The Silver Siren (35 page)

My blood was on fire and a burning
pain seared through my stomach. I could only open my mouth in a
silent scream as I was rocked with pain through my very core. It
hurt so bad I wanted to die. I wanted them all to die. I wanted
every person that ever hurt me to die.

Then there was such an intense pain it
was if my soul was being cracked in two…and then I was free. Truly
free. I could feel the darkness, the monster that was inside of
me—my fury—reach out and relish the freedom. I saw fire, death, and
destruction. I knew it was the future I was envisioning, my future
as the Siren part of my soul came into full power.

It was terrifying. I could see myself
with dark wings flying over the army, raising my arms and
destroying every one of them. Killing them, greedily draining their
very lives away and still being hungry for more.

“
No!” I breathed out.
“Kill me. Don’t let me become that.” Sevril never let go of my hand
and I could feel myself start to reach out to him, to pull at him
for help. Instinctively, I reached for his life force and I heard
him gasp. I recoiled in horror, releasing his hand. “I don’t want
to become that. They were right. The Sirens’ fury
should
have been sealed
away. We don’t deserve this kind of power.”

The power rushed through my veins and
it was addictive. My head rolled to the side and I felt drunk and I
needed more. My body began to crave more power, and I knew that if
they let me go now, with the seal broken, I would destroy the
world.

A throbbing started in my head, and I
first ignored it, thinking it was another side effect of the
machine and the crowning glory.

But it was a familiar pain and one
that made my heart soar. Kael!

Kael was near. He was in the castle,
floors above me. KAEL! My heart and soul cried out, and I could
feel him and almost see him. He was fighting and he stopped. He
turned and began to search for me.

But then I lost him as the fury and
anger once again took over and my heart burned for revenge. Sevril
yelped in surprise when the candle on the table next to him alit on
its own. Followed by the next candle, and the next. I was trying to
fight my instincts to light everything on fire, so I was staying
focused.

“
Okay, Xiven,” Sevril
called out. “Now.”

The pulsing continued, but instead of
a burning feeling, it became a cold, soothing pain. I would go hot
then cold, then hot then cold. My visions went from destroying the
world with fire, to bringing about a famine by a never-ending
winter. My teeth started to chatter, and I swore that I could see
my breath in the room.

The soothing ended. This time, the
pain felt like I was being not just ripped in two but broken and
shattered. Someone was going to have to pick up the pieces of my
soul. I bit my tongue and tasted blood. I began to thrash against
the bands and scream out my anger. I wanted to die, but then I
didn’t. But I couldn’t survive what was happening to my very
essence.

My head slammed against the metal
brace and I flashed back to the past. But I was somehow
omnipresent. I saw Raven leaning over me. In my dream state, I was
able to pull back and gaze around the room from a greater distance.
I saw the Raven leave the room with another taller member of the
Septori. My subconscious followed them through the heavy wooden
door. I don’t know how I did it. Maybe I was dead. I was able to
move to easily, and right now I was seeing my life flash before my
eyes. I don’t know how, but I was free to follow.

The Raven stepped into a small room
adjacent to the machine and waited as his companion took off the
robe and hung it up. I recognized Adept Cirrus and hate raced
through me.

Then, the Raven stepped back and
adjusted the hood. Deep red locks spilled forth. I wasn’t expecting
long hair to come from beneath the folds of the hood. How had I not
seen that before? The Raven was female. Then she opened up a small
wooden box with a velvet interior. She took off the silver
hook-nosed mask, set it on the velvet pillow, and closed the lid.
She turned to Adept Cirrus and wrapped her arms around him, kissing
him deeply on the lips.

I released a mental scream in fury at
the deception. Not only by Adept Cirrus but the Queen of
Calandry—Lilyana.

The one person whose total goal was to
help in the survival of the Denai race played with their very
lives, throwing them away for tortuous experiments.

The door to the room opened and
Talbot’s short figure ambled in toward the queen.

“
Good evening, my queen,”
Talbot intoned politely. “Are you pleased with the results so
far?”

Queen Lilyana shot him a condescending
look. “You said this one came from the Valdyrstal clan, did you
not? And she has the right heritage.”

“
Talbot pulled out a piece
of crusted paper out of his pocket. “Yes, I have it on good faith
from her uncle that she’s Bearen’s daughter.”

Cirrus touched his chin in thought,
his eyes alight. “She is showing progress with the treatments,
getting stronger, not weaker like the others. So it looks like we
found a Siren. If that’s the case, we should stop with the
treatments and use her for harvesting to make the portensi serum.
You want your army, Lily. I will give you an army,” Cirrus crooned
and gently rubbed the cheek of Queen Lilyana. “Then we will control
the Denai and wipe out Sinnendor and all of that feral bloodline
for good.”

“
You, my dear Cirrus, will
make a fine King of Silandry when we are through,” she
laughed.

He continued with the caress and
gently followed it with a kiss. “Silandry? I thought we had agreed
on Calendor,” he teased.

“
Either one is fine with
me, as long as we rule it together.”

Talbot moved aside and bowed
respectfully as Cirrus and Queen Lilyana passed and went up the
underground passage to leave. Talbot sat at a table continuing to
write notes in a book, when time began to fast forward. In my
vision, I saw Xiven hours later knock on the door and enter. He
looked tired and worn out, but excited.

“
Talbot. You will be happy
to see that I think I’ve figured out this last translation in the
Horden journals. It’s something about finding the balance between
light and dark, good and evil. I think this is what Lord Horden was
talking about when he was able to create a Denai unlike any other.”
Xiven pulled out a large book and laid it open on the desk,
pointing to the scribbles here and there. “So you see, I think
there may be another way to save the Denai from going extinct. It
talks of breeding the two races. I don’t think it means what we are
trying to do. I think it is just a natural occurrence that can be
fixed with simple intermarriage…Talbot?”

