Page 88 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
Graeson’s gaze snapped to her. Anger burned in his glowing eyes.
She needed to get the arrow out, but she couldn’t. Her other arm was locked against her, between her body and Graeson’s paw.
She could see the hesitation in his eyes.
She shook her head, pleading.
With a huff, Graeson scanned the clearing, and Kallie followed his gaze, blinking past the tears springing to her eyes from the sharp pain of the arrow.
"There they are!" she shouted. "Do it!"
Graeson roared, and fire rained down upon the guard. His wings, doused in flames, blazed like an inferno as they beat once, twice, before failing entirely. The guard tumbled, his body aflame. He plummeted into the woods, like a shooting star darting across the sky.
Unable to turn away, Kallie’s stomach dropped.
The burning forest swallowed the guard and Domitius.
Graeson hovered over the trees as the heat rose and drenched Kallie in sweat. The air became thick with smoke. The flames ate away at the trees. Graeson twisted around, flying away from the destruction.
There would be no survivors today. No one could survive the ferocity with which the inferno swept through the forest.
As the wind ripped at her hair, Kallie wept. She might have stopped a war, but at what cost?
Part Two
BREAKING THE CHAINS
Chapter 35
MYRA
"This was not the plan,"someone nearby hissed as Myra slowly regained consciousness.
Her head spun as if someone had tossed her into a barrel and rolled it down a hill. She blinked, trying to rid her vision of the darkness that enveloped her, but it did her no good. When she opened her eyes again, shadows still consumed her vision. Her heart rate kicked up, her memory of leaving the inn returning. A large lump was forming on the back of her head where her attacker had hit her.
She attempted to steady her breathing, to overcome the rising panic.
Slow, quiet breath in.
She focused on her surroundings, the things she could feel.
Shadows did not blanket her; rather, someone had tied a soft cotton fabric around her head. As she exhaled, the heat of her breath came back into her mouth. Her tongue brushed against a rod.
She kept going, assessing the situation, taking in whatever details she could.
Her wrists burned, and something rough and itchy dug into her skin. She wiggled her fingers, and the pads scraped against a rough material she could only assume was the bark of a tree. Had they tied her to atree?
She was blindfolded, gagged, and restrained.
Myra tried to recall what the man had said.
This was not the plan.
What wasn’t? Whatwasthe plan if not to knock her out and tie her up? Who even were they? Howmanywere there? Their voices were completely foreign to her, but so far, she had only identified two unique ones.
Why had they even taken her? Her mind reeled with the possibilities.
Tears pricked her eyes. Drool dripped from her mouth, dribbling around the gag and down her chin.
