Page 158 of The Throne's Undoing

Myra skirted to a halt, forcing Laurince and Rian to stumble as she pulled them with her. Her lungs dropped to her stomach as she turned and looked to where she had heard the voice.

Sitting on the arm of the throne, Mynhos peered down at her. Shadows blanketed him as he picked at his teeth, his legs dangling off the large, extravagant chair.

"Mynhos," Myra said, her voice cracking, "we...we looked for you."

"Did you?" Mynhos asked, cocking his head. Shadows moved behind him, but they stilled before she could register them.

"Myra," Laurince said, reaching for her as she took a hesitant step toward the throne.

She shrugged off his hand and pleaded, ignoring the warning in Laurince's voice. "Come with us, Mynhos."

"Nowyou wish to rescue me? After all these years?" Mynhos asked, his voice growing colder by the second. "You have lived inside this castle for nine years, yet you never tried to find me."

"I didn't...I didn't want to make things worse," Myra whispered, her voice shaking.

"But you didn't even try, did you?" he taunted.

Myra was silent, the guilt strangling her.

"You grew complacent, content to do His Majesty's bidding as long you remained alive."

Laurince shifted closer, the command on his lips.

The seer was wrong. Mynhos was not gone. He was right here, and Myra would not leave her brother. Not again.

"Mynhos, please," she begged, reaching out a hand. "We can finally leave this place."

The back of Myra's neck grew cold as her brother stood atop the arm of the throne, balancing precariously on it. "You actually think you can leave?" her brother asked. He laughed, the sound echoing in the large throne room. "You can never leave. You will never escape him, and if you believe you can, you are more foolish than I thought."

"Something's not right," Laurince whispered, but Myra barely registered his words, her attention too focused on Mynhos. "Myra," he beckoned, this time more urgently.

But Myra shook her head. "He's been under the king's influence for too long. He just needs to be shown there is a way out."

She reached forthe threads connecting to her brother. She grabbed a hold of them, the anger and fury scorching. But she would not give up on him.

Her little brother was in there somewhere. He had to be.

"A way out?" Mynhos cackled, the sound a cacophony of noise that scraped against Myra's skin as it ricocheted off the walls. "You've always been the hopeful one, sister. Ever since we were little kids. But hope gets you nowhere. Hope only forces you to claw at the cage, waiting for someone to rescue you. I had hoped you would save me once upon a time."

With a huff, he shook his head. "But guess what? You never came. I waited for you.For years,I waited for you. During that time, I was poked and prodded. And soon, as the pain became blinding and all-consuming, I realized you would never come for me."

"Mynhos, please," Myra begged, the tears burning the backs of her eyes.

"I did what I needed to do to save myself. And honestly, once I stopped fighting it, I finally felt free." He smiled.

Myra stepped forward, and Rian's hand wrapped around her wrist. Without looking at it, she shook it off. "Whatever has happened, whatever you have done, it will be fine. We will get through this together."

"Oh, I know it will be fine. I've made sure of that," Mynhos said.

"Mynhos?" Myra called to her brother just as Laurince said her name. She continued to ignore him. She tried to tame the rage, but it was a torrent, fueled by so much hate. "Please, come with us."

Mynhos chuckled. "Your gift always failed you when you needed it the most, didn't it?"

He jumped down from the throne, and Myra gasped, jolting back a step. His blond hair was long and shaggy. The strands fell over his eyes, which were cast to the ground. He lifted a hand--

"Your hand!" Myra shrieked. "I thought..."

Mynhos twisted the hand in the air as he chuckled. "Oh, right. I nearly forgot that it had been chopped off. It has healed quite magnificently."

---