Page 65 of The Throne's Undoing

"Oh, come on, Kalisandre, don't act like you aren't at least a little happy to see me."

"Happy? You kidnapped me!" Kallie frantically scanned the wall, searching for anything she could use to aid her. From the corner of her eye, she saw the flicker of light. "Again."

His lips parted, but the words struggled to come out.

Kallie, however, didn't waste the opportunity his pause provided her. She wiggled a hand free from his loosened grasp and struck the mirror on the wall beside her. Before the shards fell, she snatched a piece of glass.

"You should have gone home when you had the chance," Kallie said, gripping the glass. The sharp edges cut the inside of her palm, and warm blood began to drip down her wrist, but she ignored it.

"And you should have never left," Graeson said, briefly observing the shard of glass before returning his cautious silver eyes to her.

Everywhere Graeson touched, hot fury heated her skin, burning her from the inside out. Her fingers wrapped tighter around the glass, the edges piercing deeper into her flesh. Even the pain slicing through her hand couldn't sedate the rage that rose within her blood.

"The last thing I remember was that Iwashome."

Graeson scoffed, his leg pressed against her thigh. His eyes were a brilliant silver in the moonlight, as bright as a scorching fire. "Frenzia is not your home."

Kallie reared her hand back. Graeson dogged. Then, in one quick maneuver, he gripped her wrist, shaking her hand free of the glass. Kallie struggled against him, her arm pushing back against his, but his grip was too tight.

"You do not want to play this game with me right now," Graeson warned, his words clipped. "You're not yourself. I do not wish to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Kallie laughed, the sound bitter and cold, even to her. "You think you have that much effect on me?"

"Kalisandre."

The rising spikes of a headache began to form, and she tried to shake it away.

Graeson was her enemy, not her savior.

She seethed, "If you cared for me as much as you claim to, you would have never taken me in the first place."

"I took youbecauseI care for you! Can't you see that?"

Regret and sorrow glistened in Graeson's gaze, but Kallie refused to accept it. Not when his words never seemed to line up with his actions.

"You care, so you kidnapped me? Is that it?" Kallie looked at the wrist, which he was still gripping. "Did you finally run out of your supply of rope?"

Confusion contorted Graeson's features as he looked at Kallie's wrist. His grip loosened momentarily, and she let her body become dead weight suddenly. She sunk to the ground and slipped between Graeson's legs before he even had the chance to register what had happened. Adrenaline pumped in her veins as she snatched the shard of glass and faced Graeson.

"Kalisandre, you don't want to--"

Graeson shouted in pain as Kallie drove the shard of glass into his side.

Kallie didn't waste time. She spun and ran.

"Leaving so soon, Princess?"

Kallie skirted to a stop as she nearly ran into Dani, who appeared at the door.

A sneer ripped across Dani's face, her golden-hazel eyes aflame. Kallie's lips parted, the command on her tongue. But before she could utter a word, Dani spun Kallie around, locking her arms behind her back and placing a gag in her mouth.

"Your gift is useless without your voice, is it not?" Dani spat as Kallie hit the floor, and Dani's knees pressed against her spine.

Kallie struggled against Dani's hold, a muffled scream bursting from her lips.

Graeson said something across the room, but Kallie couldn't hear it as her anger roared in her ears.

She would not let them win. She couldn't.

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