Page 10 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
The general snorted and looked away.
Doing her best to squash the rising embarrassment, Kallie took the seat across from Dani. For years, she had wanted to have a seat at the table. She would not let a small misstep ruin this moment.
"I am surprised you arrived before Graeson, and especially without him," Cetia said, tapping her nails along the table.
Kallie grimaced. "He’s with Nyrri. I told him I was going to meet him, but…" She shrugged, but the guilt made the movement stiffer than she had intended.
"How long do you think it’ll take him to realize you tricked him?" Ellie asked, her gaze sweeping across the table as she leaned forward. Like the rest of the warriors, Ellie was clad in an all-black ensemble. "Shall we place bets?"
"Oh! Yes!" Medenia interjected with a raised hand and a wide smile. She tapped her rosy cheek with a long nail and pursed her lips before declaring her guess with a finite nod. "I give him an hour."
With a laugh, Ellie flipped her paper-white hair over her shoulder. "Anhour? The man can barely go ten minutes without knowing where she is," the warrior said, pointing at Kallie and causing her face to redden. "If she doesn’t show up, he’ll?—"
"Can we please return to the matter at hand?" Dani interrupted, massaging her temples with two fingers. "There’s a war that will be knocking on our doorsteps any day now, yet you two wish to place bets about whether Graeson can keep his?—"
Cetia cleared her throat, and Dani mumbled an apology.
Cetia took a long sip of tea before setting it down. "As you are all aware, late last night, the guards in the east found and brought three individuals here, including the king of Frenzia. Shortly after their arrival, a letter arrived from Domitius declaring war."
To the council, Cetia relayed the information Rian and the others had revealed to them, from Sebastian abducting Rian after the wedding to the beasts Domitius and Sebastian were creating. All the while, Kallie patiently waited, her hands folded in her lap and her back stick-straight as she observed the room and everyone’s reactions to the news. Those who were not present last night and had not heard about the experiments were horrified, their faces paling and eyes widening.
The council members had all seen Nyrri roaming about the gardens over the past few months, but until then, they only had their assumptions about how the drakonis came to be. With this new information, the weight of Sebastian’s actions sat heavily in the room. Nyrri was only among the first of the drakonises to exist. Based on what Myra had revealed last night, Kallie feared what was to come if Sebastian and Domitius were nowexperimenting on humans too. While she wanted to hope that Nyrri’s temperament was not an anomaly, the sick twisting of her gut suggested otherwise.
"Do we think King Rian had anything to do with the declaration?" an unfamiliar councilwoman asked when Cetia finished.
"While I think it is a strange coincidence, I do not believe that the three individuals have come here with ill-intent," Cetia said. "Are you in agreement, Kalisandre?"
Kallie’s eyes widened at the direct question. "Your Majesty?"
"Do you believe King Rian and his two companions are working with Domitius? After all, you visited the prisoners last night, did you not?"
Kallie’s face flushed bright red. In her periphery, she saw Dani raising her brows in suspicion.
With her mouth drawn in a flat line, Kallie nodded. "I did visit them, Your Majesty, and based on our conversation, no, I do not."
Dani scoffed and leaned back in her chair. "Why should we believe you? You were on the other side of this war not long ago."
Terin dropped his face into his palm. "Not this again," he mumbled. He made to face Dani, but when his lips parted, Kallie placed a hand atop his.
This was her fight, not his.
"You can distrust me all you want, but I am not lying. We are on the same side here."
"We?" Dani sneered. "Don’t tell me your friend took a page from your book and gave you some sob story to make you believe her?"
"Myra didn’t need to," Kallie said, forcing her voice to remain calm. Anger would do her no good here. She addressed the entire room. "Acting as my handmaiden, Myra has been by Domitius' side for years. She has been a part of conversationsthat even I was not privy to when I was under his control. The bottom line is she has information we need. It would be unwise to dismiss that."
"Such as?" Cetia asked, her interest piqued.
Kallie relaxed her shoulders. This was why she had come here. To make a stand, to end this. She couldn’t do that without giving everyone all the information. "Domitius has been abducting Pontians and stealing their blood in order to recreate the gifts the gods have given them."
"Th-that’s not possible," Dani breathed out, horror flooding her features and dulling her warm complexion.
Terin grabbed Kallie’s wrist. "Are you sure?" he asked, his deep brown eyes darting across her face, searching for another possibility.
Kallie nodded. "I’m sure."
Terin’s gaze fell to the table, unfocused and defeated.
