Page 101 of The Throne's Undoing

Medenia snorted. "If anyone even got within range of my mother, they would be dead within minutes. The queen's guards undergo intense training and must meet several qualifications even to be considered for the position. Even if an enemywereto get past one of the guards, my mother is just as deadly as the rest--if not more so."

Kallie didn't doubt that for a second. She had felt the queen's power ripple from her when Kallie had sat chained to the chair. She could only imagine what it would be like to confront her as an enemy.

On the fifth day,Kallie was already up, awaiting the princess when she arrived. While Kallie talked very little, and eventhe pieces of information Medenia offered Kallie were carefully chosen, she was beginning to enjoy the company. Or at least she found some semblance of peace during their daily strolls.

Everywhere she looked, nature bloomed, weaving over and up buildings like a living entity. All around her, life existed and thrived.

Yet, as Kallie would amble her way through the garden, she couldn't help but notice how the vines and branches wrapped around the spires of the castles, almost as if strangling them. The castle had been built around the ancient oak tree.

While she had learned from Medenia that the choice to build around the tree was meant as a sign of respect, it pained her at the same time. The tree had little room to grow. It was confined, trapped. It tried to find ways to persevere despite its surroundings, to grow in different directions, but the results were mangled limbs twisted at odd angles. There was no way for it to thrive, not with the world pressing in around it.

Kallie had never been surrounded by so much nature before, and yet she couldn't help but see the cage she lived in. The Pontians thought they had freed her. And to an extent, she supposed they had. Her mind was finally hers. Yet...

Yet she still feltlostdespite their efforts.

The only thing she knew was she had to keep moving forward. No matter how much she wanted to get lost in the past and the world behind her.

But how was she supposed to move forward if she still didn't understand the truth?

Why did Domitius take her? What did he want with her? Why did her mother not come for her sooner? Why wait? Why let Kallie live with a foreign king for so long? They were the same questions that had plagued her mind for the past few months, yet they felt different to her now.

Before, Kallie didn't want to know the truth. She evaded the truth any chance she had. She made excuses for Domitius. But while she now saw through his wicked manipulations, she also struggled to move past them.

Who was she now that she wasn't the Princess of Ardentol? Who was she now that she wasn't his daughter? Who was she now that she wasn't the king's weapon?

She was lost.

Purposeless.

Hopeless.

Before, Kallie at least had an objective, but ever since her mind had been fractured, she was confused about her purpose. Without a purpose, Kallie struggled to keep her eyes forward and set on the future.

"Is something wrong?" Medenia asked, pulling Kallie to a stop.

Nyrri halted beside them, and when Kallie peered up at the castle once more, searching the windows, she could have sworn Nyrri did too.

Medenia held up a hand as she squinted in the direction she was looking. "What is it?"

Kallie, however, found nothing amiss as she searched the castle's walls. Still, the uneasy feeling dwelling within her continued to prickle at the back of her neck, an awareness she couldn't shake.

Finally, Kallie dropped her gaze, confusion twisting her features. "It's probably nothing."

Medenia hummed as she stared a moment longer at the windows, tightening her arm around Kallie's and guiding them forward. "I believe our bodies often know more than our minds do."

Kallie snorted in a very un-princess-like manner. "These days, I am not sure my mind knows my left from my right," she retorted.

Medenia tapped Kallie's arm gently and offered her a small, knowing smile. She assured, "Do not rush it. You will feel normal again soon."

Normal, Kallie thought bitterly.Such a simple word, and yet...

Kallie no longer knew what normal was for her. She supposed this was normal: walking through the gardens with a practical stranger with guards at the ready in case she attacked the princess or ran. All the while feeding dead rabbits to the beast that walked with them.

Perhaps Kallie's new normal was a sense that someone was watching, for the feeling never left as she and Medenia continued their stroll around the enclosed garden.

A couple of days later,Kallie sat beside Nyrri, staring up at the cloud-covered sky, when Medenia had been pulled away by a guard named Ophelia.

After the two women whispered to one another for a while, Medenia returned to Kallie and Nyrri, a sad smile gracing the princess's lips. Ophelia stepped beside her, her hands folded behind her back.

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