Page 144 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
Laurince was in too much pain to even notice the guards. With his eyes pinched shut, he collapsed, his jaw smacking the ground.
Laurince’s pain and torment wrapped around Myra and forced her to the ground along with him. She peeled her head up off the floor and gasped.
Something akin to bone ripped through Laurince’s shirt, tearing the fabric to shreds. Laurince thrashed on the ground as the bone grew. Pieces of his shirt fell to the floor, leaving the torn collar hanging around his neck.
Bile rose in Myra’s stomach, and she squeezed her eyes closed, unable to witness the transformation. But even with her eyes shut, she couldn’t erase the image.
Fabric ripped.
Screams of strangers echoed off the wall.
Still, Laurince’s painful bellow was the loudest. It pressed down on Myra, and she trembled beneath its weight.
The ground shook. At first, Myra thought it was only her body reacting to the pain, but then she heard nearby glass shattering, followed by feral shrieks echoing outside the throne room.
"We’re being attacked!" Sebastian yelled.
She snapped her eyes open. Sebastian wouldn’t.
Desperate screams filled the hallway as winged beasts flew into the throne room.
Sebastian had orchestrated this entire thing. He had attacked his very own people, all because he wished to paint Rian as the villain.
Those in the audience who sat closest to the doors fell backward. Some hopped over the benches, sprinting for safety, as drakonises poured into the room.
Bax, who had been held back by a set of guards when Laurince came out, broke free. He grabbed his sword as he charged at the drakonis that flew over the crowd. Several men followed him. Others ran toward Sebastian, surrounding him, their weapons drawn as they sought to protect him.
Even after meeting Nyrri, Myra was unprepared for the sight of the beasts. These creatures were rabid, not docile like the familiar drakonis who chased butterflies. These were the drakonises that Sebastian and Domitius had been creating together, the ones Sebastian was now claiming were Rian’s doing. Each drakonis differed from the next. Some wings were nearly translucent, the glow of the torches peeking through the thin membranes. Others were covered in feathers. And if Myra’s stomach wasn’t in her throat from fear already, she would have admired the beauty in their varying shades of gray.
Their black and gray wings sent gusts of wind toward the crowd, pushing anyone close backward. Myra fell.
One after another, the drakonises swarmed inside the throne room. The beasts’ feet smacked the ground with a crash that vibrated through the floors and rocked every nerve in Myra’s body.
In the fray, the guard behind her had abandoned her. She frantically searched for Laurince, Rian, and Bax—for any friendly face—but chaos reigned around her. She looked toward the dais, but she could not find Sebastian. Had he sent the drakonises on them and then abandoned his people?
The people, once seated, were now running, tripping over one another and screaming in terror as chaos erupted. Some escaped the drakonises’ claws as the beasts flew inside, but others weren’t as lucky.
Myra turned as a beast opened its jaw and snatched a stranger near the back of the room. The man’s scream pierced the air before a teeth-chattering crunch cut it off.
Somewhere, Rian yelled over his gag, and Myra spun around. She made to move toward Rian, but movement to her right caught her eye.
Red eyes bore into hers. The drakonis kicked at the ground, lowering its head and curling its lip as its wings flared out behind it. Drool dripped from its razor-sharp teeth. Then, the beast charged.
With her hands still bound, Myra scrambled to her feet. One, two, three steps in and something twisted around her ankle. Her bottom hit the floor,sending a shock wave of pain spiking up her spine and knocking her breath from her lungs.She looked down at her feet and cursed.
The chain had twisted around her right foot, causing her to slip. She yanked at the manacles, trying to free her ankle from their grip. She didn’t dare look up, afraid of what she would find barreling toward her.
Myra pulled and pulled, but the manacle wouldn’t budge.
Then, with nothing left to do, she flung herself on the ground uselessly, slamming her eyes shut as she braced for impact.
And in that moment, as the beast sprang toward her, she nearly laughed. It was only fitting that she would die by the creatures Domitius had forced her to help create.
In the seconds before the God of Death greeted her, Myra did not beg for forgiveness. She could not be forgiven for the atrocities she had committed, for all the lives she had destroyed—Kallie and Mynhos and Laurince—and the lives her mistakes would surely destroy now. Myra was past the point of forgiveness.
So, as her death came for her, Myra did not cry.
She did not scream.
