Page 110 of The Throne's Undoing

Dani smiled, the stretch of her lips pure ice. "There are many things you still do not know--about our kingdom, your family, yourself. And honestly, I cannot wait to watch it all collapse on top of you."

"Danisinia," Graeson hissed, and Kallie startled as he appeared.

But the warrior didn't flinch at the sound of the low voice, her eyes remaining locked on Kallie. A suffocating grief soaked Dani's gaze, the barest hint of water pooling on her lashes.

"Lower your sword, General," Graeson ordered.

A feral, pained noise vibrated in Dani's throat as the blade remained against Kallie's throat. "You are not my commander nor my queen. You have no power over--"

"Do not test me right now." Graeson's voice turned icy and ominous.

Kallie kept her gaze locked on Dani.

She did not want Graeson's protection.

She was not worth protecting. She was not worthanything.

Vengeance darkened within Dani's hate-filled gaze. Yet as Kallie saw Dani's chest rise and fall as she took a breath, the blade finally disappeared from Kallie's throat.

With a snarl curling her lip in disgust, Dani took a step back. Her hand tightened around the hilt of the blade as if she were struggling to release the tension spiking through her. As if she still debated her choice to release Kallie.

Kallie didn't blame her.

As she dropped her gaze to the ground and exhaled, the breath Kallie released wasn't from relief; it was pain.

"Leave, now," Graeson thundered.

Footsteps pounded against the ground as Dani huffed and spun, heading back to the castle.

Twigs and leaves crunched behind her, but Kallie didn't move. She didn't react as the notes of cedar mixed with citruscame closer and a pair of black leather boots stepped into her vision.

A small, infinitesimal part of her wanted to reach out, aching to crawl forward and let the warmth consume her and whisk the torment away.

But that part was too small. A fire unable to spark amidst the coldness that whipped around her core.

Kallie refused to look up. Well, it wasn't that she refused per se; it was that her head was too heavy to raise, and the weight of every word Dani spat at her bore down onto her shoulders.

Every piece of her felt like it was breaking, falling apart, and collapsing before her.

No matter what Kallie did or how much she tried to keep things together, she failed. The pieces wouldn't stick.

They fell.

They crumbled.

They disintegrated.

Even weeks after her mind had been torn apart, Kallie still couldn't identify up from down or left from right.

Graeson crouched down before her. He reached out a hand but then let it fall onto his knees as if thinking otherwise. He said nothing, simply balanced precariously on the toes of his boots.

Kallie averted her gaze. As Graeson observed her silently, she refused to acknowledge whatever feeling was stirring in her core. Still, she couldn't help but notice how his hair had grown a little longer or how the scruff on his chin made him look even more rugged than usual.

Finally, he sighed and whispered, "Dani is hurting. She doesn't know what she's saying."

Kallie scoffed and looked up at him, her sea-storm eyes meeting his blazing silver ones. "She knowsexactlywhat she is talking about. I betrayed him.Iam the reason Fynn is dead."

Graeson's expression shadowed. "Your brother--"

---