Cadence had a lot of time to think about what she had done.

She had released Kazimir, the one thing the Founders had sealed away in fear. Even then, it had taken the combined efforts of all four to seal Kazimir, not kill him. How was she supposed to fight Kazimir if he wished to take over her body?

That's right, Cadence, Kazimir said. Keep the thoughts coming. I love to hear what you think of me.

You lied to me, Cadence said. Everything you said, everything you promised, it's untrue.

Well, they didn't call me the master of manipulation for nothing. You should know better than to trust some spirit in a bottle.

You used my emotions against me. You convinced me to trade your freedom for my father's life.

I said I would free him from his pain. Technically, I upheld my part of the bargain. It was fun seeing you blame yourself, Cadence. I'm the master of Walkers, bending your weak will into sealing a deal with me was easier than folding my pinky finger. Have you ever considered that everything you have done, every person you have killed, might have been a result of my meddling? I saved you from your silly suicide attempt at the Great Wall. I control you, Cadence, whether you like it or not.

Go to hell, Cadence said.

Remember this, Cadence. Soon, you will not be able to distinguish my choices and yours. I won't advise you completely, just give you a little prod here, a little nudge there. It's small, but it's sufficient.

Dewas damn you, Cadence screamed at him. You manipulating sadist!

When you become a potential vessel, I'm certain you won't think that way, Kazimir said. I shall fill your body with the raw power of a true Walker, not the watered-down hybrids you call yourselves these days. Walkers, pfft. You're nothing more than humans able to manipulate shadows. A real Walker does not fear darkness, they call upon the darkness like a friend and bend it to their will. After all, aren't shadows and darkness cousins?

Kazimir's voice vanished from her head when the door of the dungeon swung open.

"Get up." It was the same men who had dragged her from her cell. "Time to go back to your cell."

Cadence wanted to fight, but her body refused to perform anything that would inflict more harm on itself. She hung as limp as a weed from their arms as they towed her back into the cell. They took off her blindfold and shackled her onto the ground.

"See you in the morning, pretty."

Laughing like drunk hyenas, they locked up the cells and left.

She finally understood what Nabiha had meant when she said there was no escape. Even with the men holding torches, she had no energy to even pull out the slightest wisp of shadow to pick her locks.

She lay on the ground in a miserable heap, one hand on her injured face, feeling the line of rough, clotted blood with her sore fingers.

"I see they've broken you too," Nabiha said.

"This doesn't make any sense." Cadence continued stroking her wound. It still stung, and her fingers were coated in dust. Under normal circumstances, she would refrain from touching her wounds, but this was no normal situation. She couldn't care less if the wound was infected—it would be a blessing. Maybe she could die from a fever, and she would be spared from the endless torture.

"They needed pure Walkers," Nabiha said. "A lot of Walkers in the past bonded with Ancients, and the bond made them unsuitable to be inhabited by a Soul. In order for a Soul to truly occupy a vessel, the vessel must be entirely willing, and their spoken permission given. Walkers like you and I, people without Yazelka are their ultimate target. I do not know much about the Great War, but I do know it was not supposed to happen. If Kazimir wanted a large amount of vessel to choose from, he couldn't have formulated the war."

Cadence was too tired to reply. She had one last wish—to see her brother again, to tell him she loved him more than anything else in the world. Then, she could die knowing she did at least one right thing. She had heard stories of how depressed royal Lekhobarian concubines committed suicide by biting their tongues into two. It sounded outright painful, but it would kill her before Taras could break her.

I know what you're thinking, foolish girl, Kazimir said. I won't allow it.

This is my body, Cadence ground back. My body, my decision.

Tell that to me tomorrow when they initiate the second round of torture. You have barely scraped the surface.

Why torture all the Walkers? Just take your pick and move on.

It's not as easy as you think, silly girl. The wrong vessel will combust as it cannot handle the amount of power my Spirit contains. I need to try them one by one until I find the right one. But you, you have already accepted part of me.

I won't give in. You shall continue to rot as a Spirit without a vessel, doomed to roam the land without a physical form, rejected by both Syurka and the Underlands.

Cadence lay her head on the hard ground. She decided to make her peace with the Dewas.

She might not be able to see the stars, but she knew the ever-watching eyes of the Dewas were out there, blazing in the skies far away from her prison.

Please take me away before they can break me. I cannot let Kazimir win. He has killed every single person I love. When I die, please give me a chance to speak to my father before you cast me into the Underlands. I owe him that much.

She wept silently. Her body shook as she tried to suppress the screams building within her. Her fingers dug into the ground and tore at the dirt.

I want to see Papa and Cole one last time. Please Dewas, please...

She wondered where Zoroth was. Was he looking for her, or did he go back to his house in the woods, relieved to have gotten rid of her? No one knew where she was, she needn't even hope for a rescue. Cole was still in the Hall of Games, probably worried out of his wits. Eli must be searching for her and found Khazaria's splattered body instead. The other Varya recruits in the Right Order couldn't care less if she died, and the only other father figure in her life had perished under Taras' blade.

