Page 11 of Queen of Vengeance

I took another bite, still trying to analyze it, when I realized I recognized the taste. It was something I ate when I was younger. I tried to think back.

All I could picture was my parents’ faces. They looked so worried.

Then my eyes shot open, and I spat out what I had in my mouth.

I knew this taste because it was a plant that grew in my village… The Hynedea plant. It had a sweet smell and taste, but it was highly deadly.

My parents had to rush me to the health center because I tried to eat it when I was a kid.

“Stop! Don’t eat any—!” I tried to speak, but my throat started to close up. I watched in horror as Dineta began panicking.

She scratched at her throat and started falling out of her seat.

No! Why her?

Dineta's face was blue now.

I leaped across the table, trying to help her but powerless to save her.

I was so close… We were so close to escaping this place.

Suddenly, a group of men in grey tunics burst into the cafeteria, which caused panic among prisoners and guards.

The only face I recognized was Eniko’s.

He spotted me first and rushed toward me.

My throat closed up completely, and my insides shredded into pieces.

My vision wavered as I collapsed to the floor.

My body turned cold as I struggled to move.

The last thing I saw was Dineta staring at me with her mouth agape.

She wasn’t moving.

She wasn’t breathing.

She wasn’t staring at me.

She was dead.

Eniko grabbed me up from the ground and forced me to look at him. He was talking to me hysterically, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Then everything became blurred, and it all faded to black.

The bastard finally got me…

3

LEA

Seventeen Years Ago

The grass and dragon’s tongue petals tickled my legs as the warm summer breeze swept through the sleepy forest of Dask.

There wasn’t much I loved about Dask except for this spot.

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