“What did you do to her?” Tezya repeated, his voice menacing as his hand instinctively gripped me tighter.
“I found a way to… manipulate Brock’s ability while combining it with another,” Arcane ground out as he repositioned himself on the ground. The lightning was slowly receding. I glanced at Kole right as he recovered too. “I found a way to zero in on particular senses he can steal…” There was a long pause as Arcane wiggled his fingers beneath the shackles and found his breath again. “I have vials for each one…” He paused again. “I was able to mix it with a paralytic agent that attacks the vocal cords. The King ordered me to take away her ability to speak before the broadcast.” Sie’s head snapped up as Arcane kept talking. “If she doesn’t drink that,” he gestured toward the bottle, “it’ll probably be another twelve hours before she can use her voice. If she takes it… give her ten minutes.”
Tezya strode forward, his one hand still resting on my waist to hold me up, as he grabbed the tube from Savannah with his other. Then he gently turned toward me. “Here.”
I drank from the vial, gagging on the contents that bubbled and clogged my throat. Green liquid spilled from my lips. The feeling of my esophagus starting to expand was the only reason I didn’t hurl everything back up.
“I’m taking her to the healer’s tent,” Tezya announced as I was still choking on the fluid. “I need to make sure she’s not injured. Lock them up.”
Everything hit me at once. I was free. I was out, away from the Lux King and Athler. But my friend wasn’t.
I tried over and over again to form the word I needed to say. I knew Arcane said it would take ten minutes before I couldspeak, but I willed it sooner, praying my enhancement could somehow work to coincide with the serum, but it was no use.
Tezya saw me struggling. “It’s okay, Rumor, don’t try to force it. You’ll be able to speak soon. You’re safe now.”
I shook my head, tears streaming down my face, frustrated that he wasn’t understanding. It wasn’t me I was worried about. I couldn’t lose another friend. I couldn’t lose Vallie the same way I lost Miles. I tried over and over again to form the words as everyone just stared at me. I willed our telepathy to work, attempting to speak with Tezya mind to mind, but even the voice inside my head was dead.
“She’s trying to say…Vallie,” Kole hissed through the lightning still pulsating around his shackles, but he was sitting up now, his head bowed between his knees. “Your father has Vallie.”
FORTY-FOUR
SIE
“All I need isyour invisibility to keep Vallie hidden once I get to her. I’ll do everything else myself,” Peter half sneered at Dovelyn later that day. We were in the princess’s tent—who somehow managed to snag a private one, while everyone else was still stuck sharing.
“And Kallon,” the princess deadpanned, staring at her fingernails. “You would need her to portal you in and out of Lux.” Her cool arrogance seemed to have returned now that she had everything she wanted. Brock was awake and recovering, only Scottie paid the price for it.
The princess blew our cover saving the brute and didn’t seem to have any remorse or regrets about it. I half wondered if she visited Scottie after she returned this morning… If Tezya would even let her. I didn’t know how he could stand looking at his sister. She was selfish as hell and was too caught up in her own world to even care about anyone else. I had no idea why Peter was even bothering with her. She wasn’t going to help.
Peter gritted his teeth. “Fine. All I need is you and Kallon, but neither of you have to lift a finger.”
The princess scoffed. “The last time we went to Lux we were all almost caught. You have Scotlind back, isn’t that enough?”
Peter flexed his fingers and drew out a long breath. It took a lot to piss him off, but I could tell the princess was testing his patience. “If Brock was still there, you’d find it worth it. She’s innocent and being tortured by your father, isn’t that enough?”
“It’s suicide. You can’t rescue her alone,” was all Dovelyn responded with.
“It was impossible when we rescuedhimfrom the prison,” Peter spat at her and half-heartedly gestured toward me, “but we still did it, and we succeeded. All I’m asking is for us to try.”
“That’s different. No one was expecting a break-in inside the prison when we got Sie. We succeeded because the guards were relaxed and there were no tip-offs. Vallie is being kept in my father’s personal chambers. Do you have any idea how heavily guarded they are?”
Peter bristled, hating her words, hating the reminder of all the different kinds of torments the King was inflicting on her. She was beautiful and kind from the little bit of time I’d spent with her when we toured LakeWood, but she wasn’t worth the life of my friend.It was the only thing I agreed with Dovelyn on—that rescuing her alone, right now, was suicide. I knew it wasn’t a fair call, but I cared about Peter more than I did her. I was worried if he went into Lux, he wouldn’t come back.
But a deeper, more selfish part of me was terrified it’d ruin my chances of getting Greyland back. I needed to wait. I had no leads on my brother or mother.
When we questioned Arcane, he refused to talk. But when we went to Kole next, he told us everything we wanted to know—just not about my family. He answered question after question about Vallie, and the moment he admitted she was chained in the King’s room, Peter lost it. I swore he was going to destroy the entire tent when Kole told us that, he was not only torturing her during the day, but forcing her into his bed at night.
I was surprised Kole gave up the information willingly. I had spent hours torturing him for information when he attacked Scotlind back in Tennebris, and he never budged no matter what I did to him. But now, it was too easy. He was telling us everything we wanted to know without hesitation.
Something was off.
“He could be leading you right into a trap,” I added because it was the truth. We caught them both easily, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe it was on purpose. Did they let themselves get caught to set us up? Kole’s rare moment of candor seemed too convenient to be true. And thanks to the Sui Alluse they both ingested right before coming here, I couldn’t compel the answers out of them…yet.
And I planned to do just that. I needed to ask every question imaginable so I could find Greyland.
“We should wait until the Alluse leaves his system,” I said. “I can compel Kole once it does and make sure his story adds up. You just need to wait a little bit longer, Peter.”
“No. That’s out of the question. I’m getting hertonight.”
