A Kingdom of Lies (Realm of Fey #2)

CHAPTER 12

“If I had known we were surrounded by cultists I would have preferred to be left at death’s door.”

Althea looked terrible. Her skin was as pale as the sheets she lay on, although I couldn’t discern if that was from the iron poisoning flooding through her blood or the information I’d unloaded after Duncan had brought me to her. Strands of poppy red hair spread across the pillow beneath her, loose curls stuck to her damp, glistening neck.

She’d already been awake when Duncan had practically pushed me within the chamber room, locking the door behind me. Gyah had looked up with golden eyes brimming with concern, fingers gripped on Althea’s shoulder as though I’d interrupted a moment of privacy. She removed her hand quickly, but not before I noticed.

I’d proceeded into a breakdown of everything that’d happened. Their expressions were stoic until I finally drew a breath at the end of my tale. Not once did they interrupt me, not until I was completely empty of news.

“And you’ve never heard of the god Duwar before?” I asked, watching as both Althea and Gyah shared a look of confusion.

“I was hoping you would have had the answer for us, Robin,” Althea said, wincing as she pushed herself into a sitting position despite Gyah quietly insisting she stayed lying down. “Humans are known for their strange beliefs and idolism of the Creator. But no, I have never heard of this Duwar before.”

“Well, it must mean something to them.” Gyah gestured to the door and the many Hunters beyond. “To take your own life in the name of belief shows that this Duwar is important. More than just a name and story.”

“Or they are just the crazed fuckers we have always seen them as,” Althea added, brows furrowing as she tried to shift her body to get comfortable.

“Except they helped you,” I reminded, taking me back to another point of the conversation. I thought that admitting it aloud would help make some sense as to why Duncan would willingly heal a fey when he was personally funded to see them captured, slaughtered and stolen. “Now we know what happens to the fey who the Hunters capture. This Below, or whatever Duncan referred to the prison as, it sounds like there are hundreds of fey stuck there.”

Althea chewed her cracked lip, contemplating the news. “I think we need to take caution with everything Duncan says. He is our enemy, he could be playing a game–”

“Duncan doesn’t play games,” I said, almost too quickly. Both women shot me a look, making me glance down to my fidgeting hands. “I just think there is some weight to what he said. If there are fey in Lockinge, it’s about time someone does something to save them.”

Althea narrowed her hazel eyes at me, studying every subtle detail of my face. “What point are you trying to make, Robin?”

“I don’t know what I am trying to say. I think there is a lot we don’t know here,” I said, picking at the frayed hem of my shirt. “I am merely trying to make sense of this.”

Yet in the back of my mind I knew what I was thinking. If there were fey imprisoned in the human capital, could I free them? Maybe my hysteria led me into this path for a reason – saving the fey.

“Aren’t we all.” Gyah pressed a hand to her head as though in pain. “All I care about is getting as far away from here as possible. Whatever they believe, I say let them, as long as we are at a distance.”

“Robin,” Althea said, snatching my attention away from a point on the wall which I had become entranced by. “If there is a chance to leave, we do so together. You understand that, right?”

“I think you’re wasting your breath, Althea,” Gyah interjected. “Robin had made his mind up long before this moment. Hadn’t you?”

I would only admit to myself that, for the first time since this plan had somewhat formed in my head, I was ready to turn my back on the idea and return to Wychwood. But for Father’s sake, for the vengeance he deserved, I would not.

“I need to go.”

“What did I say!” Gyah said, laughing, but not from humour.

“Not for the Hand. I understand that idea was stupid,” I said, staring them both down, refusing to look away. I needed them to see just how serious I was. “But what if I could find a way to free the fey?”

“We can’t be sure if Duncan is lying or not, not without seeing it for ourselves,” Althea said, brows lifting as she figured out she’d walked into my web.

“Exactly why I should still go,” I said.

“Then we will come too,” Althea confirmed, matter-of-factly, sitting up in the bed but wincing as pain coursed through her.

“You are in no position to go anywhere right now,” Gyah groaned, lifting the bedsheet to look at the wound upon Althea’s thigh. “Will you ever listen to me, Althea? For your own sake, if Robin wants to stay then so be it. But I cannot allow you to be here a moment longer than necessary. It is not safe. That is what I was hired for. What I was born for, to protect your family.”

