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“What do you mean?” I demanded.

Odessa met my eyes. “Your grandfather is afraid of you, Medra. That’s why your aunt has come. Not out of love, but out of fear.”

I thought of the hawk and flinched.

“That’s not true,” Sarrasine said, her sweet voice turning sharp again with annoyance. “We love the girl. Of course we do.”

“Love her as you did her mother?” Odessa challenged. “The mother your father had locked up? Imprisoned?”

I looked at Sarrasine. “Is that true? Did he do that to her?”

“There was a reason for it. I’ll explain it all to you later. Come now. There’s no time for this.” My aunt reached towards me.

I darted backwards behind Odessa.

“Stay there, Medra,” the warrior murmured. “No matter what happens next.”

“We understand what Medra truly is. We can hone her powers. Teach her to use them properly. There’s no need for fear,” my aunt said.

“Use them? For what purpose? And if she won’t do as you or your father wish, what will happen to her next? Will he kill her?”

I caught something in my aunt’s eyes. A look of guilt perhaps. Odessa had touched something there. Something close to the truth.

“You have a choice to make, Medra,” Odessa said quietly. “You could choose to go with this woman, your aunt. But I don’t think you’ll like the place she’ll take you or the people you’ll meet there, even if they are your family. You aren’t a cruel child, Medra. You’ve never been cruel. You long for the light. Don’t turn away from it now. Stay with me here. Stay with me until your aunt and uncle return to us.”

“They won’t return.” Sarrasine sneered, and instantly, her elegant face was transformed into something cruel and spiteful. “They’ll never return. Don’t fill her head with stupid hopes that are doomed to fail.” She looked down at me. “There are winners and there are losers, Medra. These fae and mortals you stand with now will not prevail against your grandfather. Soon, all of Eskira will be his dominion. Your family will rule these lands. We will control these people. The woman you see standing before you will be a slave—like many others. Is that what you want? To be a slave, Medra? Or do you want to rule by your family’s side and be the princess you were meant to be?”

She held out a slender hand. “Come with me now, sweet child. Come home.”

“Odessa will never be a slave,” I shouted, my eyes flaring to life.

They flashed, and the guard to Sarrasine’s left fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

Another flash, and the guard to her right fell, rolling on the ground as if invisible flames were wrapped around him.

“Then bring her with you,” my aunt hissed. “And keep her as your pet, if that is what you desire. Either way, you are coming with me. Now.”

And then she moved towards me.

In a flash, Odessa had blocked her way. Both her blades were out. “You shall not have her.”

“Do you really think you can challenge me, Siabra?” Sarrasine said, her lovely lips twisting in a cruel smirk. “With steel of all things?” She looked at me. “Come here, Medra. No more games.”

Her voice was sweet. So sweet. I moved. Not because I wanted to. But because I was compelled.

I stepped out of Odessa’s protective shadow and walked slowly towards Sarrasine. One step, then another, before coming to a halt in the middle of the tower.

“Closer,” Sarrasine demanded, her eyes narrowing, her voice still as sweet as the nectar of a blossom.

I gripped the floor, digging my heels in with everything I had, feeling my aunt’s voice pressing into my mind and urging me on even as I refused her saccharine-infused command.

Odessa let out a battlecry and lunged forward, twirling around me and slashing out at my aunt.

My aunt lifted her hands protectively, and Odessa’s blade ripped across them.

Blood dripped to the floor.

Fury flashed in my aunt’s eyes. Before Odessa could move towards her a second time, Sarrasine screeched, “Lift your blades to your own throat and cut it, you Siabra bitch.”