“I need to warn you, some of the footage we’re about to show you is graphic.” My heart fell into my gut at Synder’s words.Footage.He said footage. Alec smirked at me, but my eyes were set on Kole as he handed a disc over to one of the camera men. The next moment my face flashed on the screen, but it was a still image, the video not yet playing.
Synder kept talking, “You see, Sie set Scotlind up. He framed her and made it look like she had an affair when, in fact, it was all orchestrated by him to get rid of her. And for that, Scotlind, we apologize.” A wave of sorrow and sadness washed through my body. I tasted salty tears as my lips parted in shock. For a second, all I felt was hate toward Sie. Everything he’d ever done to me hit me like a tidal wave.
Then it lessened a fraction, and I knew it was Athler manipulating me. I tried again and again to find myself, to gain some control over my emotions, but everything felt amplified. I couldn’t shake the sadness away or stop the tears from flowing. I felt the emotions as my own even as some deeper part of me was fighting against the Vir Alluse user.
“Sie has always treated Scotlind terribly. He never wanted her to be his wife. We realized the truth once we had a compulsion user go into Scotlind’s memories and what we found was maltreatment and abuse.”
The video started playing. It was edited clips of Sie and me, confirming everything they were saying. The Lux King must have saved this from when I was in the monitor room, but they cut and clipped my memories. They only showed the bad, and I was shocked at how much footage they had.
The video started the moment I was selected as Sie’s wife. The disgust on his face was evident as I walked up to the stage.How he refused to look at me, how he stormed away the moment it was done. Then it showed Sie flirting with other girls, and lots of them, and besides Reagan, no two were the same. It played clips from the night of our engagement banquet, to footage I’d never seen before. My chest tightened when the night Alec compelled me to play surrender came up next, of Sie watching me while Reagan and the brunette were kissing his neck and practically sitting on top of him. I was as mortified as the audience—everyone from both kingdoms—watched as I crawled on the floor, as I kissed his boot, as I sat on his lap, and he smirked down at me. His demeanor was relaxed and arrogant, even though I knew the truth. They didn’t censor anything. They showed me stripping while Sie did nothing to stop it. Then our wedding night was next. The screen went black, but the sounds were all but damning. It played out the loud, resounding noises of Sie flipping the table over to him pounding against the door, and then the screen flashed to the aftermath the next day. Our room was completely destroyed. Next they aired clips of me limping. I couldn’t walk right, but it wasn’t from Sie. It was because Kole cut into my leg, but they got the timeline wrong. They made it look like my injuries were from sharing one wedding night with him. I no longer went to my lessons. I looked terrified, scared, and weak. They edited it in a way that looked like he forced himself on me. They showed every horrible thing Sie ever did when we were back in Tennebris. The video ended with our marriage being annulled. The last image was a still of me—proof that I’d been beaten, starved, and on the brink of death.
Everyone in the audience was staring at me. My tears had dried, and Athler didn’t need to alter my emotions. Embarrassment and shock coursed through me. My heart was beating out of my chest, and I couldn’t suppress my ragged breathing.
Alec stepped forward now. “Sie compelled me to treat his wife like that,” he started. “He compelled me many times beforethat actually, all on rank zeroes. I didn’t realize what was happening. I have compulsion myself, but Sie would compel me before the party started. He’d tell me word for word what he wanted me to do to Scotlind, and I…” he stopped speaking like he was fighting what he wanted to say next. “There are even more horrific things he made me do to her that were too graphic to show. I have trouble even thinking about them. He wanted her to suffer, but he didn’t want to frame himself for it, so he used his total mind control on me.” He shuddered as he turned toward me. “I have nightmares thinking about all the ways I harmed you. I’m so sorry, Scotlind.”
I could barely stomach to listen as Alec spun his twisted version of what happened. But one thing was completely certain, after today, Sie would have a massive target on his back. He wouldn’t be able to leave the camp without having to worry about every single Advenian from both kingdoms trying to kill him, and I got the sinking feeling he would have been better off left in the prison.
He was as good as dead.
