Page 7 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
The sound of chains scraping against the cement floor called Kallie’s attention to the last occupied cell, the true reason she had come here. Myra leaned against the bars, listening to the conversation. Her blonde hair hung down her back in thick, limp strands, its normal sheen dull. The hem of her wrinkled skirt was torn, the fabric stained with dirt and grime from traveling.
Kallie forced her feet forward because, as long as Kallie could remember, Myra was always there, listening, watching,observing. "Earlier, you said Domitius' plans were twofold. What else is he doing?"
Myra’s face paled. She wiped the palms of her hands down the sides of her skirt. "He’s been performing tests on people with abilities. I think he…I think he seeks to acquire them for himself."
Sweat coated Kallie’s palms as Myra’s words settled in her stomach.
That can’t be true, Kallie thought.
Had that been his goal the entire time? Was that why he wantedher? To steal Kallie’s ability? If Domitius acquired it, he would be unstoppable.
"Was he successful?" she asked, fear coating every syllable.
Myra’s gaze fell to the ground. When she spoke, a slight tremble rang through her voice. "I can only assume he was. I never…I never saw what happened to the victims."
"What victims?" Kallie asked, needing to know the truth yet fearing it all the same.
"Pontians," Myra answered quietly. "He—he’s been collecting them."
"Collectingthem?" Outrage filled Kallie’s voice, her previous intention to stay calm long forgotten.
Myra nodded, expression haunted.
"That—" Kallie shook her head, taking a step back. Her back hit the bars of Laurince’s cell, and she jumped, startled. "There’s no way that’s true," she whispered.
There was very little that Domitius could do that would surprise her. So it wasn’t his cruelty that shocked Kallie, rather that he had most likely done it under the same roof as her. How had Kallie never noticed? How had?—
Her lungs dropped to the bottom of her stomach.
How many times had Domitius left the castle for some mysterious excursion? How many times had he returned withsome stranger and requested Kallie’s assistance in forcing them to speak the truth when the king interrogated them?
Kallie had never stayed around to witness the interrogations. Domitius had never allowed her to, only asked Kallie to use her gift before sending her away. Was it possible the individuals had been Pontians? That they were the ones he had been collecting? Had she been helping Domitius even more than she initially thought?
Her legs trembled, on the verge of buckling. She was going to be sick. How many times was she going to discover the hidden truths behind her actions? How many times would she be forced to face the fact that she was a monster? The very reason for Vaneria’s ultimate demise?
"What did he do to them?" Kallie asked, her heart pounding in her eardrums.
Myra’s gaze grew distant, as if she was somewhere else, as if a ghost of her past was haunting her. She shook her head as if to rid herself of the resurfacing memories. "Like I told Queen Cetia, he has been turning some of them into the creatures Rian called drakonises."
"But Nyrri isn’t human," Kallie said, certain of at least this.
"If Nyrri was one of the earlier experiments, Sebastian probably wasn’t testing his experiments on humans yet. Things have…developed," Myra said, rubbing the back of her neck with her palm.
"Are they all Pontians?" Kallie asked. She wondered how many people were undergoing the transformation. What horrors were they facing right now? How many people were there who were still suffering?
"No," Myra said with a shake of her head. She glanced at Rian and Laurince, her brows drawing tight and something unidentifiable passing between the three of them. "He tried to transform His Majesty as well."
Kallie looked at Rian, whose face was masked in shadows as he sat at the back of his cell.
"If we hadn’t—" Myra choked on her words.
Kallie could only guess what Myra was about to say. If they hadn’t escaped when they had, Rian might not have been sitting in that cell.
Myra cleared her throat. "Domitius told me that his true goal was to give the giftless the same abilities."
"He can’t do that. That goes against the ways of the gods." But the moment Kallie spoke the words aloud, she knew better than to doubt Domitius. If this was his goal the entire time, then nothing would stop him from achieving it, not even the gods.
Swallowing the rising fear threatening to drown her, Kallie forced herself to voice the question she feared the most: "How? How is he doing it?"
