“They plan to attack the Council and bring us down?” The old Minister snorted. “This is ridiculous. All of this.”

Telly chuckled then. “It is to think that a bunch of addicts could form a cohesive plan.”

“Addicts? Yes, they’re addicted to aether, but they are the most dangerous kind of addict,” said Minister Diana Elders, speaking for the first time. “We cannot dismiss what they are capable of. Knowing they can turn half-bloods changes things. And obviously the gods are questioning our ability to rein the daimons back in.”

This started a battle of wills for the next several minutes. A few Ministers didn’t like the idea of ignoring the daimons’ plans, while the others simply didn’t take the threat seriously. Suggestions were thrown around, like increasing the number of Sentinels and sending them out to target large infestations of daimons, but the majority of Ministers didn’t see any reason to do so. The talks kept coming back to me.

My stomach filled with dread as understanding dawned. Telly and much of the Council outright dismissed the daimons’ plans. Suddenly I knew what my mother had told me was not the whole reason why I’d been ordered to attend this session. Marcus had been sadly misled. Or maybe he’d known all along. Distracted by the other Ministers, I was able to look out over the crowd without Telly bitching me out.

Aiden whispered to Marcus, his hands tight and white-knuckled on the back of the bench in front of him. I looked up at the balcony. I could only imagine what Seth thought of all of this.

Telly finally returned his attention to me. “Rachelle planned on turning you into a daimon?”

I wanted to say no shit,but I decided against it. “Yes.”

Telly turned his hawkish nose into the air. “Why?”

I rubbed my hand over my forehead. “She wanted me to become the Apollyon as a daimon. She thought she’d be able to control me then.”

“So she wanted to use you?” asked Telly. “To do what?”

“She wanted to make sure I didn’t come after her, I guess.”

“What would you do for her?”

I met Telly’s stare. Somehow, I think he already knew this part. “She

wanted me to take out the other Apollyon… and she wanted me to help the daimons with their plans.”

“Oh yes, their plans to take out the Council and enslave the pure-bloods?” Telly shook his head, smiling. “How many times were you tagged, Alexandria?”

My entire body tensed. “I don’t know. A lot.”

He appeared to consider this. “Enough to be turned, you think?”

Nightmares of those hours locked away with Daniel and Eric haunted me still. I remember that last tag—the one I’d felt sure would finally darken my soul, shatter it into nothing. One more tag and I would’ve crossed over to the dark side. A fine sheen of cold sweat broke out across my forehead.

“Alexandria?”

I blinked, bringing his face back into focus. “Almost enough.”

“Did you try to stop them? Trained or not, you had already killed two daimons by then.”

Disbelief coated the back of my throat.

“Tagging is very painful,” Telly continued, stopping beside me for what felt like the hundredth time. His face seemed fuller when he stood close. “How could you allow that to happen repeatedly? It seems that a half-blood would do everything and anything to prevent from being tagged.”

“I couldn’t fight them.”

His dark brows rose in incredulity. “You couldn’t or wouldn’t?”

I closed my eyes, struggling with patience. “I promised her I wouldn’t if she didn’t kill Caleb. I had no other choice.”

“There are always choices, Alexandria.” He paused, disgust curling his lip as he stared down at me. “To allow something so revolting seems suspicious. Perhaps you wanted to be turned.”

“Head Minister,” Lucian spoke up then. “I understand that some of these questions are necessary, but Alexandria did not submit to those atrocities willingly. To even suggest something like that seems unnatural and cruel.”

“Is that so?” Telly sneered at me.

“Wait a second,” I said, his words finally sinking in. “Are you suggesting that I wanted to be turned into something that evil? That I asked for it?”

Telly raised his hands haughtily. “How do you think we’d interpret it?”

I looked at the audience then, briefly catching a pained look on Marcus’s face. “Do you know that sounds like a rapist’s motto? She wore a short skirt, therefore she wantedit?”

Several gasps could be heard from the audience. It seemed the word “rapist” was unseemly. The smug look slowly slipped from Telly’s face. “Alexandria, you are out of line.”

My brain clicked off at that point. What Daniel had said to me before he’d tagged me filled my mind. It was like Telly thought the same thing. That I wantedto be tagged, that I enjoyed it. I stood. “You’re telling me I’m out of line?”

“No one gave you leave.” Telly drew himself up to his full height.

“Oh, I’m not leaving.” All eyes were on me. I reached down and pulled my sweater up and over my head. There was a moment when no one seemed to breathe. I met the open mouthed stares; I’d think I didn’t have a camisole on underneath the sweater by the looks on their faces.

“What in the world are you doing, Alexandria?” demanded Lucian.

Ignoring him, I stepped away from the chair and held my arms out in front of me. “Does this look like something I wanted to go along with? That I asked for this?”

Against their will, dozens and dozens of eyes fastened on my arms. Most gasped and shuddered, looking away quickly. Others didn’t. As if they couldn’t tear their eyes from the patchy red skin and its unnatural shine. My gaze flitted across the floor as Telly looked like he was having a heart attack beside me. I saw the proud tilt to Laadan’s chin. A few rows in front of her I saw Dawn’s horrified gaze. Further back, behind the Council members, Marcus paled. It kind of hit me that he’d never seen my scars, only caught glimpses of the ones on my neck. I don’t think he’d known how bad they were. I felt a hot flush crawl up my neck, but the stunned look of pride on Aiden’s face gave me the confidence to face the Ministers.

I wondered what Seth’s expression looked like. He was probably smiling. He loved it when I was irrational, and this was reallyirrational.

Twisting around, I showed them my arms. “They look like they hurt, don’t they? They did. It’s the worst kind of pain you can imagine.”

“Alexandria, sit down. We get your point.” Telly reached for me, but I stepped aside.

A Guard moved in, picking up my sweater. He held it, his eyes nervously bouncing between Telly and me.

I glanced at the other Guards, hoping they weren’t planning on body slamming me to the ground. All but one were half-bloods and none of them seemed willing to stop me. Tipping my head at the Ministers, I tried to keep the smile off my face. “So do you really think I went along with my mother? That I wanted this?”

Diana paled and looked away, shaking her head sadly. The remaining Ministers reacted much like the audience had. Either way, I’m pretty sure I’d gotten my point across.

A furious shade of red covered Telly’s cheeks. “Are you done, Alexandria?”

I met his scowl with my own. Leisurely, I went back to my chair and sat down. “I guess so.”

Telly ripped the sweater out of the Guard’s hand. I could tell he wanted to throw it at me, but with amazing self-control, he handed it over. I didn’t put it back on. “Now where were we?”

“We were at the point where you were accusing me of wanting to become a daimon.”

Several Ministers inhaled sharply. Telly looked seconds away from exploding. Leaning down so that our faces were inches apart, he spoke low and quick. “You are an unnatural thing, do you understand me? A harbinger of death to our kind and to our gods. The both of you.”

I shrunk back, wide-eyed. “Harbinger of death” sounded extreme and crazy.