But if you’re so eager, I’ll make sure you get to see it firsthand.”
“What?” My heart sinks. I was never going to find the weapon at the palace. But there is hope. There is always hope. Méndez wouldn’t tell me where he went on his trip, but Lady Nuria did. The weapon is in Soledad.
“You’re not the only Moria I’ve broken, Renata. We know how to get through your mountain pass now. Soon, the entire kingdom will be able to witness Memoria fall to its knees.”
Margo’s and Esteban’s heads snap up.
The Whispers are in the mountain. The children, the elders, everyone who is left.
Méndez takes the bind out of Sayida’s mouth and pulls it down. “This is for your own good, my child.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Sayida says, and the sadness in her voice brings me such a deep ache I feel my heart coming undone. “There’s good inside of you. You weren’t always like this.”
Use your power, Sayida, I mentally urge. Unless she already is, and there’s no scrap of kindness left to draw out and play upon. But there has to be. Why else would he have been kind to me? To me . . . but not to other Moria.
Méndez holds the spike over her forearm. The mallet right over its head. “I know you want to think that, but your magics won’t work on me.”
He slams the mallet on the metal spike, and it drives through Sayida’s forearm. Blood splatters across her cheek and on his face. Her scream pierces the deepest recesses of my mind. Sayida, whose smile could convince flowers to bloom. Sayida, whose touch could bring peace to the most troubled soul. The nightingale of the Whispers.
“Stop it! Stop it, please!” I shout. My hands are sweating so much I drop the hairpin. I have to focus. I have to somehow get free before he can hurt her again.
There’s a moment of stillness as Méndez selects a second spike. Sayida has her head turned to the side. Her body shakes with sobs, and she tries her best to stay silent. I wish I could take her pain as my own.
“Now, dear,” Méndez tells Sayida, and I can’t imagine how anyone can be so calm while impaling another. “Who else is in the palace under Illan’s order?”
Sayida shakes her head. “We acted alone.”
“Are you sure about that?” Méndez readies the second spike on Sayida’s other arm, and a single whimper escapes her. “We could save a lot of time if only you’d tell the truth. I want a list of all of Illan’s spies and allies. It seems that you, Renata, were not very honest with me when you arrived here. Every safe house you gave me was a dead end. Empty.”
“We don’t know Illan’s spies!” I shout at him. But my thoughts scream, Nuria Nuria Nuria, because I want him to stop. “He would never tell us. He’d never endanger them! But it doesn’t matter to you, does it? Sayida could shout anyone’s name, she’d shout Castian himself to get you to stop!”
The mallet slams down, and this time Sayida’s shriek is so loud that it echoes long after she’s done. My entire body has turned hot. My power sears across my skin, stronger than it’s ever been. I can feel the light running patterns across my flesh as the metal around my hands grows hotter and hotter, fabric dissolving and stripping away. My screams join Sayida’s.
I can feel the power burning through my skin and as the pain grows unbearable, I yank my hands apart as hard as I can. The red whorls carve across my flesh. Then I feel the sudden weight of my arms as the metal breaks free.
I freeze in shock. What did I do? I slowly look down at my tattered dress, the platinum still shimmering in the dim light. Bits of cloth and leather stick to my buzzing flesh. This is something new. Something dangerous.
I let the chains fall onto my lap so they don’t rattle. I undo the ties around my legs with trembling fingers, but the chains slip and clatter to the stone floor. Méndez’s head snaps to me.
“What are you—” He rushes toward me, but he’s too late, I’m already free. He swings the mallet at my head, but I duck to the side. I hit the floor, then scramble and pick up the chair to throw at him. He uses the mallet as a weapon but cries out as the wood