The Silver Siren (Iron Butterfly, #3)(56)

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?”