Page 117 of A Kingdom of Lies

“There is little point in dwelling on what could have been. I have learned that lesson the hard way.”

Elinor had spent years punishing herself with the ideas of what if. What if she had never left the Oakstorm Court? What if it had been later? By a day, a week. Would she not have ended up in Aldrick’s ownership if she had just delayed her action?

“What does it mean for the Oakstorm Court?” I asked. Tarron was dead, Doran following swiftly to whatever hellscape claimed their kind.

“Oakstorm is still my home. By marriage, it belongs to me, unless others wish to petition against it, I am its queen by law.”

“And do you want it?” I asked. “To be the Queen of a Court you longed to run from?”

She smiled, a small fluttering tug of her lips. “I believe I do. Oakstorm is mine, even though it was poisoned when Doran claimed me for his own. I never believed a time would come that his presence was no longer a threat in my life. My actions pain me, but knowing he cannot harm another is the promise I have given to the world. Doran hurt far too many people. One life for the rest is justified, I believe that.”

Her hand grasped mine where it lay upon my knee. Elinor’s fingers were strong, no more than bones and rough skin, but they were not weak, not as she squeezed and held on tight.

“You are finally free,” I said, tongue catching the taste of dried salt across my lips. “From Lockinge – from Doran. The path ahead of you is yours to take, to decide which direction you wish to go in.”

“But not from Aldrick,” Duncan’s deep voice sounded from behind us. “This is merely the beginning of something terrible, I know it.”

Seraphine cleared her throat, lowering her feet from the edge of the boat. Unlike Kayne and Duncan, she had done little but study the far-off shoreline that we rowed beside. “You are not wrong, Hunter.”

“Please,” Duncan gasped as though a bolt struck his chest. “Don’t call me that.”

Elinor nodded simply in agreement.

Kayne’s voice rose from the side of the boat, his gaze fixed on the Asp at the helm “How long have you infiltrated the Hand’s ranks? You must have seen what was coming. And yet you did not stab a knife through his back and stop this all from happening when you had the chance.”

“There has been many a chance for me to kill Aldrick, but never has a price been put upon his head. The Children of the Asp have a code,” Seraphine explained. “A conduct we follow that stops us from taking life into our hands and snuffing it out when we want to or not. Until a bounty is put out, we do not act. We watch. We wait. We learn.”

“None of this needed to happen if you broke your fucking rules and killed the old fool long ago,” Duncan said, spitting each word.

Seraphine huffed, part laugh and part refusal to truly take in Duncan’s anger. “Up until recently, the Hand has not been much of a threat. Yes, I have heard him whisper of Duwar, as we all have. But seeing the creature within the reflection tonight is the first time I truly believed what he has been saying is real.”

“And what of the fey that have been captured? All those innocents being kept and bled like cattle?” I said, jaw tense from gritting my teeth. “Did you not believe that was wrong enough to intervene? I have met your kind before and am aware of the conscience you lack. Knowing that you have simply watched–”

“I am the wrong person to question,” Seraphine sneered, cheeks flushing with colour. “My sister and I have not simply stood by and watched. Aldrick is a powerful fey as you each have witnessed. He can enter minds, read them and bend the person to his will.Wehad to comply, poisoning ourselves with Mariflora to keep our minds our own. If Aldrick had even caught the scent of mine and my sister’s origin, then we would not have gleaned the information we have. You would not be here, with me, sailing far from the very man we speak of. And my sister…” She choked on her words for a moment, clearly struggling with keeping her voice level. “My sister is dead because of our cause. Do not think for a moment you are the only ones who have lost something this night.”

I blinked and saw the lifeless body of Seraphine’s sister.

“What you know, what you have seen, would be imperative to bringing Aldrick down before that thing is released into the world.” All eyes snapped to Elinor as she spoke. “I know of your guild and understand that you act if the price is high enough. Is that what you have been waiting for? The right bid for the information you’ve obtained?”

Seraphine leaned forward, two elbows resting upon her knees as her hands held her face up. “For half a coin I would spill my soul if it meant stopping what Aldrick has planned to achieve. Before, our involvement was business, now it is personal.”

Just a glance at Kayne and I could still see that he wrestled with the truth he’d uncovered tonight. Like Duncan, Kayne had given his life to the promise of Duwar. For him to learn that his god was in fact a demon that had been locked away for a reason must have been tearing him to pieces.

“What next then?” I asked. The question was not for any sole person, and each in our small, strange company would likely have answered it differently.

While I waited for someone to speak up, I thought about what I wanted to come next. There was nothing more in this world that I wished for than to crawl into Duncan’s arms and feel his body against mine, to let my mind release my worries and think only of him. His touch. His distraction.

“We could keep rowing,” Kayne spoke finally, eyes lost to something unimportant on the floor of the boat. “Stop when this realm and the responsibilities within it are long forgotten.”

Seraphine replied, knocking the tracker’s knee with her fist. “Trust me, there are realms beyond this that are far more terrifying than the darkest corners of your deepest secrets. My sponsor has requested Robin’s return, alive and well. After I complete this task of returning you then we can contemplate what comes next.”

“Sleep,” Elinor added, forcing a smile. “In a feather-stuffed bed so large that I could not reach the edges if I wished.”

“And a hard drink,” Kayne listed quickly, looking to Duncan who patted him upon his shoulder in a form of silent communication between them.

“Peace and time,” I added, speaking the first things that came to me.And a plan, to free the fey in the Below.I wouldn’t give up on them like the realms had.

“Two things, Robin? How greedy,” Seraphine said, brow peaked in jest. “And what about you, Hunter? Do you wish to be normal again? Because I am afraid that I have seen others who Aldrick had changed and there is no coming back.”

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