The Silver Siren (25 page)

It was very disturbing the way King
Tieren switched between past and present, and how he kept mistaking
me for his younger sister.

I’d hoped I was just on the verge of
discovering the identity of the Raven and the Septori, but the more
I learned, the more I felt like I was in the middle of two separate
paths that kept merging together only to spin off into dead
ends.

“
If you had a
SwordBrother, you would be unstoppable.” I countered, stroking the
king’s ego.

“
If I had a whole army of
SwordBrothers I would send them to assassinate Queen Lilyana and
then every single one of those bloody Denai!” Tieren stood and
knocked his wine across the table as he roared his enthusiasm for
the extinction of the Denai.

Sevril made a motion with his hand as
if he was signaling someone. I followed his line of sight and saw
movement over King Tieren’s shoulder. A very familiar face leaned
in an open door to mouth a few words to Sevril. The man paled when
he saw me, and the door snapped shut.

It couldn’t be, but it was. I hadn’t
seen him since he disappeared from Skyfell—Xiven. Mona’s phony
brother. He’d posed as a friend of Joss’s family so Mona could get
close and try and control them. He was here in Sinnendor. Fear
ripped through my body, turning to excitement as I decided I needed
to follow him. He knew more about me than he let on. If he was here
in Sinnendor, did that mean the Raven was too?

Tomac whistled, distracting me from my
train of thought. I faced his direction just in time to see his
half-eaten boar leg fly across the table and into my lap. Startled
by the flying meat, I knocked my cup onto Prince Sevril.

Sevril swore under his breath,
slamming his own cup onto the floor. He stood on his chair and
launched himself across the table at Tomac. The brothers started
fighting on the floor, knocking into unused chairs and into a
pedestal holding a flower-filled vase.

Either Tieren was immune or he could
no longer see or hear his sons as they yelled, punched, and beat
each other senseless. Portia didn’t move or give anyone attention
other than the perfectly delicious soup sitting before her. With
unhurried sips, she enjoyed her meal and even helped herself to a
small pastry. I mimicked her every movement, because it was obvious
she was used to the insanity of the dinner table.

It seemed like ages before the princes
had calmed down enough from their fight to return to their table.
King Tieren had now drunk himself into a stupor, and Sevril took a
plate of food and left. Tomac, on the other hand, took to playing
some sort of bowling game with whatever platters and goblets were
left on the table.

Portia was right. They were absolutely
mad. I fidgeted with my cloth napkin and waited for an opportune
time to slip out of the room to follow Xiven.

Neither happened. As soon as dinner
was over, I left and tried to make my way down the hall, but there
was a soldier on my arm, pulling me in the direction of my
room.

He shoved me in, and the door locked
behind me.

I had been in the castle for hours and
I still couldn’t feel power around me. I tried to still my mind and
body and reach for it—nothing. It felt very much like being in
Skyfell, except in Sinnendor my gifts weren’t muted. They were
gone. And without access, without being able to hear Faraway, and
knowing I was separated from the power that I had come to rely on,
I felt claustrophobic. I walked across the room to stand beside one
of the small elongated windows.

Windows so slim escape was
impossible.

I screamed in frustration and threw
whatever objects I could find that were light enough for me
dislodge and break. The vase, the matching ceramic bowl, a gold
brush. I knocked over a plush oak chair. I sat down on the cold
hard stone floor and pulled up my knees to my chest, staring at the
mess I’d created. Only a portion of me was happy with what I had
done. The other part felt indifferent as I started to slip into the
apathetic zone.

Wasn’t this what I’d wanted? To be
powerless? Human again?

No! I didn’t.

A large piece of the vase had survived
my temper tantrum, and I glared at it angrily. I reached toward it
and tried to focus everything I had into moving it. Nothing
happened. I crawled forward and lay on the ground in front of it,
trying to focus on the spot right in front of the piece, searching
for a thread of energy to manipulate.

Nothing.

I picked up what was left of the vase
and smashed it into the ground.

Chapter 23

The
next morning, I stuffed clothes and a pillow under the blanket on
my bed to resemble my sleeping form. Then, I hid behind the door
and waited.

As the servants came in to dress me, I
slipped around and tried to run down the stairs but was caught by a
cast iron tight grip.

“
Aargh! You!” I cried out
in frustration. Gideon stood there with two other Elite. He
physically lifted me into the air over his shoulder and walked
calmly into the room. I screamed at him, clawed at his shirt, and
heard a long rip as tossed me onto the bed, startling the confused
maids. The sleeve of his shirt came with me as I slid off the bed
and landed on the floor.

“
You can’t leave,” Gideon
roared. “You’re needed here.”

“
What happened?” The
worried voice of Portia floated into the room as she stared at the
mess I had created the night before. A second later she appeared
around Gideon’s shoulder and looked at me worriedly. “Thalia, what
did you do?” she asked.

“
Why am I here?” I
launched off the floor to stand in challenge. “It’s oppressing,
like being suffocated.”

Portia walked slowly to me, as if
approaching a startled horse. Her palms were held up as she circled
me warily. Part of me wanted to laugh at how ridiculous she looked.
I ran around her outstretched arms and tried to duck under Gideon’s
arm, but he snagged me and lifted me into the air.

Portia quickly ushered the servants
out of the room. The two Elite stepped out, and she closed the
door. Gideon placed me back down on the ground and stepped
back.

I backed up as far as I could until my
back touched the opposite wall. Scared and nervous, I reached for
power again around me but I found none.

Gideon watched my straining with
interest. “It won’t do you any good. The reason like you feel
you’re being suffocated is because there are too many of us in one
place. The power is here, but it is beyond our reach because we
cancel each other out. The farther you go from us, from Sinnendor
itself, the easier it will be on you.

