dead. Do you understand?”
