Page 86 of The Throne's Undoing

Graeson shook the queen's hand from his shoulder. "Do not speak of things you do not understand," he mumbled, a heaviness coating his mind again.

Cetia pressed her palm to his forehead and clicked her tongue. "Oh, child, do not think me fooled. You do not even understand the things going on in your mind."

Chapter 27

MYRA

After days of silence,Myra followed Kolen down the dark, cold hall. Anxiety pounded in her throat as she twisted her hands together, and her footsteps echoed around them.

While Myra had been held inside the cell, she felt the presence of those outside, striding down the hall toward Dr. Thorne's work rooms. Excitement swept across the ground.

At first, Myra had struggled to identify it as such, for she had been deprived of the emotion for so long. Yet it came at her like a lightning strike, piercing and blinding. And she knew then, without a doubt, that the experiment had been successful.

She couldn't help but wonder what she had started.

For days, she waited for the king to call her again. During that time, guilt ate at her. It gnawed on the insides of her stomach and twisted in her throat.

Myra tried to reason with herself. She tried to find the silver lining--that at least with her help, the man wouldn't be in pain and could live in ignorant bliss.

But Myra didn't deserve to identify a reason that would grant her peace in the decisions she had made. Because although she told herself she obeyed the king to protect Mynhos and preventhim from experiencing further harm, how was Myra supposed to live with herself knowing she had aided the king once again?

The truth was, she deserved to suffer inside a cell for the rest of her life.

When Myraand the guard reached Dr. Thorne's work rooms, the king was already waiting for them. If the emotions wafting from the king and staining Myra's skin didn't give away Domitius's excitement, the wide smile would have.

The stretch of his lips made Myra's stomach turn, and bile rose in her throat.

"Your Majesty," Myra said with a short bow. "Did it work then?"

"Oh, it worked wonderfully."

Myra swallowed, shifting on her feet as she kept her gaze rooted to the floor. If the king was in a good mood, perhaps now was the best time to ask. "Can I see my brother again?"

"In due time," Domitius said.

Lips parting, Myra finally lifted her gaze. "But you said--"

At his fierce look, Myra snapped her mouth shut and reined in her irritation as she folded her hands behind her back and dug her nails into her palms.

"You may have done well, but your job is far from over. Your brother is safe," the king said, walking to the door as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. "For now."

"Is there...is there morecoaxingthat the man needs then for the experiment to be complete?" Myra asked, hating that she didn't even know the previous man's name. But since he had been either unconscious or unable to speak due to the gagwhenever she had seen him, there had been no time to gain his name.

"No. The Pontian's transformation has been completed."

"The man was Pontian?" Myra breathed.

"Indeed." The king smiled, but rather than soothing her concerns, it only made them worse. "We are creating something spectacular together. I have been trying to discover a way to accomplish this transformation for decades. With access to Freniza's abundance of scientific research on hybridization and your gift, I have finally succeeded."

"Hy-hybridization?" Myra asked, stammering over the word as the fear dripped into her voice. The nausea rose, and she had to press her hand against her stomach to stifle it.

Domitius nodded.

"Among rulers, it is a well-known fact that the Frenzians hold deep wells of knowledge within their castle walls. But this knowledge expands beyond their advancements in armor and weaponry. The research Sebastian has taken over in his father's absence deals with genetics. Hybridization, to be exact.

"Over the centuries, many farmers have done this accidentally by cross-pollinating different plants, producing new variations. The former King Lothian, however, was particularly interested in the hybridization of animals, specifically dragons."

"I thought dragons were only legends?" Myra asked, dumbfounded.

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