Xiven entered and bolted the door behind him, encasing us in darkness.

Sevril reached down and tried to help me back up, but now I was limping. He put his head down next to mine and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. He half-dragged, half-carried me the rest of the way down the stairs. I impeded him with my awkwardness and refusal to walk where I couldn’t see.

Xiven stopped and felt along the wall for a torch.

A few seconds later, it was lit. Then, I was only semi-impeding Prince Sevril’s movements.

“Where’s Tomac?” I asked as the stairs ended and we were met with a catacomb of tombs. Again I tried to stop.

“Thalia, for the love of all that is good, you have to keep going,” Xiven said.

Sevril shook his head. “I don’t know. I saw him run out in the first wave of troops to meet the army. I hope the fool survives.” Fear raced across his face and he kept running his sleeve over his eyes, evidently trying to keep the tears at bay.

Xiven took the torch and now led Sevril and me to another door that he held open, waiting for me to enter.

As soon as I cross the threshold, I wished I hadn’t.

It was the machine, the torture device.

The iron butterfly.

Every part of me started to shake in terror and I grabbed the handle to the door and tried to rush out. Xiven held the door closed and Sevril grabbed my arms. Tears raked down my face and I started to sob.

A hand slapped my face.

I blinked in anger at Sevril.

He leaned in close to me, his hot breath on my neck. “Stop crying. You don’t have time for tears.”

Anger flowed through my body and I punched Sevril in the face. I watched in pleasure as his head snapped back and his lip started to bleed.

His eyes lit up and he became excited. “Yes, that’s it. You pathetic excuse for a Valdyrstal. You half-breed imposter to the throne.”

This time I balled up both fists and focused on his pretty front teeth. I was determined to take out a few. “I don’t want your bloody throne, but I’m not above leaving Tomac next in line,” I growled out. Feinting a punch, I spun and kicked him in the stomach. Sevril grunted and then fell back into a table full of beakers and instruments. Glass crashed and shattered on the stone floor.

Xiven yelled at me, “Thalia, stop it! You are not helping any by destroying Sevril’s sacrifice.”

I whirled on Xiven who was working on pulling open the metal bands and preparing the machine for the next victim. This one looked different than the one I spent weeks in but also different than the one I saw in Fanny’s workshop. I felt like I had come full circle.

“Thalia, I told you in Skyfell that I was your friend. I really hope that right now, you can believe me and trust me what we are about to do.”

“You almost killed me, and then you ran away,” I confronted Xiven, pushing him.

His skin color deepened in embarrassment. “If Talbot had found out I challenged you in a fight, I would have been dead anyway. And if I remember correctly, you were the one who almost killed me.”

“Something I now regret not finishing properly,” I hissed.

“Good, Thalia, that’s it. Stay angry. It will help you through the pain and will bring out the Siren in you faster.”

I grabbed a candlestick holder covered in wax and threw it at Xiven’s head. “There’s no way I’m going near that thing.”

He looked serious. He crumpled his hands into fists and took deep breaths to calm himself.

Sevril didn’t look happy either, pacing back and forth, eyeing the door. As if hoping Tomac would burst through. Or maybe he was waiting for the Raven to come in so he could crow about how he lured me in to his trap to finish the job.

“Did you kidnap Joss’s sister? What happened to those people out there? Are you a part of it?”

Xiven looked anxious, but he saw that I wasn’t going to make it easy on him unless he gave me some answers. “Thalia, I’m on your side.”

“From where I stand, I’m surrounded by enemy.” I cocked my head upward, indicating the Septori and Elite battling it out to the death somewhere above us.

“Right. I understand. It can seem confusing and complicated, but what if I told you that there is no good side in this war? Everyone’s wrong. Everyone’s made mistakes and you now have to choose the lesser of two evils. No matter what happens, there will be no happy endings. Just the possibility of an ending that has less people dying horrible deaths.”

Why did he have to make sense…now? “Then I would choose the outcome with least amount of death,” I stated.

“And what if I told you that that outcome comes at your own expense—your own life.”

“I’d say that you a liar. That you can’t know the future. I can change my destiny, if I’m given the choice to do so.” I pointed at the table. “That is not giving me a chance to live.”

“Thalia.” Prince Sevril gently took my elbow. “Everything we are doing is so that you will live. That through you, our kind will live on.”

I shook my head, the anger slowly dissipating. I didn’t understand anything anymore. I was so tired of hurting. I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

“Okay Thalia, listen. The Horden journals were never clear on what the final step was in creating an all-powerful super Denai. It’s why the experiments didn’t really start to work until they found you. They gave you Denai gifts—”

“What? How did they give me Denai gifts?”

“By infusing you with Denai blood.”

I had both Denai blood and SwordBrother blood in my veins?

“You started to grow in power, even taking on the traits of the Denai. You were the first to succeed, but you were also the answer. To make the Denai stronger, they needed Siren blood…yours. All of those sessions were to harvest your blood, to make a serum, to create that army, Thalia.” Xiven pointed upstairs.

“That’s why they’ve been after me? So they can use me to create more…more mind-controlled soldiers!” I felt sick. What they had done to Joss and Tenya and all of the others was done because of—maybe with—my own blood. “That’s why they went after Siobhan. They were trying to find another like me.”

“I saw her upstairs.” Xiven acknowledged. “They’ve drained her pretty good, but I’ve seen her eyes. They made sure to turn her fully into a Siren before they did it. Probably so they could work faster and she’d be strong enough to live through the process. It means that they probably sacrificed a Denai to do it.”

“But she’s being controlled.” I wiped my tears on my sleeves. “Can we save her?”

Prince Sevril came forward and shook his head. “We can’t worry about her right now. Right now we have to focus on stopping them. With you.”

“We can’t stop that!” My voice rose in frustration. “They have an army of Denai and we have one—a spoiled rich girl who is going to die trying to defend a country she has no allegiance to. I’m completely blocked and I’m completely useless here in Sinnendor. Unless you can break through this seal.”

“I believe we can,” Xiven said excitedly.

“What?” I said in disbelief.

“I can give you all of the serum we’ve extracted from Sevril already over the last few weeks. The overflow of Siren power may be enough to shatter the seal forever.”