Page 53 of The Throne's Undoing

"If we do this, he will be mad," a man said.

"It does not matter. We can't risk--" the woman gasped. Then louder, she called out, "She's awake!"

Shuffling sounded, and then Kallie felt a hand upon her chin, tilting her head upward.

Kallie groaned, swatting the hand away from her face.

"Eat," the man commanded.

For a second, Kallie thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Because by the gods, that face made something move within her.

But she was wrong.

She had to be wrong.

He wasn't here. He couldn't be.

The hand pried her mouth open, and she felt a spoon slide into her mouth. She had no energy to fight them despite how demeaning it felt. She was utterly exhausted, so when sleep called for her again, she happily obliged.

Chapter 16

GRAESON

"I still can't believewe let it come with us," Emmett mumbled as they trotted down the stone path, his brown face a sickly hue.

The dragon-wolf's tail whipped in the air as her feet stomped on the ground of the Tetrian swamps. Emmett yelped as the tail almost knocked him off his horse.

"I already told youhername is Nyrri," Medenia called back with a roll of her eyes.

As if in response, Nyrri gently curled her tail around Medenia's shoulders.

Medenia smiled fondly at Nyrri as the animal puffed up her chest. "Plus, I told you already, Emmett, she needed time to heal," she said.

Nyrri tipped her head up and continued strutting forward, causing a small smile to twitch at the corner of Graeson's mouth. Nyrri's wing had healed quickly, but she was still not fit to fly long distances, as her balance was still off-kilter.

Emmett shivered atop his horse. "Pontanius, please watch over us," he called out to the sky, praying to the god.

After several days of traveling alongside the dragon-wolf, most of the party had grown accustomed to Nyrri's presence;even the horses had become less skittish as they traveled. Still, while Nyrri might have been tame, Graeson did not blame Emmett for his continued fear.

Despite Medenia's assurance that Nyrri was not a danger, at the end of the day, the creature was still a wild beast foreign to all.

As they traveled through the woods of Borgania and then the swamps of Tetria, Medenia always walked closely to Nyrri. Every time there was an unexpected noise or movement nearby that made Nyrri either bear her teeth or thrash her head, Medenia would pet the animal and whisper unintelligible words into her ear, calming the beast.

Still, the creature was certainly deadly. They had all seen her rip the soldiers to ribbons. Even when the beast hunted and tore apart a deer, its wild nature was as clear as day.

"Medenia's right," Graeson said, the reins loose in his hands. "If we had abandoned Nyrri, who knows who would have found her next? We did not free her once already, only for her to be captured again."

Medenia nodded. "It is not merely enough to free her. If those tunnels showed us anything, there are bound to be more like her somewhere. The Frenzians will pay for what they have done," she said.

Graeson looked to his right, where Kalisandre lay unconscious atop Terin's horse. Thankfully, when Terin had awoken, Kalisandre's command of him had dissipated.

They were still unsure how she had been able to manipulate Terin, for neither Graeson nor Terin recalled her saying anything to him. Therefore, the group did not want to take any further risks.

For the rest of the journey, Kalisandre remained unconscious, only being woken up to eat and drink. Thankfully, Terin would soon get his reprieve.

Once they arrived in Tetria, Terin would finally release Kalisandre. Then, they would finally discover the actual damage the king had done.

"Frenzia and Ardentol will pay for everything," Graeson said as they continued on.

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