Chapter 53
MYRA
"Who was that woman?" Laurince asked in a hushed tone as they hurried through the dungeon as fast as they could.
"A seer," Myra said, swallowing down the tears that threatened to spill.
"A what ?" he sputtered.
"She can see bits of the future."
"How is that even possible?" Laurince hissed.
"Come on. We have to hurry, right?" Myra asked, unable to offer him a sufficient explanation that he would be able to understand. If they escaped this godsforsaken castle alive, she would explain everything.
With every step, Rian moaned in agony, but he was still unable to walk without at least Laurince or Myra's help. So when they hit the stairs, they ascended the steps much slower than either of them wanted.
"You know, you could be a little"--Laurince grunted as he lifted Rian--"more helpful."
"Sorry," the king mumbled as he held onto the iron railing with a white-knuckled grip.
When they finally reached the top of the steps, Laurince looked over at Myra. "Keep him steady, all right? I really do not want to do that again if he goes tumbling."
Myra nodded and wrapped an arm tightly around the king as Laurince pressed an ear to the door. Rian leaned against her, groaning in pain, and Myra prayed to the gods that the medicine would soon wear off.
Laurince twisted the handle and pushed the door open an inch, peering through the crack. Then, glancing at Myra and holding up a hand, he stepped out and shut the door behind him.
As Myra and Rian waited, a thick silence filled the space. The only noise that cut through was their ragged breaths.
The seer's words echoed in her mind.
Gone.
Gone.
Gone.
But how could her brother be gone?
The woman didn't say he was dead, but the way she spoke and the haunted look in her eyes made Myra worry that whatever happened to Mynhos was much worse.
She only had herself to blame.
She had believed King Domitius when she knew she shouldn't have. Why did she think that Mynhos was safe from him?
The seer told her not to go looking for him, but was her brother truly better off here?
Myra looked down the stairway soaked in shadows.
Perhaps she could help him. She had seen the creatures within the tunnels beneath the temple. They were feral and wild, but maybe her brother could still be saved. Surely, there was something she could do...
"Everything will be fine," Myra whispered.
"Are you telling me that or yourself?" Rian asked, looking down at her with a raised brow.
Even in the shadows, Myra noted how his brown skin was pale with a slightly green hue and red veins were stretched across the whites of his eyes.
Myra knew she should lie to the king. She knew she should keep a smile on her face and pretend that everything would be okay. But as the minutes ticked by, she was losing the little hope she had left.
Pretending hadn't helped Kallie. Not in the end, anyway.
"Both," Myra admitted.
As Rian's lips parted, the door was thrust open. "Let's move," Laurince whispered.
In the castle's silence, their footsteps were thunderous claps that echoed off the marble walls and tall ceilings.
They just had to get out of the castle, Myra reminded herself. Laurince had already prepared horses for them. They only had to make it to them.
Myra didn't want to think about where they would go next. They hadn't discussed it in detail, but she did not believe Frenzia was the safest place to go despite Rian being the king. With Sebastian working with Domitius, neither Ardentol nor Frenzia would be safe.
They would have to leave their homes, leave everything they knew.
But what choice did they have--
"Leaving me again, sister?"
Myra skirted to a halt, forcing Laurince and Rian to stumble as she pulled them with her. Her lungs dropped to her stomach as she turned and looked to where she had heard the voice.
Sitting on the arm of the throne, Mynhos peered down at her. Shadows blanketed him as he picked at his teeth, his legs dangling off the large, extravagant chair.
"Mynhos," Myra said, her voice cracking, "we...we looked for you."
"Did you?" Mynhos asked, cocking his head. Shadows moved behind him, but they stilled before she could register them.
"Myra," Laurince said, reaching for her as she took a hesitant step toward the throne.
She shrugged off his hand and pleaded, ignoring the warning in Laurince's voice. "Come with us, Mynhos."
" Now you wish to rescue me? After all these years?" Mynhos asked, his voice growing colder by the second. "You have lived inside this castle for nine years, yet you never tried to find me."
"I didn't...I didn't want to make things worse," Myra whispered, her voice shaking.
"But you didn't even try, did you?" he taunted.
Myra was silent, the guilt strangling her.
"You grew complacent, content to do His Majesty's bidding as long you remained alive."
Laurince shifted closer, the command on his lips.
The seer was wrong. Mynhos was not gone. He was right here, and Myra would not leave her brother. Not again.
"Mynhos, please," she begged, reaching out a hand. "We can finally leave this place."
