"Three hundred years and not one of you tried to aid me." Those are the first words that I hear as my eyes slowly open. "Not one of you tried to free me. Do you know how disappointed I am?"

I rub my head first and I gaze across the big chair I'm sitting on to see Saffron sitting straight in the throne chair. In this light, I can see her clearly. Her disguise is that of a teenager, a human that looks so young that the chair doesn't suit her. She is wearing some strange kind of clothing, a dress made of old material with sewn beads and pendants. It looks like one of the museum dresses from Cain's office.

On her other side, Thea stands. She doesn't look like she's there out of force either, she seems to be enjoying being at Saffron's side. She probably knew it was Saffron all along. The throne room is full of the world leaders, the council are the closest. Axel meets my eyes as I look down. I look around the room for Blake and I see him against the far wall. I let my breath out when I see him, relieved that he's alive.

"I am still adjusting to these new languages and naming of our kind," Saffron says. She stares right at Axel. "But I'd recognize you anywhere Sama. Always got to be at the front."

"My name is Axel here," he says.

"Right," Saffron mumbles. "The bizarre tradition that we take on the lifeforms' names. I would like to make a few things clear to all of you. First, I am your leader now. I am your Queen."

"Where is the King?" Axel says. "What have you done with him?"

"Second," Saffron hisses. "I would like to rewrite some of these laws. The breeding centres and nanneries will remain as they are but there will be no further restrictions on bidding or the wellbeing of owned humans. I want every watcher around the world to report directly to me on how many pure souls are among the children. The pure can be sold immediately without an age restriction."

I stare at her in disbelief, my fingers angrily digging into the chair. I look at Blake, he shakes his head at me. Where are all the guards? There were thousands of them! They can't all be loyal to her so why aren't they intervening? Why is Blake just standing there?

"And lastly," Saffron says. "I'm sure you are all wondering about what is going to happen to the completed soul sitting next to me."

The bodies of the leaders straighten, their faces becoming excited at the prospect of having a chance to bid for me.

"My energy is too close to the King's," Saffron mumbles. "And the girl somehow repels me. I have been trying for hours and I cannot taste her so I will be open to reasonable offers by the end of the week if nothing changes."

"But her soul is split," someone yells. "The King has already tasted her."

"I can assure you that even while split she is still the most powerful soul I have ever touched. Plus, with completed souls, there is a chance that if you consume her then the pieces inside the King will leave him and join with you. If I cannot taste her then I have no use for her, I cannot keep her on suicide watch indefinitely."

"What is a reasonable offer?" Axel says.

Saffron rubs her chin as she thinks it over. "All of your completed and all of your pure."

Axel laughs. "I hope you are going to allow us to touch her first."

"Of course." Saffron gestures her hand to me. "Go ahead."

Axel's red eyes light up as he becomes the first to walk up the steps. He's been wanting to touch me for a long time. I keep my eyes on him as he stops in front of the chair. I hold my breath as I lift my hand up, he grips my wrist and almost drags me out of the seat. His eyes turn blood orange, he holds on to me for so long that Saffron clears her throat.

"Next," she shouts.

It goes on for so long that tears sting my eyes. One after the other, they line up to touch me. It makes no sense. At the beginning, Cain would never have let a creature near me, let alone test me. He was paranoid that if they consumed me then they'd be more powerful than him. Saffron is so confident in her position that it doesn't phase her. It makes me wonder just how powerful she is if she's willing to risk losing the completed soul to another. Thea is the last to touch me, she smiles at the contact but narrows her eyes as she backs away.

Saffron stares at the three leaders that refused to move, the only three left that didn't line up. "Are you not tempted by completed souls? Why did you not touch her?"

A female creature with tanned skin bows her head respectively. "She changed the King. Her soul made him. . . care. We have all changed in some ways and we do not wish to change further."

"You cannot become the most powerful being in the world without changing," Saffron says. "It isn't possible. We have all changed since our original planet, we adapt and conform to our environment and the lifeforms we become. Did you expect to still be the same after consuming so many human emotions? I have only had a week to learn about humanity and the thought of consuming this completed soul terrified me and still does terrify me. How odd is that? Fear. The fear of changing." Saffron turns and studies me. "I may be eight years behind you but we are all still learning about her."

"So you agree that she is dangerous?" a creature asks. "What happened to the King was not natural. Perhaps the best way to resolve the situation is to end her life."

"And let a completed soul go free?" Axel hisses. "The King only became attached to her because he took her soul slowly. She would be dead within a minute if I owned her."

"She is dangerous to us all! Anyone that consumes her is at risk of becoming compassionate towards humans. Kill her now and put an end to this!"

