I scanned the group around us, looking for red hair. “Where is she?” I asked, my voice breathless.
“She’s already with the healers. Peter took her there as soon as they came back. She’s okay,” Kallon said, knowing exactly who I was asking about. “She’s with Sie’s brother.”
“Okay,” I said more to myself than anyone else. I was so relieved. She was safe. Everyone was safe. I couldn’t believe it. We actually did it. And more than that, Tezya freed everyone from the dungeons.
Tezya leaned down to whisper to me, “You can go and visit her. I’ll come find you after.”
I shook my head. “No. I’ll help.”
Tezya eyed me for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. We’ll get everyone settled, and then we’ll go see her together.”
It tookus three hours to settle everyone. Then another thirty minutes of explaining everything to a pissed off Dravenburg. Many of the Advenians were too weak to even walk to the healer’s tent. We had to prioritize who to tend to first. Anyone who was able to walk waited with warm blankets and food. We didn’t have enough room at the camp anymore, and when Tezya told me he’d have to discuss things further with Dravenburg about food and shelter, I wondered how much we had before we would run out. I didn’t even know how a camp like this survived. We potentially could have gained a lot more people to fight in the rebellion with us. I was positive that everyone we rescued hated the King, but they were all too weak, too malnourished. I didn’t even know if everyone would make it past tomorrow.
I hadn’t stopped shaking. At first, it was from using all my reserves to open Kallon’s portal. But now my hands trembled for entirely different reasons. Tezya was waiting for me outside the healer’s tent. Everyone was off doing different tasks. Sie was with his family. Dovelyn went to check on Brock. Rainer and Kallon were helping those who were already healed find a place to rest, and Savannah was passing out food and water.
But now, I was about to see Vallie. I hadn’t seen her since I was taken for the broadcast. Since she told me she wanted to die. I was terrified. Terrified of the state I’d find her in, terrified the King tortured her more after Arcane and I left…
“We don’t have to see her yet. We can let her rest some more. You probably need some too,” Tezya started, noticing my hesitancy.
“No. I want to see her.” There was no way I’d be able to wait any longer. Helping everyone earlier gave me a job to do. It wasenough of a distraction to keep my mind from her, but now that things were settling down, I couldn’t wait any longer.
I took a deep breath, then walked into the healer’s tent. Agony washed into me, settling in my core. I felt like I was hit by a brick wall. So many different emotions were flipping through me—pain, fear, relief. I stopped in the middle of the tent, unable to breathe.
I briefly noticed Tezya move in front of me. He was holding my face in his hands, staring into my eyes. He was saying something over and over again. I saw his lips move, his face frantic, but I couldn’t hear his words. All I could hear were moans and cries and sobbing. So much sobbing.
Scotlind. Scotlind. Focus. Look at me.Tezya’s voice was in my head now. I looked up, meeting his gaze.That’s it. Keep looking at me. Block everyone else out. Only me.
“What’s happening to me?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I said it out loud or in my head, but I knew he heard me.
“I’m not sure yet,” he admitted, his brows furrowed. “I think you might be picking up on everyone’s emotions like I do with my ability, but I think it’s magnified with your enhancement.”
I stared at him in shock. Agony was still washing through me like it was my own. I tried to block it out, but it was impossible. “We’ll look into it,” Tezya said. “We’ll figure it all out, I promise.” He paused for a moment, still holding my cheeks in his hands. “Do you need to leave? I can tell Vallie you came.”
“No,” I snapped. I had to see her. “I’m fine.”
I was pretty sure Tezya knew I was lying, but he didn’t stop me. He gently released my face and the lack of his hands left me feeling cold. Before I could process it, he grabbed my hand in his. “Okay,” he said as he started guiding me through the tent. “We’ll be quick then.”
I nodded, unable to speak. I kept focusing on the contact of his hand in mine and on the fact that I was about to see Vallie.
“She’s in here,” Tezya said gently. His hand moved frommine to the small of my back. I rounded the corner and stopped abruptly.
My eyes flared as I took in my best friend. Alive. Alive. Alive. She was lying in the cot with a scratchy blanket pulled up to her chest. Peter was standing off to the side not visible to her but still present.
I took a step toward her. I wanted to wrap her in a hug, to run to her side and never let go, but the expression on her face halted me. She looked haunted, and she definitely didn’t look relieved to see me.
“Vallie, I—” I suddenly didn’t know what to say. It was like being trapped in the King’s room all over again. Nothing I could say would take back what happened. “I’m glad you’re alive.” I finally settled on, and she winced. Her eyes scrunched shut as she took an unsteady breath. I knew immediately I said the wrong thing. Why did I use that word? Why did I sayalivewhen Miles wasdead?
I could have picked any other word.Here. Safe. Free.Any other word…
“What happened?” she asked softly, still not opening her eyes. “Tell me everything.” She swallowed. “From the beginning.”
I told her what I knew, what I never told her before. From coming to Tennebris, to getting caught, right up until the broadcast and rescuing her. She listened intently. The only way I knew she was taking everything in was from the brief nods she’d make here and there. She kept her eyes mostly closed, and if she did open them, she didn’t look at me. Peter and Tezya kept quiet, neither of them leaving our sides. Tezya’s hand on my back was the only thing getting me through this. The only thing I could focus on to drown out the sheer agony radiating from the entire tent so I could concentrate on my friend.
“I want to see him,” Vallie said as soon as I finished. We all turned to look at her. There were bruises around her throatthat weren’t there the last time I saw her, and she was so weak from the weeks of being starved and tortured that she could barely stand up straight. I didn’t know if the healer’s had even given her anything to eat yet with how overwhelmed they were. I saw a half drunk glass of water by the nightstand, but that was it.
She was wearing a long shirt now, and from Peter’s lack of one, I wondered if he’d wrapped her in his own when he found her. It dawned on me then that he never left her side, not even to grab a new shirt. While it took me nearly four hours to check on her—
The last time I saw her, she was naked and chained to the King’s floor. I pushed the image of her aside, forced myself not to think of how she was dragged into his bed at night.