The back of Myra's neck grew cold as her brother stood atop the arm of the throne, balancing precariously on it. "You actually think you can leave?" her brother asked. He laughed, the sound echoing in the large throne room. "You can never leave. You will never escape him, and if you believe you can, you are more foolish than I thought."
"Something's not right," Laurince whispered, but Myra barely registered his words, her attention too focused on Mynhos. "Myra," he beckoned, this time more urgently.
But Myra shook her head. "He's been under the king's influence for too long. He just needs to be shown there is a way out."
She reached forthe threads connecting to her brother. She grabbed a hold of them, the anger and fury scorching. But she would not give up on him.
Her little brother was in there somewhere. He had to be.
"A way out?" Mynhos cackled, the sound a cacophony of noise that scraped against Myra's skin as it ricocheted off the walls. "You've always been the hopeful one, sister. Ever since we were little kids. But hope gets you nowhere. Hope only forces you to claw at the cage, waiting for someone to rescue you. I had hoped you would save me once upon a time."
With a huff, he shook his head. "But guess what? You never came. I waited for you. For years, I waited for you. During that time, I was poked and prodded. And soon, as the pain became blinding and all-consuming, I realized you would never come for me."
"Mynhos, please," Myra begged, the tears burning the backs of her eyes.
"I did what I needed to do to save myself. And honestly, once I stopped fighting it, I finally felt free." He smiled.
Myra stepped forward, and Rian's hand wrapped around her wrist. Without looking at it, she shook it off. "Whatever has happened, whatever you have done, it will be fine. We will get through this together."
"Oh, I know it will be fine. I've made sure of that," Mynhos said.
"Mynhos?" Myra called to her brother just as Laurince said her name. She continued to ignore him. She tried to tame the rage, but it was a torrent, fueled by so much hate. "Please, come with us."
Mynhos chuckled. "Your gift always failed you when you needed it the most, didn't it?"
He jumped down from the throne, and Myra gasped, jolting back a step. His blond hair was long and shaggy. The strands fell over his eyes, which were cast to the ground. He lifted a hand--
"Your hand!" Myra shrieked. "I thought..."
Mynhos twisted the hand in the air as he chuckled. "Oh, right. I nearly forgot that it had been chopped off. It has healed quite magnificently."
"How is that even possible?" Myra gasped, more to herself than her brother or anyone else.
She had witnessed the guard chop off Mynhos's hand in that cell. Those screams that erupted from his lungs echoed in her nightmares every night. She had seen the blood. And yet...
Myra stepped backward, horror flooding her entire body as she looked up at her brother. "That's--that's not possible," Myra said, her voice shaking.
He clicked his tongue. "You never did pay attention to anyone but yourself, did you? Always too caught up in the emotions of the world to see what was happening directly in front of you."
"What are you talking about?" Myra demanded. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Laurince maneuvering slowly toward the door, dragging Rian with him.
"You are not that special, Myra. The king didn't want you . By the gods, he didn't even know you bore a gift! You were merely a bonus prize that fell into his lap, a helpful tool to manipulate the princess and increase his progress." Mynhos huffed a laugh. " I was the true prize. And now because of me, he is one step closer to his goal."
Myra's lips parted, her breathing growing shallow, yet she forced herself to ask, "What did you do?"
"Myra," Laurince whispered, his voice taking on a sharp edge, "we really need to--"
"Oh, you're not going anywhere," Mynhos interrupted, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, tsking as he shook his head. "You should have never betrayed our king. You could have joined me. We could have been at his side together. The king rewards loyalty, and he has rewarded me well."
Mynhos took a step away from the shadows, allowing the light of the flames to pour down upon him.
Laurince called her name, but Myra was frozen to the ground as her brother lifted his head and removed his shirt. But it was his eyes that Myra was paralyzed by.
Once, the two siblings shared their mother's soft, hazel eyes. But now? Now, the softness in Mynhos's was long gone, replaced with something monstrous and cold as his irises glowed as bright and red as rubies, the flames of the torches dancing within them.
Myra didn't realize what was happening until her brother was in front of her, and a gust of wind struck her face. Myra fell back onto her hands as her brother hovered above her, a sneer plastered across his lips as he glared at her.
"What the fuck are those!" Laurince shouted as he placed the king behind him.
Myra was too struck to move or do anything as she spotted large wings protruding from Mynhos's back. She couldn't understand what she was seeing. Her brother had become one of them --the rabid creatures from the tunnels under the temple.
This was what they were working toward.
This was what she had helped the king create.
"You like them?" Mynhos asked, a hunger filling his gaze. "They're new, courtesy of Frenzia. You should see some of the other men you have assisted the true king with. Some of them are truly impeccable. Though, I am partial to mine, of course."
