Page 160 of The Throne's Undoing

The near miss jolted Myra out of her stupor at last.

She ran to Rian, who was pressing himself up to a sitting position, his eyes fluttering open. Shock and horror immediately spread across his face as his eyes fell upon Mynhos and the wings protruding from his back.

The muscles in her brother's back had since been distorted, and the skin around the spots where the wings sprouted from was raw, as if they had not fully healed yet.

Mynhos slashed at Laurince with an untamed vigor. Laurince, however, managed to dodge or block every attack that came his way.

"Take the king and run!" Laurince shouted as he blocked another swing of Mynhos's sword.

Myra looked at the door. They were only a few yards away. She could take Rian and leave while Mynhos was distracted. But how far would they get? How long could Laurince hold her brother off? How long would it take for Rian to regain full control of his body?

Myra wasn't strong enough to carry him for long.

Laurince struck, but Mynhos was quick. Their swords clashed together as they fought.

Silver flashed in the corner of her vision.

Myra gulped as her attention flicked to the throwing knife her brother had tossed to the side.

The seer's warning echoed in Myra's mind:If you do not grab the blade, you all will die.

Laurince hissed in pain as Mynhos nicked him in the arm. As Mynhos snarled and his mouth foamed, she knew what the seer had meant: her brother was truly gone.

Whatever Domitius had done to him, it had transformed him completely, stripping him of the sweet boy she used to run and play pretend with in their mother's gardens.

As she felt the rise of tears in her throat, she pushed herself up and ran for the blade. She swiped it from the floor and spun, swallowing the guilt already flooding her system.

Her aim may have been nonexistent, but a blade was still a blade.

Tears streaming down her face, Myra ran as fast as she could. Her arms and legs burned as she pumped them faster and faster. The tears blurred her vision, but she did not let them stop her.

They would not die here.

They would not let Domitius win.

She screamed, the sound full of all her pent-up rage and anger and pain. She drove the knife through the bright red spot that seared Mynhos's skin, right between the two black wings.

A guttural scream ripped through her brother as his sword dropped from his hand. He arched his back in pain, his wings spreading out wide.

Mynhos looked over his shoulder at her, agony ripping across his features. Then, before he could turn all the way, Laurince drove his swordthrough Mynhos's heart.

And Myra stood helpless as she watched the blood spurt from her brother's mouth.

Mynhos glared at his sister, anger and hate bleeding from his ruby eyes. Coughing, Mynhos said, his words barely audible and filled with vitriol, "He'll kill you. He'll kill you all."

Myra stumbled back, her vision blurring as her brother crumbled to the ground, his wings spreading around him.

The tears continued to pour down her face as Laurince snatched Myra's hand and tugged her toward Rian. And despite knowing she shouldn't, Myra looked back at her brother.

Blood pooled around him in a puddle, soaking his wings. His entire body trembled as he tried and failed to stand.

As the fire extinguished from his eyes, Myra whispered through barely contained sobs, "I'm sorry."

She didn't know if he heard her, and she knew it would not fix anything or change the past. Yet she said them, nevertheless.

Then, they were running. Their feet pounding against the ground, with no end in sight.

Chapter 54

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