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Promising start. I lowered myself into a seat against the opposite wall, out of reach of her chains, and ignored the poisoned daggers in her glare. Compassion or no, we needed her help if we wanted to prove ourselves to our troublesome allies – and if we wanted to have any chance of winning the war, I couldn’t,couldn’tmess this up.

‘I would like to know the location of Lyn’s binding,’ I said.

It came out calm. Confident. As if my hands weren’t clammy in my lap, my brain running at red-hot speed trying to plot out every single path this conversation could follow.

Thysandra stiffened, then let out a low, scornful laugh – a laugh that told me she’d rather tear off her own wings with her bare hands than voluntarily hand me any of the information I so desperately needed. ‘So that’s why I’m not dead yet? Because your sorry traitor friends need me to restore their magic first?’

‘You’re not dead because we don’t want to kill you.’ I spread out my hands – deference, an offer of peace. ‘Just this one binding. If you can give us that, I’ll try not to bother you for the others.’

‘Why?’ she said sharply.

‘Why do we not want to kill you?’

‘No. Why Phiramelyndra?’ As much as she was trying to look furious, cold, and disinterested, she was unmistakably leaning in a few inches – of course a brain like hers couldn’t help but try to make sense of what little crumbs she was given. ‘Do you need her unbound magic so badly? Because her offspring isn’t going to win you this war.’

‘No,’ I admitted, resting my head against the wall.She’ll be distrustful of every word you speak, Creon had said, and so I tried to look trustworthy. Like someone she could, if not like, at least respect. ‘But the other phoenixes treated her like shit. One of the elders – Lord Khailan – has been trying for years to punish her for joining the Alliance. I’m trying to make a point.’

She scoffed. ‘By getting back her binding and not theirs?’

‘Pretty much, yes.’ I shrugged. ‘The details aren’t that important, frankly. Do you know where to find her binding?’

‘Of course I do,’ she bit out. ‘All the important ones. You can tell your darling friends that, and don’t forget to pass on that I’d rather spend the next five years in a torture cell than do them the favour of betraying even a single location. Are we done?’

Coming from anyone else, I would have considered that reckless bravura. From her … She might be speaking the unexaggerated truth.

‘I’m not planning to torture you,’ I said, rubbing my eyes. ‘I could probably do you a favour in return, if you could tell me—’

‘Let me go,’ she snapped.

I groaned. ‘Not that kind of favour.’

‘Oh, I see,’ she sneered, throwing her head back so that her tangled black-and-gold hair tumbled over her shoulders and red dress. ‘You’re happy to do me a favour, as long as it’s nothing I actually need. Thank you, Thenessa, and once again,go to hell.’

‘Please,’ I managed, voice soaring. ‘There must be something I can do for you, even here. Tell me what you want, and—’

‘Or what?’ she interrupted, biting out the words. ‘If I don’t give in to your blatant bribery, what will you do? Bring in the golden boy and his knives after all?’

The golden boy. I’d never heard anyone refer to Creon like that, not even the alves in their most furious of rants – was this an old Crimson Court nickname, from before he lost his voice? Or was it just her own animosity speaking, from whatever murky past it might be rooted?

‘Once again,’ I said, struggling to keep my voice level, struggling not to ask for details, ‘I’m not planning to torture you.’

She scoffed. ‘You’d be mad.’

I shrugged. ‘Maybe I am?’

‘Oh, no.’ Her dark eyes narrowed. ‘You’re not playing that game with me again, little dove. You may be a treacherous bitch, but if you survived to this point, you’renowherenear mad – so what are you playing at, then?’

This was the Crimson Court talking, I supposed – no words without double meaning, no offer without hidden poison. Did it matter how trustworthy I tried to look? I wouldn’t prick through centuries of habits and experiences that way.

So maybe the truth was my best bet.

‘You offered me your help, once,’ I said slowly. ‘Back at the court. After the Mother took Creon. That was kind of you, and I don’t see what it would have won you.’

Her lip curled a fraction. ‘And see what has come of it.’

‘But youwerehonest. I’m trying to be honest, too.’ That was, strictly speaking, a lie. I wasn’t telling her why I was asking for Lyn’s binding. I wasn’t telling her why I needed to make an impression on the phoenixes so badly. Then again, my despair was fully, genuinely sincere. ‘Thysandra, I just need that one binding. Just something to make the elders regret being such stubborn arses. What do you want? I could allow you to send a letter to the Crimson Court?’

For one brief moment, it seemed like she was doubting, and my heart skipped a beat. Then the vicious suspicion was back in her eyes, sharper than ever before. ‘Stop trying to charm me, little dove.’ Her voice was just a fraction unsteady. ‘My loyalty can’t be bought.’