"Oh, fuck no," Laurince spat.
The sound of metal sliding through its sheath rang in Myra's ear, but she was unable to look at Laurince as her brother continued hovering over her, his head cocking to the side as his wings flapped. The air coming off them kept her plastered to the ground, her hair flying across her face.
He clicked his tongue. "The king should have taken the chance to harvest more of your gift when he had the chance. But of course, he thought he had more time, and who am I to question His Majesty?"
Myra gasped as she recalled those first few weeks in cells. The guards had often taken her blood, claiming to be checking her vitals. How had she not realized it before? How had she been so naive?
Seeing the realization and horror flood her expression, Mynhos smiled wider, the stretch of his mouth twisting Myra's stomach as an eagerness poured from him.
She was going to be sick.
She was going to--
Mynhos screamed and spun around in a flurry. He ripped a throwing knife from his side with a long hiss. As blood seeped from the open wound, he spat, "You're going to regret that."
"Doubt it," Laurince retorted, already lifting his sword high.
Her brother tossed the blade to the side, and it hit the floor with a sharp clang. Then, Mynhos charged.
But Laurince was ready. The moment Mynhos closed in, the captain swiftly swung his weapon, and Myra could barely keep up with them as fear overrode her body.
Mynhos deftly evaded Laurince's attack, his wings beating hard as he changed course. With a roar, he lunged, but Laurince managed to dodge the blow, narrowly escaping as he rolled.
The near miss jolted Myra out of her stupor at last.
She ran to Rian, who was pressing himself up to a sitting position, his eyes fluttering open. Shock and horror immediately spread across his face as his eyes fell upon Mynhos and the wings protruding from his back.
The muscles in her brother's back had since been distorted, and the skin around the spots where the wings sprouted from was raw, as if they had not fully healed yet.
Mynhos slashed at Laurince with an untamed vigor. Laurince, however, managed to dodge or block every attack that came his way.
"Take the king and run!" Laurince shouted as he blocked another swing of Mynhos's sword.
Myra looked at the door. They were only a few yards away. She could take Rian and leave while Mynhos was distracted. But how far would they get? How long could Laurince hold her brother off? How long would it take for Rian to regain full control of his body?
Myra wasn't strong enough to carry him for long.
Laurince struck, but Mynhos was quick. Their swords clashed together as they fought.
Silver flashed in the corner of her vision.
Myra gulped as her attention flicked to the throwing knife her brother had tossed to the side.
The seer's warning echoed in Myra's mind: If you do not grab the blade, you all will die.
Laurince hissed in pain as Mynhos nicked him in the arm. As Mynhos snarled and his mouth foamed, she knew what the seer had meant: her brother was truly gone.
Whatever Domitius had done to him, it had transformed him completely, stripping him of the sweet boy she used to run and play pretend with in their mother's gardens.
As she felt the rise of tears in her throat, she pushed herself up and ran for the blade. She swiped it from the floor and spun, swallowing the guilt already flooding her system.
Her aim may have been nonexistent, but a blade was still a blade.
Tears streaming down her face, Myra ran as fast as she could. Her arms and legs burned as she pumped them faster and faster. The tears blurred her vision, but she did not let them stop her.
They would not die here.
They would not let Domitius win.
She screamed, the sound full of all her pent-up rage and anger and pain. She drove the knife through the bright red spot that seared Mynhos's skin, right between the two black wings.
A guttural scream ripped through her brother as his sword dropped from his hand. He arched his back in pain, his wings spreading out wide.
Mynhos looked over his shoulder at her, agony ripping across his features. Then, before he could turn all the way, Laurince drove his swordthrough Mynhos's heart.
And Myra stood helpless as she watched the blood spurt from her brother's mouth.
Mynhos glared at his sister, anger and hate bleeding from his ruby eyes. Coughing, Mynhos said, his words barely audible and filled with vitriol, "He'll kill you. He'll kill you all."
Myra stumbled back, her vision blurring as her brother crumbled to the ground, his wings spreading around him.
The tears continued to pour down her face as Laurince snatched Myra's hand and tugged her toward Rian. And despite knowing she shouldn't, Myra looked back at her brother.
Blood pooled around him in a puddle, soaking his wings. His entire body trembled as he tried and failed to stand.
As the fire extinguished from his eyes, Myra whispered through barely contained sobs, "I'm sorry."
She didn't know if he heard her, and she knew it would not fix anything or change the past. Yet she said them, nevertheless.
Then, they were running. Their feet pounding against the ground, with no end in sight.