Page 75 of The Throne's Undoing

Kallie's mouth hung open, speechless. It was not just some stranger who stood in front of her. It was Cetia Perseianes, the Queen of Tetria. She recognized the crown and the queen from her years of studying the seven kingdoms.

"Domitius has manipulated entire kingdoms into believing a lie," the queen continued, her voice calm but assertive, refocusing Kallie's attention, "beginning with you. As you are very well aware, he is not your birth father, and yet he has somehow convinced the seven kingdoms that he is. Do you know how that can be?"

"His blood is of no concern to me. He is my father in every other right," Kallie spat.

"Ah, so you don't know. Yet you do not question it? You are not at all curious?"

Kallie's hands rolled into fists, her nails biting into her palms.

The queen cocked her head ever so slightly. "If it was anyone else in any other circumstances, I would agree with you about the importance of blood, or lack thereof. But the truth is a precious thing, my dear. Do you not wish to uncover it?"

"I already know the truth," Kallie argued.

The queen tsked, shaking her head in dismay. "I've been told that you desire power, yet you dismiss the ability to gain knowledge. My dear, if you wish to be powerful, if you wish to rule, it would be wise to learn the power of knowledge."

Kallie's brows twisted as she recalled Tessa, the former queen of Frenzia, saying the same thing to her. Knowledge might have been powerful, but what Cetia claimed was a treacherous lie. And yet...

While Kallie knew Domitius well, she couldn't help but admit that she didn't know everything about him.

He hadn't told her that he had taken her from her parents as a child.

He hadn't told her that she had brothers.

He hadn't told her that she was to marry Rian because of the knowledge Frenzia possessed.

What other secrets, then, could the King of Ardentol be harboring?

"You want power, Princess?" Cetia asked. "Then it is time you stop letting the men around you dictate what you do. It is time for you to step out of the shadows."

The other woman stood beside the queen and held out a wooden bowl. Kallie squinted at it as the queen dipped two fingers into its contents. Then Cetia stepped forward, her fingers dripping in a white liquid.

Sweat coated Kallie's skin as Cetia stretched out her hand.

Kallie's breathing picked up, and her heart pounded against her ribcage, threatening to break through it. Kallie trembled against the chains. She pushed against the wall blocking her gift, but it was no use.

The queen drew a line down Kallie's forehead, the liquid freezing against her warm skin.

Cetia's searing white eyes fell upon Kallie, and panic rose in Kallie's throat as the queen leaned down in front of her.

This is a mistake.

Fight it.

Fightit.

Kallie tugged at the restraints. She pulled, she screamed, she roared. The chair rattled beneath her. The rope burned around her wrists and ankles like a fire singing her skin--hot, searing, and piercing.

Kallie's attention flicked to the other woman, whose pitch-black eyes bore into her with an intensity that threatened to consume her.

The woman stepped outside the circle of candles and crystals that surrounded them. She cracked her neck, the sound thundering in the silent room. Then, she dipped the torch into awater basin, snuffing out its flame and blanketing them all in a sea of darkness.

Cetia placed her palms on either side of Kallie's face, calling her attention back to her. A flicker of movement flashed in her peripheral.

"This will only hurt for a moment," Cetia whispered.

The younger woman knelt on the floor and twisted her hands above the candles in an unfamiliar gesture.

All around her, flames stirred to life, twirling and dancing around the room, rising and falling as they swept across the small space.

---