Page 41 of The Throne's Undoing

She knew she should get up but couldn't force herself to.

So instead, she curled on her side, her body trembling and tears streaming down her cheeks as she heard the faint whisper of screams rip through the halls.

As darkness swallowed her, she could no longer tell whom the screams belonged to.

Chapter 12

KALLIE

All sense of time vanished.

Kallie didn't know how many hours or days had passed or even where she was when she opened her eyes. When she woke, she didn't even know whether she faced reality or some figment of her imagination. Every time she came to, a different sight greeted her.

Sometimes, she awoke to trees above her, as golden rays of sunlight seeped through the forest canopy and birds hopped from branch to branch. The breeze kissed her cheek, and the calming scent of cedar and oak brushed her nose. Other times, the sound of a roaring waterfall was the first thing she heard before she felt the kiss of the too-vibrant sun on her skin.

Right before dread filled her bones once she took note of the rock where Fynn sat.

And then there were the other visions and sounds that flashed before her--ones she could barely make sense of before they vanished.

The mazes the king built beneath the castle, the sweat soaking her limbs as she ran through them.

The plethora of bruises that covered her arms and ribcage in a macabre design only her father could dare hope to fashion.

Graeson beneath her, her hands wrapped around his throat.

The screams that ripped from her lips as she was dragged away from a home she had long-since forgotten.

The countless fires that she had survived but now threatened to take her.

Every time one of those nightmares appeared, Kallie pushed them away as fast as she could, fighting them at every turn before they had a chance to swallow her whole.

Yet they persisted. They came at her, one after another, endlessly.

But she could do nothing to stop them, although she tried.

So, whenever the sky appeared, the brilliant green leaves rustling in the wind, and a comforting warmth pressed against her back, Kallie tried to hold onto those moments for as long as she could.

But without fail, voices would soon sound, though her senses were still too disoriented to parse them.

"She's waking," a familiar voice would shout.

Followed by another more melodic voice saying, "On it."

When the darkness swept over her and the heaviness of sleep covered her bones, Kallie could do nothing but sink into that feeling, welcoming the never-ending shadows.

Kallie heardthe waterfall before she saw the water's surface sparkling in the sunlight, unnaturally blue and blinding. She squinted at the foam that formed where the water rushed into the lake and sighed.

"Why is it always here?" she asked, not bothering to look for her brother, for she knew he would be here. When Fynn was near, the world was different: a little brighter, a little lighter, as if his very spirit soaked the earth.

"That is what you wish to ask me?" Fynn asked incredulously beside her. "Why we are at the Whispering Springs?"

Kallie shrugged. "It is as good of a question as any, is it not?" she asked, without bothering to turn around, her gaze fixed on the waterfall.

She could almost make out the entrance of the cave behind it. The ghostly outlines of the statues of Pontanius and Sabina loomed inside.

It had only been a few months since she had first visited the springs with Graeson, yet so much had happened since then. And yet, it felt as if nothing had changed. She still didn't have a crown, nor had she proven herself worthy of one.

Instead, here she was again, being dragged across the continent.

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