Page 20 of The Throne's Undoing

"That's just it," Sylvia said, shaking their head. "Who acts that way to their captors? Before we had separated, I recall the handmaiden and Kalisandre whispering. Fear was written all over the handmaiden's face; she was practically dripping in it. But once we split ways? Something changed.

"Myra was...different. She was quiet, yes, but it was almost as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. The only time the fear came back was when we arrived at the southern port, where Ardentolian guards were everywhere. She acted scared. At first, I thought nothing of it. I had reasoned that it was because she was afraid of what we would do to her if they discovered her, but now..." Sylvia shook their head. "Now, I can't help but think she was afraid of returning."

"Did Domitius explain what Myra did to Kalisandre's mind?" Medenia asked.

"He said that she manipulated her emotions, twisting them," Graeson said.

Medenia was silent for a moment, but Graeson could see her mind at work. She cocked her head to the side as she observed Kalisandre with an intensity that Graeson wasn't sure what to make of.

Finally, Medenia hummed, nodding. "It makes sense now."

"What does?" Graeson asked, perplexed.

Medenia slowly dragged her attention from Kalisandre to meet Graeson's eyes, but it was almost as if she struggled to pull her focus from Kalisandre.

She blinked, her eyelashes brushing across the tops of her round cheeks. "I've been trying to figure out what's been offabout her since I met her at the welcome dinner. If the handmaiden truly has warped her mind, that would explain the oddness I have felt. Her aura has been tampered with."

"Heraura?" Graeson said hesitantly.

Medenia nodded. "We each bear an aura: a general feeling that emits from one's presence. You can learn a lot from someone just by inspecting their aura."

"And this is something you...see?" Dani surmised, apparently sharing the same reservations Graeson did regarding the matter.

To Dani, Medenia asked, "You once explained that you are a huntress, correct?"

"Yes," Dani answered hesitantly.

"And because of this, you are more attuned to signals that might appear insignificant to others?"

Dani nodded once more.

"But sometimes it is not simply something you merelysee. It is a feeling, an insight. The shift in the air, an unannounced silence," Medenia said.

"I suppose," Dani mumbled skeptically.

"It is a similar thing that I experience, that many of my people learn to identify in our queendom."

Still unsure, Graeson asked, "But what made you come to believe her aura was tampered with?"

Medenia offered him a small smile, but it did little to soothe his doubts. "Call it an instinct if that makes you feel better."

He frowned. It didnot."How does this help us exactly?"

Medenia blinked at him as if the answer was as clear as the sky. But did she not realize the sky was filled with ominous gray clouds that swallowed the sun?

"It helps because it proves that you are right," Medenia said, placing the crystal she had been rolling in her hand back around her neck. The white crystal disappeared beneath her slip. "But more than anything, it tells me that there ishope. Becausebeneath the murkiness of her aura, beneath the shadows and the darkness that threaten to consume her, something else lies there. Your Kalisandre is still there. We just have to find her and pull her out before it is too late."

With Medenia's words, a seed of hope was planted within Graeson's chest, yet he did not let it bloom.

Despite hoping that whatever Myra had done to Kalisandre's mind was reversible, Graeson also knew that there were some things one could not get rid of.

Especially when it came to one's own mind.

Heavy snores filledthe small space as Graeson lay awake, staring at the ceiling, his mind murky with thoughts he couldn't avoid. Darkness had long since enveloped the cave, yet sleep evaded him.

Unable to bear it any longer, he stood and slipped outside, carefully and quietly, tiptoeing around the slumbering bodies scattered across the cave's dusty floor.

Once outside the cave, Graeson felt the crisp night air brush his skin and tangle in his black hair. He gazed up at the shimmering new moon. As the glow of the new moon bathed him, the back of his neck prickled, and a sense of unease crept over him.

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