THIRTY-NINE
TEZYA
Wells calledus into his tent just as the broadcast started. He learned how to hack into all official airings years ago. It was deemed a necessary skill by Dravenburg. He wanted to keep up with what was happening in our world, especially during the times it’d take me months to visit. I’d never been more grateful for it than now.
I was out of breath, partly from sprinting to his tent, and partly because ofher. My heart was racing, and I couldn’t stop the ringing in my ears as all my senses solely honed in on Scotlind. She was alive. My eyes kept scanning every inch of her body, searching for any signs of abuse.
I was relieved to find her unharmed, but I didn’t for a second believe that meant they weren’t torturing her or making her life a living hell. The King was creative when it came to inflicting pain. He knew precisely what to do to hurt the most, while not making it obvious to anyone else. The worst scars he left were invisible.
Alive. Alive. Alive.
I kept repeating the word over and over again, not fully believing it. I couldn’t stop staring at her. I had to force myselfto actually pay attention and not lose myself at finally seeing her. I ground my teeth together, fighting against my rage over the whole damn situation—about the King having her in the first place. He was fucking flaunting her. He knew I’d be watching. He knew I’d see her and come running straight into his waiting trap, begging for her back. And fuck, it was working.
I stood paralyzed, half staring at Scotlind, half zoning out what was happening. I was sick, beyond terrified that this was going to mess everything up, that this was what Dovelyn saw in her vision weeks ago.
Every day, I fought against Sie’s compulsion. And every day, I got no closer to breaking it. But the trade was supposed to be tomorrow—providing this broadcast didn’t fuck everything up.
We were all crammed into Wells’ tent, our bodies shoulder to shoulder as we watched the King’s lies unfold, leaving us in complete horror. But I barely noticed anyone else. The room was deathly quiet. Everyone was just as shocked about how they were manipulating what happened. They were damning Sie and digging his grave deeper and deeper.
I forced myself to tear my eyes off of Rumor for a split second and was surprised to find him standing directly next to me. His face showed a calm, lethal rage. He didn’t do anything but stand there, his eyes fixed on the screen, stuck in pure shock just like I was.
The fucking compulsion user the King kept around came onto the stage, and I was about to lose it when they started playing a video of Sie and Scottie. My fists curled at my sides, and my jaw was clenched so tight I thought my teeth were going to crack. The King had the fucking audacity to put the damning footage on display for the whole fucking world to see. I knew how badly those memories affected her.
The original footage was bad enough, but they tampered with it, making it look worse. If I hadn’t seen everything with my own eyes, if I hadn’t been there the day the King hooked herup to the monitors, I would’ve believed what I was watching. But I saw everything she lived through that day, and I hadn’t forgotten a single second of it. Everything she experienced was seared into my memory like it was my own.
Sie was a dick to her. He made mistakes. I’d been pissed at him ever since I watched her life unfold. But I knew deep down, even though everything he did was wrong, he acted with her best interest at heart. He was trying to protect her when he ignored her before their marriage, but now it just looked like he was repulsed by her.
They framed it to look like Sie was the reason Scotlind got a zero brand on both of her wrists. They manipulated the video and edited it in such a way to make it seem like he set the whole thing up just to hurt her.
Then, the night she was compelled started playing on the screen, and I was going to fucking lose it. It took everything in me not to break the screen as I watched her undress, as everyone had a full view of her almost naked body. The video kept playing, kept showing more damning footage.
When it finally ended, Alec started talking, further confirming everything we just watched on the screens. I barely heard it. All I could do was focus on her again. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong.
Synder stepped forward after Alec finished. “Sie went as far as murdering King Lunder,” he said. “He went to our former king and begged for a new wife, but when Lunder denied the request, he orchestrated his death in retaliation. We have a testimony to prove it.”
A healer stepped forward. I knew she was Luxian by her coral eyes. Her legs were shaking slightly beneath her dress as she was forced to walk to the middle of the stage. Sie went deathly still next to me. I heard his breathing hitch and figured he probably knew the girl.
“Moli’s a healer who’s been stationed in Tennebris. She hasbeen working for the Noren household since Sie was ten and was transferred to tend to him at the castle when he was crowned the prince. Is that correct?” Synder asked her. Moli nodded, a brown spiral curl falling onto her face, covering three triangular moles across her cheek.
