Chapter 49
MYRA
The hinges of the cell door ground together, stirring Myra from her sleep.
She didn't know when she had fallen asleep nor how she could, but none of that mattered now. Although Laurince's helmet was still on, she didn't need to see his face nor hear his voice to recognize whom the emotions filtering into her cell belonged to.
She stumbled to her feet, her legs only slightly trembling once she stood.
"What took you so long?" she hissed as she rushed over.
Myra's brows furrowed as she quickly spotted a smear of blood on his breastplate. She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "What happened?"
She began to reach out but thought better of it, dropping her hand.
"I'm fine," Laurince assured her. Then he peered behind him and down the hall. "Move."
She took a step back, and Laurince entered, dragging an unconscious body behind him. Her mouth fell agape as he propped the Frenzian King against one of the cold, stone walls. Like Laurince, a smattering of blood was spread across his clothes.
"Is he all right?" Myra asked, falling on her knees before the king.
She pressed her palms against his face and swiped away the fallen strands of wine-red hair stuck to his forehead from sweat.
Rian groaned, but his eyes remained closed.
"Yes," Laurince said, and she breathed out in relief. "Though, I can't say the same for the healer."
Myra's eyes widened. "Did you--"
"If you do not want the answer," he said, cutting her off, "do not ask the question."
Myra bit the bottom of her lip but remained silent. He was right; she did not wish to know.
"I hadn't expected the healer to be there, so I did what had to be done, " Laurince said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Especially when the asshole threatened me with a scalpel and bone saw."
"You didn't have to go alone. I could have helped," Myra said, shifting on her feet uncomfortably.
Eyeing her, Laurence grunted. "It was easier this way."
Myra nodded. While a part of her felt guilty for not helping him, she was also relieved not to have witnessed Dr. Thorne's death. Whether or not the healer deserved it did not matter. Death was still death.
"We need to go now. Domitius is asleep in his room, but if word gets to him--"
"I know the consequences," Myra cut him off, swallowing hard. She straightened, wiping her hands on her tattered blouse. "We need to find my brother first."
Laurence shook his head. "This is our only chance at escaping. We shouldn't risk our own safety. It's going to be hard enough as it is."
Myra stepped forward. She had failed Mynhos once already. She would not fail him again.
"I will not leave him," she said, her voice firmer than she felt.
On the other side of Laurince, Rian murmured something unintelligible, no doubt an effect of whatever drugs Dr. Thorne had pumped through him. He could barely keep himself upright.
Laurince squatted down beside the king. "What was that?
Rian slapped Laurince in the chest, his nails digging into his shirt.
"What?" Laurince snapped, louder than he probably intended based on the instant regret Myra noted flashing across his features.
Rian tried to right himself, but his body was still too weak. He fell forward, and Laurince caught him.
"Save the boy," Rian said finally, his voice rough.
"But, Rian, we--"
"Save. Him,"the king rasped.
The fear and worry wafting off him smacked Myra in the jaw. But Laurince did not need Myra's ability to feel it, for so much pain bled from Rian's green eyes as he fixed his gaze upon the captain that it was impossible to ignore.
Laurince tipped his head to the ceiling, his eyes fluttering shut as he whispered a prayer to the gods.
Then, he shifted, wrapping his arm around Rian and hoisting him up. "Fine. But if I die, I will come back and haunt you, little goddess."
Laurince guided them through the dim, grimy dungeons. With each step, Rian groaned and muttered a curse under his breath, his royal vocabulary long since forgotten.
The further they ventured, the colder the corridor became and the thicker the cell doors were. Yet, even the heavy iron could not muffle the low, blood-curling growls seeping through the cracks. Myra and Laurince exchanged uneasy glances as they passed, both too afraid to admit the unsettling truth: the monsters no longer resided only in Frenzia.
An unspoken question hung in the air between them. What exactly was Domitius planning?
She held her breath as they reached one of the two cells Laurince believed Mynhos to be in.
"Are you sure it's this one?" Myra asked with a frown. Something within her gut told her he was wrong, but she didn't know why.
Laurince shifted his arm beneath Rian's shoulder. "No," he admitted. "But it's the best shot we have. I heard another guard talk about how important the prisoner inside was to the king. If it's not your brother, then who else could it be?"
Quickly digging through his pocket, Laurince pulled out a set of keys.
"If it's not him, are you ready to...do whatever it is you do?" he asked uncomfortably.
A chill crept down her back as she searched for the emotions on the other side of the door. All she could feel was an eerie calmness seeping from the room.
Myra straightened and forced her voice steady despite her trembling hands. "I'll do whatever needs to be done," she declared.
Laurince nodded briskly and inserted the key into the lock.
With a resounding click, he pushed the cell door open.
The shadows in the cell retreated as the flickering light from the torch in Myra's hands spilled across the floors, illuminating the prisoner within.
"Right on time."