Ana whipped around just as Sorsha plunged her blade into the scholar’s chest.
He gave a soft cry and stumbled back, crashing into the shelves on the wall. Blood bloomed across Ana’s senses, blossoming red over Tarschon’s robes. “No,” she gasped, watching as the man who held the answers to saving this world began to bleed out before her.
Ana lashed out at Sorsha with her Affinity—
—and then it was gone. A familiar presence had entered the back of her mind, clamping down on her power like cold metal. Ana gritted her teeth, the sudden disappearance of her power disorienting her.
She turned to see Kaïs watching her calmly.
The realization clicked. “You.” A snarl tore from Ana’s lips. “I should have known.”
Sorsha cackled in delight. “There’s nothing I love more than a little shift in alliances!” she shrieked, and slunk up to Kaïs, cupping his cheek. He held perfectly still, his expression unreadable. Her voice was a low, mocking croon as she caressed his face. “Tragic, how our love and loyalty make servants of us.”
A flash of emotion across Kaïs’s face, so brief that Ana thought she’d imagined it. “What are you talking about?” she growled. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” Sorsha whispered, and then screamed, “What do I want?”
Ana flinched as the girl tore open the collar of her shirt. With a movement that could almost be described as tender, she touched a finger to the smooth band of her black collar. “My father handed me to the scholars on my eighth birthday,” she said. “He hated me, you see; he wanted to kill me, for I was evidence of his impotence. A daughter, instead of a male heir, was evidence that the gods were mocking him.”
Sorsha pushed up her sleeve, flipped her wrist, and Ana saw something for the first time: a band resembling searock, undulating in the light in ripples of blue, green, and teal. “But there was one thing I had that he didn’t: a magen. A powerful one, to iron,” Sorsha continued. “You see, he’d begun experimenting on a rare material in Bregon. And he began to test it on me.
“I alone survived, out of thousands of his subjects. I was the sole bearer strong enough to endure the siphon’s power. Killing me was the only way to remove the siphon from me, but my dearest father didn’t want to risk that. You see, he’d begun to think of me not as his greatest failure but as his greatest weapon.” Sorsha’s face stretched into an ugly smile. “When you deem someone nonexpendable to you, you become weak—and that was where Daddy Dearest erred. He wanted to keep me, but he also wanted to control me. So he put this lovely collar on me.” She dug her nails into the scars stretching from beneath the blackstone collar. “Little does he realize that power cannot be fettered forever. I will show him what I can do. I will finish what he has taught me my entire life. To destroy.” Crimson dripped down her neck, wetting her collar, staining her nails. She let out a crazed laugh. “And he will watch as I bring down his kingdom.”
Sorsha spread her arms. Above her, in the last scene of the mural, the stallion, the eagle, and the seadragon seemed to encircle her in a perfect imitation of the painted mage, as though she were part of the scene, one with the great Bregonian gods.
Then she turned her obsidian gaze to Ana. “You came to warn us about Morganya coming after our siphons. It’s too late, Blood Bitch.” She spread her arms. “Behold.”
“Don’t do this,” Ana whispered.
Sorsha straightened and sheathed her blade. “As much as I’d love to play a while more, Blood Empress, I have other things to do. A grand plan is in motion. The fun will come later.” She winked. “In the meantime, I’ll leave you to our friend here. Don’t be late to the party.”
She raised a hand in farewell and flounced down the hall. As she reached the entrance, Ana heard her call back to Kaïs: “Escort her to Godhallem. I’ll be joining shortly for the main event.”
The front doors shut with a clang. Ana turned to Kaïs. The pressure in her mind held steady, her Affinity still unreachable. “Just tell me.” Her voice cracked. “Just tell me why you’re doing this.”