Page 14 of A Kingdom of Lies

“What has he done to you?” I sobbed.

Erix’s lip curled, flashing teeth. “Forgiven me.”

“Of course I did,” Doran said, clapping meaty hands together. “He is my son, after all. My last hope.”

“Lies,” I screamed, spittle flying beyond my lips. “All lies–”

“No, Robin. It is true. Doran is my father, I am his son. His berserker.”

Questions thundered through my mind; it was near impossible to only pick one and not spill them all out at once.

“Have you known all this time?”

“Yes. As did Althea, Queen Lyra. I came to King Doran expecting to be killed for my crime. Instead, I have been given another choice. Another chance.”

“Forgiveness!” Doran shouted from behind Erix, interrupting the moment. “I gave him what he sought. Do you see now? I am not the heartless monster you think me to be. You have what you desire, and I have what I desire.”

Something was still missing, a move on the game board that Doran had set up. I just couldn’t work it out yet.

“His forgiveness doesn’t matter,” I seethed, tears spilling freely down my cheeks. It was easier to ignore Doran as I focused on my former guard. My Erix. “What was all this for if you leave me?”

“I did it for you.” Erix’s lips twitched.

“That’s not good enough.”

“Robin, I told you to ask me about what I am. I gave you the chance. But you were stubborn and refused to.”

Everything was falling into place. How Tarron and Erix’s relationship was so taut yet so intertwined with secrecy. And Tarron knew, he had to have. He’d called Erixberserkerbefore, I just didn’t place my questioning in the right place. I would never have guessed it was a nickname shared between siblings. Half siblings, but family all the same…

Erix was Tarron’s brother. His blood.

Half Oakstorm. Half monster.

“You see now, Robin? I was within my rights to demand Erix’s return. He is my property. He, like your father to you, belongs to me.”

I could hardly hold a breath. My chest shuddered in rhythm with my heart that hammered within it. Physically, Erix and Tarron shared no similarities, however, as my eyes darted between Erix and the mad king behind him, I could see subtle hints. In the colouring of his hair which had begun to grow over the past weeks and the light tint of King Doran’s eyes.

“What now?” I spoke the haunting thought aloud. “If you’re an Oakstorm by blood, where is your magic?”

“Powerless in the sense you are imagining,” Doran confirmed. I hadn’t seen Erix with an ounce of magic. During all the fights and training, I’d never seen a slip of Oakstorm power. It had only been his controlled, yet buried aggression which kept him swinging a sword.

“Berserkers are nothing but mutts. We qualify for magic different to what you have come to know,” Erix said, his voice a low growl, as though gravel and stone filled his throat. For a moment I was certain the shadows that hung beneath his eyes moved. “I am danger incarnate, as I warned you.”

“You are Erix.MyErix, duty and pleasure, remember! You don’t need to stay with him,” I pleaded to him, praying he felt my desperation and heeded it. My speech was frantic, my eyes flicking back and forth between the two men. “We can leave. Together.Hewill not fight us here.”

Erix turned away from me in silent refusal. Doran laughed softly as though my begging entertained him greatly. Dread sliced its hateful claws through my soul as I looked upon the man I had known. Who IbelievedI had known.I was wrong.

“Berserkers are interesting creatures. I admit I regret killing the majority off. I could have had a legion of chaos and destruction at my fingertips much earlier if only I had given them a chance. Or at least more than I do now.” Doran strode towards Erix with pride. “Tarron wasalmostperfect, in all ways. However, he had one flaw that resulted in his downfall. The inability to listen to commands and follow through as I so wished. I blamed his mother for that. Yes, Tarron should have killed you, however, you burrowed yourself into a pocket of his weakness and, ultimately, it resulted in his demise. Berserkers, well, they are different.”

I could no longer ignore the way Erix flinched as Doran returned a bulging hand to his shoulder. Even his lip lifted into a snarl of refusal, but his body didn’t move an inch. It was as though his mind and body warred with one another. But Erix didn’t fight him off. He complied, allowing the man to touch him as though he didn’t have a say in the matter.

Like he, as Doran said, was being controlled.

“I’ve had enough of this,” I said, my arm going dead beneath the weight of my unconscious father. “Our meeting has finished.”

I looked to Erix, pleading with wide eyes for him to come with me. But with each step I took backwards, my heart broke into one more piece, for Erix didn’t follow.

“Wait, Robin. What is the rush? I have more to share with you. Did your dear father not teach you manners when addressed by your elders?”

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