Page 179 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
Graeson slowed his pace, his wings straightening as he glided through the ominous clouds. He peered back at her, his gaze narrowed and nostrils flared.
They were close.
Kallie inhaled a slow breath to clear her raging thoughts. But when the air hit the back of her throat, she coughed, inhaling smoke. She squinted and peered through the thick smog.
Kallie gasped.
Flames covered the capital.
She flattened herself against Graeson’s back, tightening her grip just before he dove.
Chapter 71
MYRA
Myra swallowedher scream as agony flooded the streets.
It had happened so fast. Once the guards marched down the streets and the explosives went off, chaos ran rampant.
As the screams of terror rang in her ears, Myra didn’t think it could get worse. Then, the drakonises came. Their claws ripped through anything the beasts encountered: stone, brick, flesh.
In the havoc, those fighting didn’t have time to wonder who released the beasts—Rian, Sebastian, or someone else entirely. They had no time to place the blame on anyone. Not as they fought for their lives, as they struggled to survive.
All at once, Myra was back in Pontia when the Frenzians had stormed the castle and burned the coastal village to the ground.
Explosions erupted in every direction.
Windows shattered, and the broken glass mixed with the gravel.
Iron tinged the air.
Blood splattered across the walls, and ripped-off limbs lay forgotten in the streets.
Panic and fear rose higher and higher. It wrapped its fiery tendrils around Myra’s throat as the emotions of the ravaged city fell upon her shoulders, forcing her to her knees.
She struggled to breathe. Struggled to move, to fight, to run.
She couldn’t see beyond the blood on her hands. She couldn’t even recall if it was hers or someone else’s. If she had caused the pain or if she had tried to stop it.
A shadow fell across her, and she was swept from the ground. As the frigid wind nipped at her cheeks, Myra had no fight left in her. She didn’t scream. She didn’t call out. She stared at the ground below her as horror flooded the street.
The beast carrying her headed toward an alley. When her feet landed on the ground softer than she had expected, Myra blinked.
Inhaling, she choked on smoke and coughed. Swatting at the debris wafting around her, she spotted white wings stained red and black.
"Laurince?" she croaked, her throat dry.
Laurince’s arms wrapped around her before he pulled back and gripped her shoulders. He bent down to her height and peered at her. She struggled to maintain his eye contact. Although his broad frame and wings blocked the scene behind him, she could still hear the screams, the cries, the snapping of bones.
"Look at me, Haze," he said, squeezing her shoulders gently.
Myra peeled her gaze away from the smoke filling the night sky.
"You need to get out of here."
Myra shook her head and took a step back. She wouldn’t abandon him. Shepromised.
Tears hung on her lash-line, her vision blurring and distorting Laurince’s features.
