Page 109 of The Throne's Undoing

Sweat dripped down Kallie's forehead, and as she braced her sword against Dani's, she rasped, "I'm not going to hit you."

Dani screamed in rage. She yanked her sword up, and Kallie stumbled from the abrupt change in force.

Dani didn't stop there; she spun around, knocking the back of Kallie's knee.

Kallie's legs buckled, and she sank to the ground, her knees smacking into the soil. With athunk, the sword fell from Kallie's hand as the cold tip of Dani's blade kissed her jugular.

Kallie held up her hands in defeat, swallowing hard.

Yet Dani didn't remove her blade from Kallie's neck. She snarled and hissed, "It would be so easy, you know..."

Dani added more pressure, the point digging into Kallie's skin so hard it hurt.

As Kallie stared at Dani--as she looked at the freckles that covered her nose, the twitch of her lip, and the vein throbbing in the center of her forehead--she felt nothing and everything at once.

Pain.

Grief.

Regret.

Confusion.

It was all too much. The emotions wrapped around her mind. They twisted and pulled, tugging at her, choking her.

And Kallie was helpless to it all.

"Then go ahead," Kallie whispered, tipping her chin up. "Do it."

Dani's jaws flexed, her arm steady despite the flood of emotion coating her eyes. "He never gave up on you," Dani said, her voice no more than a cold whisper. "All of those years he fought for you, begging to be sent to Ardentol to save your spoiled ass. He would have doneanythingfor you. You do realize that, don't you?"

Each word Dani spoke was like an icy slice across Kallie's heart. But Kallie remained silent, unable to speak. She rolled her fingers together, her nails biting into the flesh of her palms until her hands begged for release.

"He gave his life away for you, and yet you give yours away so freely?" Dani asked, disgust spilling from her tongue and filling her words. She spat on the ground, missing Kallie's foot only by a couple of inches. "You are a coward and a waste."

Kallie's shoulders sagged. "What do you wish me to say, Dani? An apology will not bring him back."

A layer of water glistened over the raging fire that burned bright within Dani's hazel eyes. Dani blinked it away and put more pressure on the blade.

"I want you to feel remorse! I want you to feel what I feel. You sit in the castle day and night, walking around as if nothing has happened. Do you not think that I do not see that? How you are completely and utterly unaffected?" she challenged.

"I will not sit here and make excuses for the things that I have done in the past." Kallie broke their eye contact and looked at the sky. "I cannot apologize for Fynn's death, but do not think I do not grieve him."

"You do notdeserveto mourn him! You didn't know him! You betrayed him."

She scoffed then. "Do you not think I know that? I am the last person who deserves your forgiveness, and am I not asking you for it." Kallie bit down on her lip and forced her tears back. "No one was supposed to get hurt."

"Buthedid."

"I didn't know he was my brother when Domitius set the plan into motion. If I had--"

Dani huffed a rough laugh, cutting Kallie off as she snapped, "It shouldn't have mattered who he was! He was kind to you. He cared about you. And you..."

Dani shook her head. She took a deep breath in, her chest rising.

When she spoke next, her words were as cold as the northern glaciers. "One day, I hope you'll understand what it feels like to have your soul bond ripped from you."

A deep groove marked Kallie's forehead. "A soul bond?" she repeated.

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