I won’t let death come for her. Wewillfind a way to reverse this, and until then, I’ll do what I’ve always done: protect her.
I seize her thin arm. Her eyes widen.
“Absolutely not, Saela,” I scold, my voice hard and stern. She needs to know with full confidence that I’m not going to let anything happen to her.
For the first time, she quiets as we fall back into our roles. Me, the older sister who takes care of her. Saela, the younger child who knows me as her only trustworthy authority figure.
“We will find a way to fix this. Together,” I tell her. I gesture back to Aldrich. “This is Leader Aldrich. He’s the smartest person in the castle, and he’s helping me find out everything there is to know about Siphons. You can trust him, too.”
Saela glances over my shoulder at him and then ducks her head, nodding shyly. Then she huffs a weak breath. Another tear streaks through the blood on her cheek. And she crumbles. Saela falls into my arms.
Relief floods me. I pull her close and wrap her up. I tug her halfway into my lap, rocking, kissing her hair.
She cries in my arms. This time, it isn’t manic and terrified. It’s softer. It’s the sound of a girl asking for comfort. I give it to her, stroking her hair, whispering to her that I love her. I’d love her no matter what.
My pocket is heavy, and I remember—our mother’s opal necklace. It caught my eye on my way out of my chambers, and it felt right to bring it down here. Fishing it out, I unhook the necklace and clasp it around Saela’s small neck.
My weariness seems to press in on me a little more once I give the necklace over. Interesting… perhaps it was surging my power, as the crown does? The opals look so similar. I file that away for thought.
The jewel glints against Saela’s chest, its rainbow colors dimmed in the darkness of the dungeons. Still, it’s warm against my hand as I press my palm against it.
“This was Mother’s,” I tell her quietly. “It was passed down through the women in our family all the way from Queen Chiara. She said it was for protection. She’d be happy to know that it was protecting you now.”
Saela nods, her fingers going to the jewel. “Thank you. It’s like keeping a part of her with me.”
I grab her other hand. “Sae, how did this happen?”
“I don’t remember.” She sniffs and clutches me tightly. “I was in the dungeons, and then Stark and Venna rescued me. Something must have happened but…” She shakes her head. “When I try to think about it, it’s just blackness.”
I look back to Aldrich. “I’ve heard of some level of mental manipulation, but can Siphons erase memories?”
Aldrich strokes his beard, looking thoughtful. “The older they are, the more powerful they become. We don’t know what the oldest Siphons are capable of because we rarely encounter them. So, yes, it’s possible. Anything is.”
Well, that’s comforting. I try very hard not to grimace so Saela won’t see how worried his words make me.
Quietly, I ask, “Is she going to be able to live on animal blood?”
“Yes, theoretically.” Aldrich turns around and grabs one of his dusty books off the floor. “I found a record here of a Siphon prisoner that our forces kept under observation several hundred years ago. They fed him exclusively animal blood, and he stayed alive for years, although he never quite recovered his Siphon strength and he appeared to age, unlike most Siphons.”
Interesting. But a weaker, aging version of Saela is fine—as long as she’s alive.
I take a deep breath that smells like blood and damp stone. “I’d like to move her out of the cells. She shouldn’t be here after months of imprisonment.”
Aldrich tenses. “I would advise caution. We should not risk proximity with other humans.” I hear the unspoken words…in case she loses control. “And there’s something else you should know.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. Aldrich looks uncomfortable.
“I have read there’s something called a sire bond,” he says, wincing. “We don’t teach about it because it doesn’t affect how we battle them. New Siphons have a bond with the one who turned them.”
A short, affronted gasp escapes me. “Like abondbond? Similar to our bonds with our wolves or with one another?”
Aldrich’s wince deepens the lines on his face. “Yes, it sounds similar. There is a level of mental connection that allows the two bonded Siphons to communicate. It seems there may be some compulsion ability present as well. Like how a Bonded foot soldier cannot disobey their Alpha, a Siphon must follow the orders of its sire when compelled.”
I want to weep, but I hold it together. It wasn’t enough that Killian could getinto my head—he has to be in hers, too. We don’t know for sure that he turned her, but it seems likely.
Turning to Saela, I ask, “Do you sense him? Killian? Or anyone else? Do you feel a connection to someone?”
She squints her eyes, as if seeking something out. “No. Nothing.”
