Page 72 of The Throne's Undoing

Terin gulped. "I--I don't fully understand how it works."

"But you can speak to him?" Dani demanded, her nails biting into his biceps.

"It's not that simple."

"He is mysoul bond, Terin!" she shouted. "You cannot even fathom how it feels to lose your other half, how it feels to be ripped from the one person who makes you feel whole! He is my godsforsaken soul bond, yet you have kept this secret from me?"

Terin's gaze danced across Dani's face, but he would find no salvation within them. "He--he didn't want you to know!" he sputtered.

"Hedidn't want me to know?" Dani laughed, the sound mangled and harsh. "Even when he is dead, you still follow himat every turn, don't you? How can you lead our kingdom when you can't even make your own damn choices!"

"Dani, please!" Terin begged.

"Tell me how," Dani commanded, her fingers gripping the fabric of his shirt. "Tell me how to speak to him."

"I promised," he whispered.

Her lips curled into a sneer. "That is not your choice to make!"

Graeson huffed a laugh. At the sound, Dani snapped her head in his direction, and a blazing fire roared in her hazel eyes.

"Did you know?" she snapped.

Graeson rolled his eyes and twisted his hands around the metal bars. "No, Dani. I did not know Terin could fucking speak to the dead."

"I'm notspeakingto the dead," Terin countered, but Dani ignored him, her attention fixed on Graeson.

Dani cocked her head. "Then what's so funny, huh?"

"It's just ironic, don't you think?" Graeson asked with a smirk. "You're pissed at Terin because he has stripped your choice away from you, and yet you turn around and do the same thing to Kalisandre."

"That is not the same thing, and you know it," Dani deadpanned. "Kallie is a danger toeveryone."

"Like you're so innocent?" Arching a brow, Graeson glanced at Terin. "You have the heir to the Pontian throne in a chokehold."

Dani released her grip on Terin, who sighed in relief. But Dani was far from done. Her rage was only beginning to boil within her.

"You wouldn't listen to us!" she shouted, rattling the bars.

"You didn't have to intervene. I had her," Graeson spat.

"You didnothave her," she scoffed. "She fucking stabbed you with a shard of glass! She was running away from you.What were you going to do? Let her continue to run her mouth? Let her run free?" Dani challenged, pointing her blade at him. "You were staring at her like a lovesick puppy. The moment she opened her mouth, you were done for. She's a viper, and you would have gladly let her sink her teeth into you."

Graeson clenched his jaw. "I would have done what needed to be done."

"We both know that is alie, Gray. You are not fooling anyone," Dani snapped.

He didn't want to think about what would have happened if Dani hadn't come into the infirmary when she had. He wanted to believe that he would have stopped Kalisandre from escaping. But at the same time, his heart had been beginning to crack.

It seemed that with every step he took to get closer to Kalisandre and help break her free from Domitius's grasp, the further away she was from him.

"How are you supposed to help her break free if part of your mind is still locked in a cage?" Dani asked.

Ophelia cocked her head to the side, her deep brown eyes narrowing. "Perhaps we should have them try with him first?"

Graeson snapped his attention to the warrior. "Trywhat?" he balked.

"No," Medenia said, shaking her head and ignoring Graeson's question as if he hadn't even asked it. "His cage is not the same as hers. Kalisandre's has been weaved and carefully crafted, while his has been made simply out of his own denial."

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