Talbot ignored Xiven and kept working.
“Yes, yes. Fine, fine. Leave the notes and go back and keep Mona
company. We are off tomorrow to find Raven some stronger
Denai.”

“
But don’t you see? If the
two races combined naturally, then they would grow stronger. We
wouldn’t have to force a change on them metaphysically.”

Talbot jumped up from the table and
swung his short beefy hand at Xiven, boxing him in the ear. “Listen
to your master, you pinheaded weasel, or you’ll end up one day on
the table across from the girl, being drained of your powers.
You’re tasked with translating. That is it! Tell Mona we need to
find another Denai and I’ll be up shortly. I want to check on the
girl before I leave.”

Xiven grabbed his head where he’d been
boxed, his face beet red in embarrassment. But he turned stiffly
and eyed the door that separated the machine from his current room.
“Do you think that I could see—?”

Talbot jumped up from his chair and
lunged toward Xiven, who backed out of the door and scrambled up
the hidden passageway to the exit. Talbot left his notes and
journals on the table. He looked around to make sure no one was
watching before he picked up the queen’s silver mask, attached it
to his portly face, and then entered the room where I still lay
passed out on the machine.

He walked over to the table and loomed
over me.

I was once again barely conscious on
the table in the laboratory. But my dream self could see and hear
everything. Talbot walked behind me and mumbled something
incoherent. It looked like someone was sleeping in a small metal
chair to the right of me.

Talbot let out a few choice words when
he noticed she wasn’t moving. He leaned out in the hall and yelled
for Scar Lip, who came walking in wearing his leather butcher’s
apron. “Scar Lip, we’ve got one still drugged and another that
didn’t make it, but at least her gifts won’t go unused.”

“
Oh, and one more thing.
Since the Valdyrstal girl is still unconscious, see if you can get
the others to bring that young man in again for another donation to
our main girl here. He’s a fighter that one. I’m sure he is gifted
somehow, if only I can pinpoint his family line and gifts. What the
others won’t know won’t hurt anyone.”

Scar lip went over and gently picked
up the dead girl and began to take her out. Her head flopped back
and I could see her face clearly. My nightmare continued because I
recognized her. I was confused. It didn’t make sense. I couldn’t
have been there that night. I would have remembered if Scar Lip
came back for me. Wouldn’t I?

I must not have, because Scar Lip
carried Cammie, my former cell mate, away from me, out of the room.
Ten minutes later, he returned and with more Septori and a drugged
Kael. Hours later they deposited us both back to our cells. I was
laid unconscious, back on the cell floor, and Scar Lip locked the
door.

Half a day later, I awoke to a tin
plate being shoved under my door through a flap and demanded to
know where Cammie was.

Chapter 33

“
Gah!” I screamed and opened my eyes. My heart beat incredibly
fast, but my body felt alive and on fire. Sevril stood back from me
and looked at me warily through the bars.

“
Thalia?” he asked
carefully.

“
Yes?” I licked my lips,
which felt swollen and cracked.

“
Are you okay?”

“
No. Yes! I’m sore but I
feel alive. I’m alive right?”

Sevril’s eyes were red and swollen
from crying, but he nodded yes. He began to pull out the needles
carefully and cover each of the large red wounds with a bandage.
When he was done, he lifted up the metal bands and helped me out of
the machine. His gaze kept shifting to my hair and then looking
back to my face.

“
What is it?”

“
It’s turned white. Your
hair I mean. Completely white.”

I groaned but pushed my vanity aside.
My feet gingerly touched the ground and I asked him about Xiven.
Sevril refused to make eye contact with me and I had to ask
again.

“
Where’s Xiven?” I
demanded.

Prince Sevril’s eyes filled with tears
again, but he took a deep breath and answered. “It was his choice
from the beginning. It was his way to make amends. You mustn’t
blame him or me. If I had a choice I would have been the one to
make the ultimate sacrifice, but I wasn’t the right type. You
needed a Denai.”

My voice started to crack and rise in
alarm. “Sevril, what did you do?”

“
I didn’t do anything,” he
whispered. “You did. You needed a Denai to balance the Siren. You
are now fully both. He knew the risks; he knew that you would need
every ounce after being turned to Siren. It’s okay. He
understood.”

I couldn’t turn around.
Every fiber of my being said
Don’t
look
.
Don’t
look
. But I had too. I had to see if it
was the same as my dream.

I did look. Just like my dream, Xiven
was on the small cot next to me. The extra tubes from my arm
connected to him. When the Siren side had been about to overtake
me, he sacrificed his gifts. The love and peace natural to a Denai
helped balance the anger and fury of a Siren. He was the ice to my
fire.

Fresh tears poured anew down my face
and my eyes burned like sandpaper. Xiven lay curled up on his side,
his head nestled on his free hand, while the other was on his hip.
He rested peacefully as if he were asleep. But I knew better. Power
was a balance. To try and be a donor to me was too much for him. It
drained him. Xiven could have chosen to stop at any time, but he
pushed through. He fought until he knew I had made the
transformation.

“
Xiven…not you.” I
sniffed. The emotions I felt were so raw, so powerful. And the
vivid image of Talbot beating Xiven made me furious. He was as much
a victim as me in the whole twisted plan.

But he had found
redemption.

“
I will not forget you.” I
stood up and my wiped my tears on my arms. Sevril came forward and
watched me, a question in his eyes. No words can express the sorrow
we felt, and when he opened his arms, I didn’t hesitate. I leaned
over for a hug and cried my heart out. Sevril cried as well, and we
took comfort in each other’s pain.

A loud crash startled us, and we
looked up in terror. They had found the hidden door. The enemy was
coming for us.