Althea rolled her bloodshot eyes, patting Gyah’s hand where it rested on the bed beside her. “If the tables were turned, I would only hope Robin would be saying the same, Gyah. I cannot just forget about him, especially now the Hunters’ reckless and homicidal actions have only been confirmed as truth. Not to mention these imprisoned fey.”

I shuffled forward, taking her hand in mine. “Althea, Gyah is right. We don’t have enough information to rely on Duncan’s word.”

“At last, some sense,” Gyah barked.

I shot her a wary glance, knowing she spoke too soon. “You both need to leave for Wychwood. Gather the numbers and prepare to help with freeing the fey.”

“What about your army?” Gyah asked. “And Doran?”

A creeping chill passed down my neck, turning my skin to layers of gooseflesh. “What good is an army if I have no one to fight for.”

Neither spoke back to that, only shot one another a look that suggested I was right. After a pause, Althea cleared her throat and spoke.

“Robin, see if you can get more confirmation about what waits in Lockinge. No decision will be made yet, and Altar knows I’m in no position to run either,” Althea said, gesturing to her leg, lip curling over teeth at the smallest of movements. “Next issue is how we are going to escape here in the first place. We can’t just run away with these cuffs on. The fact I’m powerless, and currently riddled with pain. I wouldn’t make it far. Even if I wanted to go I couldn’t. It is not a choice.”

“And what about your family?” I asked; the question had been haunting my mind since we were in that rocking cage. “Surely they’ll know you are missing and send aid for you.”

Althea nodded. “If we stay here long enough it will only be a matter of time before they find us. But the Hunters know that. They are far from stupid, and I know that they will already be planning their next move. We will be long gone by the time my family can help, unless–”

“Unless we can stall.” Gyah leaned forward, a smile lifting the corners of her full lips, eyes glittering with mischief. “I can certainly come up with a few ideas that would push back our departure from Finstock!” She laughed with pure joy, latching onto the first true potential of getting free. “The Hunters will not stand a chance if Queen Lyra sends a party after you. After your brother’s passing, she will not risk the death of another child.”

“How long until they realise you are missing?” I asked Althea, unsure what answer I wanted to hear.

She shrugged, the simple movement taking a lot of effort. “Days, two at most. Less most likely. Knowing her lack of trust and our failure to return after we told her we were trailing you to Icethorn, she would have had her own scouts following us. Her soldiers likely walk on Durmain ground as we speak.”

A strange and sickly mix of relief and disappointment twisted in my gut. On one hand, for their sake, I desired for aid; no matter how their company eased the situation at hand, I would’ve preferred both to be far away from this twisted hell. But I also needed Duncan’s answers.

Doran Oakstorm had to pay for what he did, but my plans were shifting with the tide. If the Hand didn’t offer me an army, I’d take one for myself. That only worked if Duncan had told the truth about the fey in Lockinge.

“Then that’s what we do,” I agreed. “Wait until the rescue party comes and you – we get away.”

There was no ignoring the way Althea’s shoulders relaxed as relief settled over her. Forcing a smile, I fought hard to make sure my eyes screamed with sincerity, but one glance at Gyah and I could see that she didn’t believe the mask I put on. She kept silent though, which I was thankful for. Gyah knew I would not go. Althea, perhaps, wished to believe I would give up on this path so easily.

You would be wrong, friend.

“I feel like death chewed me up, spat me out and then came back for seconds.” Althea lay back, closing her eyes with a slight hiss through her teeth. “Allow me to be the bossy princess I was destined to be and let me sleep. This salve is wearing off as quickly as my nerves and I admit I cannot cope with the pain.”

“Let me help you,” Gyah said before Althea finished her next breath, reaching for the brown-glass pot of lumpy cream liquid that rested upon the oaken drawers at the bedside. And Althea did not refuse. “It would be wrong to allow such a bossy princess to apply her own medicine. How very beneath you.”

“Gyah, never in all the years I have known you, have you harboured such sarcasm,” Althea retorted. “It suits you.”

“Robin is rubbing off on me,” Gyah said with a smile, throwing back the sheets to reveal an angry, yellow, wet wound across Althea’s thigh. Her grin faltered the moment her golden eyes laid upon Althea’s wound. Even now, remnants of the Hunter’s salve were dried across her skin. The sheets were stained green with pus that seeped slowly from the dark wound, but it was the smell that had my empty stomach nearly spilling what little was left across the floor.