“
How can that be, the
adepts said there was power in everything. It existed in
everything.” I answered.

“
There are so many of our
kind here, you would be hard pressed to find a single thread of
magic in Sinnendor, though it exists in Calandry because of the
Denai. Think of it like an unbalanced level or a magnetic pull that
pushes all power away from us. It’s here, but just beyond our reach
and that drives us…just a little mad. But for you it may be
different, if we can fully break the seal around you.”

Gideon looked to Portia who nodded
slowly, encouraging him to go on. The large Elite warrior paused as
he tried to gather his thoughts. “First, you must understand, we
are on the brink of war.”

“
Everyone is always on the
brink of war,” I answered back. “There’s really no surprise
there.”

He looked irritated but only gave me a
disapproving look before he went on. “Let me clarify. Wars, plural.
We can’t keep it contained.”

That I didn’t know. So I decided to
wait and hear answers.

“
Do you know the history
of the Denai race? How they were banished from their ancestral home
and came down to live among the humans of Calandry?”

“
Yes.”

“
What you don’t know is
that they weren’t the only race banished. The Denai’s constant
feuding with their more powerful brethren led them both to what we
call
the Fall
.

“
Because their brethren’s
powers were so great, their powers were sealed within them and they
were forced to live as humans. The Denai were the favored race, the
blessed. Allowed to keep their gifts. It is no great wonder to see
that the battle followed them here into these lands. One of the
Fallen became King of Sinnendor and, even on this earth, he wanted
to destroy the Denai. He didn’t realize how that would affect them
in the end—how it was almost his undoing.”

“
King Branncynall?” I
whispered in awe. “Why isn’t there a record of this? Didn’t the
Denai know that their enemy was among them?”

Gideon shook his head, “No, they were
as human looking as…well, a human. Listen up.”

“
What does that have to do
with the Raven and the Septori?”

“
Everything.” Portia’s
voice quivered with anger. “It’s a balance, Thalia. Just like the
sun needs the moon, light needs shadow. They are both magic races.”
Her eyes flashed. “The Denai are dying out, because we are dying
out.”

Chapter 24

“
Who
are you?” I asked warily. If what she said was true, it involved
me.

“
Long ago we had many
names: demons, Djinn, angels,” Gideon spoke. “Here in this land,
we’ve chosen to be called Sirens.”

The name consumed my mind and I tested
it on my tongue.

“
But how is it possible?
How can one race affect the other so? The adepts said there’s a
balance. That the thread of energy is in everything,” I argued.
“Can’t you create a balance?”

“
We
are
the balance. We have nothing. No
power, no magic. While the Denai have it all. Our power is locked
away, Thalia. But
if the seal on our power
were broken, we’d be free to use it. If there weren’t so many of us
here canceling each other out. The lack of magic starts to drive
those with the strongest Siren bloodlines mad. It’s the reason
Denai aren’t allowed in Sinnendor. Fear of discovery. Our race is
at the weakest we’ve ever been.”

“
That’s why Sinnendor
wanted the SwordBrothers, to protect themselves from the Denai,” I
spoke aloud, the sudden realization dawning on me.

“
Not just that, but for a
while, it seemed being bonded to a SwordBrother stabilized the
royals. Still, it wasn’t fool proof, which led to the mass
destruction of most of the SwordBrothers. Since then, only the
Sirens that are the most stable have become a part of the
Elite.”

“
But you said your kind
are dying? And that’s why the Denai are dying out as
well?”

“
The hand we’ve been dealt
is unfair—our gifts sealed away within us. Knowing they’re there
but being unable to touch them is like being deprived of air. It
slowly drives the strongest mad.”

“
What about before the
Fall?”

Gideon smiled wanly. “It’s said that
the Sirens’ power came from our fury. Death and destruction were
once our greatest gifts and we were unstoppable. There were no
physical limits, because we could take at will.”

Gideon’s words chilled me to the bone.
“And now?” I asked, uncomfortable.

The smile slid from his face. “We’re
nothing.” He held his hands out palms open. But you’re not. Your
clan came from the strongest Siren blood. Your father is descended
from King Branccynal, which means you are too. Your mother is from
the second strongest Siren line after the war. You, child, have
been blessed because you are a Siren like us, yet born and raised
outside of Sinnendor. The seal around your core, around your
powers, have started to break open.”

“
It wasn’t with my
consent,” I accused. “It must have been the Septori. They must have
found a way to do it.”

“
But you are the first
Siren since the Fall to show signs of regaining their power,”
Portia spoke up quickly, hoping to encourage me with the
news.

“
This gift you keep
telling me about came at a great cost, and with a lot of pain,” I
clenched my fists together in anger. “And it is not wholly my
own.”

“
It’s a lot for you to
take in, but we would like you to understand you are free to leave.
We only ask that you give us time to help you learn who you really
are—your heritage, your destiny. Then when you are fully satisfied,
you can go.” Portia, for the first time, looked vulnerable. Scared
that I might take her up on her offer. She abruptly added, “But
might I remind you, you are safer within the walls and borders of
Sinnendor than you have ever been in Calandry.” She moved as if to
touch my shoulder but pulled her hand back at the last
minute.

“
So I can leave? Walk out
that door right now and you won’t stop me? Tieren won’t stop me?”
It seemed too good to be true.

Both Gideon and Portia shot each other
worried glances as if reassuring themselves. Gideon shuffled his
weight and cleared his throat. “Um, well you do have to wait for a
time when Tieren is more…in the present than in the
past.”