Maybe Kazimir really stood a chance to break her will. Her will was already fragile, hammered and pounded on so many times by the death of the people she loved, she didn't even know how much strength was left.

Cadence slept badly that night, and was woken by the sounds of clanking chains and jangling keys, followed by the roughness of the two men as they hauled her to her feet and dragged her into the torture dungeon.

Taras greeted her with a big smile.

"I hope you had a good sleep last night, for I doubt you'll be having restful sleep anytime soon." He tightened the straps on her limbs. "So, I shall ask you this question every day. If you say yes to Kazimir, I will set you free and treat you like the guest you are. If you say no, you know what happens next. I don't like to torture young girls, Cadence, so don't make me harden my heart.

"Bite me." Cadence braced herself for the pain.

"Oh, my sweet little Walker, why do you have to make things so hard for yourself?" Taras crooned as he picked up a scalpel. "Just say yes, and everything would be over. No pain, just bliss as the true Walker asserts himself over you."

He dug the tip of the scalpel into Cadence's arm and drew it down slowly. She did not hold back her screams—it was her own way of dealing with the pain. Taras proceeded to draw another line, then another, then another, until her left arm was nothing but ribbons of bleeding flesh. He called Ivan in and instructed him to Heal her.

"Do not give in," Ivan whispered, running his fingers up and down Cadence's arm, knitting the flesh together. "Do not give Kazimir a chance of rising again."

Taras moved to Cadence's other arm with his scalpel and cut that into ribbons too. Tears leaked from her eyes. She shrieked when Taras splashed concentrated salt water onto her naked wounds. He laughed as he watched Cadence writhe like a snail caught in a shower of salt. The salt ate her flesh and drank her blood, all the while burning like a fire.

"Do you accept Kazimir as the lord of your vessel?"

Each time Taras asked her the question, she would retaliate with the rudest retort she could come up with, and each time she was rewarded with a torture worse than the last.

Cadence soon lost track of Taras' words. Her sole focus was to squeeze herself into a small ball within her head where Taras could not touch. When the torture session ended, the two ruffians threw her back into the cell where she would cry and cherish the few hours of relief. Her hopes of dying from an infection were dashed when Taras forced Ivan to Heal her before casting her into her prison. Yet, he left the scar on her face un-Healed, a reminder of his brutality.

She lost her cellmate on the fourth day. Nabiha never returned. She must have given up.

It was easy to belittle Nabiha for giving in, but Cadence soon found the idea of yielding more tempting than ever as the days passed. Eventually, she stopped counting and lost track of time altogether. She was weak, too weak to even lift her head when she was taken from her cell and strapped onto the torture table. She tried to spit at Taras, but she didn't have enough saliva to do so. The two guards had fed her with only a cup of water and stale bread every day—another tactic to make her give in by sapping her physical energy.

"Do you accept Kazimir as the lord of your vessel?"

"Bite. Me." She churned out the words.

"You're going to give in soon, little Walker, very soon. I can see it in your eyes." Taras stroked the red scar he had given her. The scar did not sting, it was an eternal brand upon her face; a mark that would haunt her until she died, which she prayed was soon.

She cried to the Dewas again when Taras started pulling out her fingernails with pliers.

Please take me, Dewa Valador. I don't know how long I can hold on anymore. I'm not strong, I'm only human...

She choked out her last plea as Kazimir continued taunting her.

Just give up, he whispered. I'll release your Soul to Syurka where you can see your beloved father again. Believe it or not, I have the power to negotiate with Valador in granting you amnesty. You won't have to suffer in the freezing waters. Your ticket to Syurka is guaranteed if you say yes.

Go. To. Hell.

Give up, girl.

Screw you, Cadence thought, her voice a bit fainter than the last.

Give up.

Don't listen to him. A new voice emerged from the depths of her mind.

Papa?

Perhaps she was going mad. The pain had somehow thrown her into a state of delirium, or maybe, she was really dying.

Her father appeared next to her. He caressed her face with his calloused hands and brushed back a piece of her hair.

You've suffered so much, my child, and it's my fault.

No, it's not. You raised me up the best you could.

My death is not on you. I've been living on borrowed time. You, on the other hand, still have a long life ahead of you. You won't die here, not in this filthy hovel.

Little mite.

Ales walked out from the lights. His body was translucent, glowing like starlight.

I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from them. It shouldn't have been you. You're just there at the wrong place and the wrong time. Fight him, little mite, don't let him win.

Fight him, they chorused. We'll help you.

I don't know if I can. It's too much.

She reached out for them, but they slid through her fingers and vanished.

Cadence didn't know if she should laugh or cry. Even her own mind was betraying her by showing her apparitions of the people she loved, trying to torture the parts Taras couldn't reach.

You killed them, Kazimir said. There is no need to deny.

I killed them...

She closed her eyes and sank into the deepest folds on her mind.