Will reels back, holding his nose, but I know it’s not broken. I’m too weak at the moment to put much force behind the punch.

A moment later the door to my cell opens up, and a Resistance soldier steps a foot into the room. Will waves him away. “I’m fine,” he says.

The man’s eyes dart between us, but he steps back and closes the door, leaving us alone once more.

I step in close to him. “You and the rest of the WUN traded me for peace,” I say, my voice rising. “If the king brainwashed me, that is your fault. If I’m falling for the king, it’s only because you forced me to marry him.” I’m shaking I’m so angry. “You don’t have the right to use me anymore. You already gave me away.”

Will reels back, and I see genuine emotion in his eyes. Remorse. Regret.

I square my jaw. “I won’t do what you ask,” I say, my body still burning with fury. “You will have to torture me.”

“Serenity.” Will’s voice drops low. “Please.”

“Screw you, asshole. No.”

Will exhales. “Fine.” He looks over his shoulder at the one-way mirror beyond. “Omar, can we run that clip of the queen?”

A few seconds later the screen in the interrogation room winks on. It glows white for a moment, and then footage appears. I suck in a breath at the sight.

I watch myself step into the doorway of a jet. The short dress I wear is in tatters, and it flaps in the breeze. But it’s not what flares my nostrils as I watch myself descend the stairs to the ground. Maroon blood is caked all over my body, and strange dark flecks of what must have once been flesh are splattered across me. I want to puke at the sight of myself.

“That’s what will hit the Internet,” Will says. “The king won’t be able to sweep that under the rug—and if he does, we’ll start posting the recordings and emails from the Resistance meetings that incriminate you until he is forced to do something about it. He will kill you. And he’ll enjoy it. Still want to refuse my offer?”

I close my eyes and swallow. “I never thought you’d be the one to betray me, Will,” I say.

“That’s not an answer.”

I open my eyes. “If you want to sentence me to death, so be it. You already received my answer.”

Will’s nostrils flare. He strides to the table, grasps a chair, and flings it at the one-way mirror. “Goddamnit Serenity, stop being an idiot!”

I watch him. “Is that supposed to scare me?”

His chest heaves. “You will be imprisoned, tortured, killed if you don’t agree to do this. Do you care so little for your life?”