Saffron stiffens in her seat as the voices scream over each other. My heart is beating faster, my palms becoming sweaty as I cling to the edges of the chair. Blake is the only presence in the room that I find comfort in. He is looking at them with as much disgust as myself but he doesn't intervene. Having my fate discussed isn't what's making me nervous, it's the thought of dying and leaving Jackson alone in a world dominated by Saffron. It's the thought of dying before I can reach the bell and set the humans free. I don't know where Jackson and the others are, if she even went through with her promise to save them. What if they're already dead? What if I'm the last human in the palace still alive?

"Silence!" Saffron screams. "I decide what happens to her, not you. The bidding will start at the end of the week. You." She flicks her hand at Blake and he removes himself from the wall. "Take her to the dungeons."

I go with Blake quickly, he keeps his grip around my arm, putting on the show that he's dragging me. Once we're in the hallway, he pushes me into a run and he waits several minutes until we're far enough away from the throne room.

"What happened?" I cry. "Where's Jackson?"

"He's safe, for now. A group that I trust managed to break them out while she was distracted with killing the rest. Her allies are pursuing them but they'll be far on the other side of the world by now."

I take a breath of relief.

"She killed all of the humans and slaughtered her way through the guards. We had to surrender to her." He checks all the hallways. "I couldn't get to you in time but I've sent two of my kind to search for Marina. They're very skilled trackers."

"You need to leave," I say. "You need to find Cain."

"I can't," he says. "Only Marina can. They can sense each other. I need to get you out of here."

"No," I whisper. "If she catches us then she'll kill you."

"I made a promise to Cain that I'd protect you. It's deeply frustrating her that she can't consume you, she wants to take your disguise to show it to him. She'll force another to do it."

I gasp. "That's. . ."

"There is no word for what that is," he mutters.

"Why can't she taste me? She looked like she was in pain when she touched me."

"I'm not sure," he says. "You did it to me once too at the theme park. It wasn't pain exactly but it was a very sharp tingling that warned me not to touch you. I think you do it when you feel like you're in danger. It could be something that Cain planted, for protection."

It's strange. Cain used to be the one that couldn't taste me and now the creatures can't. It's like they reversed. And the only time I can think of when that changed was when my father's spirit possessed him. Did my father do this? Did he offer me this protection?

"She's going to use you to make him suffer one way or another," he says. "Even if that means taking you to him and slitting your throat. That's assuming none of the others can consume you either." He looks out at the window, checking all directions. "We can't leave now, there's too many of her allies on the roof. We need to wait until it's dark. She'll have someone watching over you at all times, she fears you're going to try and commit suicide."

"That idea sounds pretty good right now," I whisper.

"I'll find a way to get you out," he says as I follow him down a staircase and into a basement level that I've never seen before. "It'll be okay, Aurora. The King still has loyal allies, most of my kind hated Saffron."

"I'd feel more at ease by that if I didn't just witness the world's most powerful creatures bending their knees to her."

"That's because she put a completed soul in front of them for the taking," he mutters. "She's bribing them. There's no way she can be that powerful if she's been imprisoned for three centuries. I think she's been free for a long time, biding her time and infiltrating planets just like Marina."

"I hope she's safe," I say.

"Me too."

The dungeons are a dark and lonely place. There are no other creatures down here that I can see, which means that either Cain executed them or Saffron released them. I pass steel cage after steel cage, some of the bars are dipped slightly, probably from creatures trying to break out.

Blake opens a cage door for me and I fold my arms as I walk inside. These cells weren't built to hold humans so there isn't anything in them except for the cold ground that stinks of rotten stone from the rain. I back up to a wall and I remain still as Blake closes the cage door.

"I'll come back for you," he says. "I promise."

I want to believe him but the entire thing feels hopeless. Even if he did get me out, where would we go? Will he take me to Jackson and Christian across the world? She might not had sent many forces after them but she'd send her entire army after me. I slide to the wet ground, covering my face as I cry silently. I'm still wearing my shorts and top from last night, my body trembles from the cold and my throat is itching with thirst. Blake didn't tell me exactly who he managed to get out, what if it was more than the four names I gave Saffron? What if there's a large group of them that managed to escape? What if Saffron lied and it was only Jackson that she spared? Is Christian dead?

My mind breaks apart into so many depressive states. This has all happened so quickly and my heart can't catch up to it. Our only hope now is that those creatures can find Marina in time and bring her back.

I hear a door open from the bottom of the dungeon hallway and I push myself into the corner as a female's dark laughter fills the air. Multiple footsteps come towards my cell and I pinch my eyes closed, my heart almost stops as the footsteps pause outside the door.

"May I?" a voice says, it sounds like Thea.

"Do what you want with her as long as you don't kill her."

I finally open my eyes, my body slightly rocks as I meet Thea's scorned gaze from behind the bars. She slowly opens the door.

"I'm going to enjoy this."