Page 10 of A Kingdom of Lies

“Then I ask that you promise me one thing,” Erix began, his deep voice gruff with emotion. Even in the dim light I could see the sharp rise and fall of his shoulders as he also struggled to even out his breathing.

I had heard enough. “Erix, it’s time we try and sleep.”

“Robin,please.” It was the use of my name that stilled my refusal to listen. “Tomorrow, no matter what happens, I want you to know that I will forever be sorry. Sorry for what I have done. Sorry for what I will no doubt do again. I hope you see me for the man you have come to know, and not the monster I have fought hard to hide.”

I couldn’t find the words to answer him.

Then, Erix left the room, leaving behind his shirt and boots in his desperation to flee. And worst of all, I didn’t stop him. Not that I had the chance.

Bathed in darkness as my guard dismissed himself from my presence, I was numb to the core. I opened my mouth to call his name, to demand that he return to me at once. But no sound came out. I failed to even catch a confident breath. All I could do was listen to the slap of Erix’s feet as he left me behind, until only silence and emptiness accompanied me within my chambers.

CHAPTER 4

A storm brewed across Wychwood’s horizon, mirroring the one buried within me. From the moment our small party left Farrador’s walls the sky was a deep grey and the visibility of our journey was close to non-existent. It was my doing, magic making my dark mood dance across the landscape. My power seeped out of my body and encouraged the gale to scream around us as we moved through Cedarfall’s autumn-entrapped landscape.

I was thankful for Althea who rode upon a mount beside me, and Gyah who sat perched before us, steering our company through the sheet of snow. Their presence was calming, making it slightly easier to make sense of the meeting that was going to unfold when we arrived at our destination.

Focus was proving difficult when all I could think of was Erix and how he’d left me last night. Although I was glad because leaving Farrador this morning would’ve been difficult if I saw him. Especially after the news that had been brought to me this morning.

Althea had been the one to tell me that Erix had, in fact, retired as my personal guard. Just as he threatened last night. I had never seen someone so close to letting steam explode from their ears. Althea was seething at his resignation, and the lack of answers as to why he had done so.

“Whatever happened between you two I am sure it will blow over. In the meantime, let him fucking sulk,” she’d told me as I attempted to move my aching, exhausted body and dress myself. “I have asked that he is kept guarded in case he changes his mind and comes after you.”

I found some peace that he was back in Farrador, even though his abandonment pained me deep in my core.

I clung to her words throughout the long morning of travel to Welhaven. There was a patient part of me that could understand that Erix was going through something he didn’t wish to fully divulge. But the other part of me, the louder part, wished to have the luxury of simply walking away from him. And I was far from having that luxury because I’d grown attached; my walls had come down in the weeks we’d shared together and his closeness was both required and necessary to survive throughout the day and night.

“We are here,” Gyah announced, drawing me from my thoughts of Erix.

I wouldn’t have noticed that we’d arrived at our destination as tall oak and yew trees had grown so close together it was impossible to know where one began and the other ended, like a giant wall. But as our party slowed, and then fully stopped, I finally saw Welhaven; hints of aged stone peeking through blankets of wisteria and creeping vines.

Welhaven was a place of quiet. Even the air stilled around the ruins of what had looked to be a cathedral, an old forgotten place of worship and power. Time had devoured the light stone ruins, allowing vines and foliage to grow amongst them, as though nature had claimed the place as its own after years of being forgotten.

We traversed the consuming foliage, under an archway of budding violet-coloured flowers. They shifted in the light breeze, dancing as though celebrating our visit. That was when I sensed something lurking beneath the silence of this place. An ancient power. Archaic and wise.

Like called to like as the power inside of me seemed to wake, lifting its head as though searching for a missing part of itself.

I wasn’t a religious person; I never had been. Stories of the Creator, as the humans had named him, filled homes through teachings passed down from parents to children. Tales of how He crafted the world with His bare hands, plucking His own strands of imbued hair to create humans, designed in His image, yet powerless compared to the fey.

But then there was the God named Altar, whom the fey believed to have created them, giving life to the four Courts and gifting them with the magic that now pulsed through my blood.

I hadn’t spared much thought as to whose belief was more justified, because I hardly cared. But now, standing among the ruins of Welhaven, I could not ignore the aura of pure power that radiated within this place; it was as true as my own.

“We are alone,” Gyah said as she joined Althea and the small circle of guards who surrounded me. “The scouts have returned and confirmed that there is no sign of Doran, nor a track to suggest he has been here yet.”

I could not discern the wary nature of the fey guard as her golden eyes continued to survey the overwhelming forest.

“I thought he accepted the invitation?” I said, feeling a lump of worry budding in my throat, one that I could not swallow away.

“He did.” Althea scanned the ruins, stopping to admire the circular glass window which still hung unbroken above the remnants of a dais ahead of us. It spread vibrant colours of blue, red and green across the overgrown ground. It was near impossible to see if the floor was once made from the same stone as the ruin’s walls since grass and other thick foliage now created a soft bed beneath our feet. “I have no doubt he will soon show himself when he is ready. You have to be ready, Robin. For anything.”

I didn’t need to ponder the statement to provide a sharp, curt reply. “I know.”

“Take solace that this is a safe place. Doran would not disrespect Altar and defile his sacred land with aggression. However, if you leave the boundaries, you are free to an attack in his eyes,” Althea warned, echoing the same words she had shared before we left Farrador. “If you require it, we can stay with you.”

“We informed Doran it would just be me and him during this meeting. Doran needs to trust me, and for that you need to let me do this alone,” I said. “If I need you, you’ll know.”

It pained me to say it. I wanted nothing more than to have Althea and Gyah by my side as I petitioned for my father’s release with nothing to offer in return. But this was my fight. One I would win alone, no matter the means.

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