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“‘I want the most precious thing of all,’ the thief replied. ‘Your heart.’”
Luc stared right at me as he said it, making my breath still as my stomach sank.
“But she couldn’t give him her heart,” Luc continued. “For his hands were too dirty to hold it properly.”
“Luc…”
“And so the thief was left with nothing, unable to have what he wanted most because his hands were too dirty to hold it, and because even a thief knows he can never obtain a lady’s heart unless she gives it willingly.”
I squeezed his hand, trying not to cry. He gave an empty smile, stopping us both so he could rub his thumb against my cheek.
“Don’t worry, little dove,” he said. “Whatever happens to us, remember that your friendship brought me great joy for a time.”
I squeezed his hand once more. “Me too.”
“Over here,” the siren in front of us said.
We stepped forward, following the sirens into the inner court. The caverns stretched high and wide around us, light reflecting off the obsidian ceilings due to the deep, clear pool in the middle of the room. I knew immediately that this pool was more than a hot spring. I could feel the energy coming from it, but I couldn’t decide if it was something to be feared or embraced.
The room was full of sirens—hundreds of them, possibly—all standing in the coliseum seats around the pool. Fear gripped my throat as I looked around us, wondering what would become of those here who would be found guilty.
King Melchior appeared, moving toward the center of the lake. He walked directly on the water, and I realized that the pool was not deep at all but simply an illusion. Unless King Melchior was floating? But how? He hadn’t wings like the others.
Jacques stood next to the king in the water, his shirt completely off with his Celtic circles exposed and glowing. There were four more men—men from Jacques’s crew—all with the same marks. I recognized them as the prisoners I used to feed after the ambush.
So Jacques really had planned to come to the Den of Sirens from the beginning. He wasn’t coming for me at all.
His eyes caught mine as if he had heard me, but I dipped my head.
We were then stopped by Hugo and Vito. They held out their hands to us.
“Give us your hand,” they said at the same time, although their tones were completely different.
Luc and I, as well as the two sirens with us, held out our hands. Hugo and Vito pricked the fingers with a small piece of metal, and I was thankful that it was far less painful than whatHenrik had done. Red blood came from Luc’s and my fingers. Teal blood came from the sirens’ hands in front of us.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen red blood!” Vito said in delight. “What a beautiful shade!”
“And the red fire that will consume the guilty will be just as beautiful,” Hugo said flatly.
“Ah, why do you have to scare everyone?”
“It’s only the truth.”
“Why not be a little more optimistic?”
“Optimism doesn’t save you. Only truth does.”
“Yes, but hope carries you through the harshest truths.”
The four of us left Hugo and Vito to argue as we were ushered to rows in the front. I switched between watching the blood flow from my finger to the king standing on the pool in front of us. I wished I could speak with him again before judgment. He seemed so warm and inviting, but I didn’t have the chance to speak with him as much as I wanted.
I then realized I wouldn’t have the chance to speak to Adrian or Henrik either. I couldn’t apologize. I couldn’t explain myself. I couldn’t tell them what they meant to me.
But according to Luc, it wouldn’t make any difference anyway.
“Everyone is here,” the king announced.
The room went silent.