“It doesn’t feel right not knowing what is in this.” Gyah dug her fingers into the pot and pulled out a glob. Carefully she slopped it atop of the wound, whispering an apology as Althea released a long curse.

“Not like there is much chance for me to be concerned.” It was clear Althea was in more agony than I first imagined. Red-hot veins spread from the wound, the skin around it inflamed and leaking. “The relief it gives me is far stronger than the pain that iron bolt offered.”

I moved to the side of her bed, carefully brushing red strands of hair from her forehead as Gyah worked at covering every ugly inch of the wound with cream. “I may not trust a single person outside that door, but I do believe they won’t let you die on their watch. You, Althea Cedarfall, are far too valuable.”

“My blood is valuable,” Althea corrected.

“You are valuable,” Gyah looked up, mouth drawn with tension.

Althea let the words settle over her, more so the emotion behind them. If I noticed, so did she.

“I need more time to speak with Duncan, one-to-one,” I said, feigning confidence when the idea of being in a room with him again displeased me. “He has answers, and seems to be willing to share them.”

“He shouldn’t be trusted,” Gyah said, as if that was a fact I hadn’t already worked out.

“Is that why you left me with him this morning?” I replied, watching heat flood Gyah’s cheeks. “If Duncan wanted me dead, or any of us, it would have been done. That must stand for something.”

“Be wary,” Gyah murmured, focusing back on the task at hand. “I believe Duncan has a lick of restraint, but that doesn’t negate from the fact that he is the most dangerous of them all.”

“Is that why you left me with him?” I asked, eyes narrowed. “Because you sense he has control over his desire to harm me?”

“No. I didn’t realise he would stay behind. He took me to Althea, we left you in the room. If I’d known he was going to come straight back to you, I would never have left.” Gyah stiffened. “He offered to take me to Althea, and as much as I care about you, she is my duty…”

My duty and my pleasure . The words, Erix’s words, rocked through my core. They pierced my heart, reminding me just how shattered and broken it was.

I lowered my head, not wanting them to see the shift in my mood. “I understand. But I also think Duncan is different from the other Hunters.” I blinked, visions of the hungry expressions that stained the many faces of the Hunters as they watched the five figures take their own lives filled my head.

“Regardless if he prays to Duwar or not, he is still one of them,” Althea hissed, followed by another breathy apology from Gyah.

There was nothing likable about Duncan, but I still found myself hoping that his control over the Hunters in Finstock remained long enough for us to survive whatever was to come. Whatever this Duwar stood for, I was willing to bet that the hate for our kind was mixed within the faith. It was an unconfirmed hunch, one I couldn’t put aside. There would come a time when answers would be required. We needed to know more about the Hunters and Duwar before breaking bread with the mouthpiece of the so-called god that drove people to end their lives in his name.

Perhaps Duncan had those answers. He wanted to show me the blood rite for a reason. Maybe as a warning, or maybe something more. There was only one way to find out.

“Can I sleep now?” Althea asked, voice a murmur, her eyes already closed. “You both should rest too. We need as much strength as possible.”

Without opening her eyes, Althea patted her hand across the bed until her fingers slipped over Gyah’s arm. She grasped her, brows furrowing and pale lips parting. “Just… do not leave my side, Gyah.”

Gyah took a sharp inhale of breath, sucking air through her teeth before replying. “I wouldn’t dare.”

“Then I do not need to order it?”

“No, it would be a wasted one,” Gyah replied. “I will not be going anywhere. I said it is my duty.”

“Duty…” Althea huffed, a weak smile presenting itself across her beautiful face. “You make it sound like I am forcing you.”

I turned my head, unable to watch the moment. It was too familiar, the tension raw and tender, reminding me of the man I left behind – the one who left me.

It didn’t take long for Althea to find sleep. She slept before she would’ve heard Gyah’s reply. But I did. It settled over me, words which were not meant for me still made me feel as though I was enveloped in a warm embrace, whilst taunting me and my past.

“It is both my duty” – Gyah lifted Althea’s knuckles against her lips – “and my pleasure.”