Page 17 of A Kingdom of Lies

“No, not yet,” I growled, pushing my hands forward as spears of dark ice exploded across the ground. By the time my power ripped towards Doran, he disappeared through his spindle of light which blinked closed behind him.

Ice cracked into the wall beyond the dais, devouring stone and mortar in a second.

I sagged forward as Welhaven crumbled around me. I encouraged my ferocious winds to keep rubble and stone from falling upon me. And then I screamed, unleashing every ounce of pain and anguish as I looked down on the lifeless face of my father’s dead body.

CHAPTER 6

I stood deathly still as Queen Lyra Cedarfall’s words rested upon me. They echoed within my head so violently that if I closed my eyes, I’d be confident she spoke them repeatedly just to taunt me.

It would’ve been easier to look away rather than see the burning sorrow that lingered within the queen’s tear-filled eyes. The way she looked at me, as though I was the most precious thing in the world, caused my skin to itch with discomfort. Because if she truly cared, she would have given me what I had requested.

“Mother,” Althea snapped, putting her body between me and the throne upon which Queen Lyra sat. “Find some heart!”

“I cannot allow it, Althea. My decision does not negate the grief I feel for Robin. Regardless, it is the right one to make.” Her response was final, even I knew that. “One day you will be in my position and understand that difficult judgements are required to be made by someone whose shoulders are already heavily weighed down from the responsibility of ruling. But I cannot grant Robin our army.”

Althea’s grunt of disapproval sounded through the throne room as she turned her back on her mother and faced me. “I am sorry, Robin.”

Four short words and she dismissed herself. Did I expect her to fight harder for my cause? Or did I expect her not to? I couldn’t see the difference as the twisting of anger only gripped its claws deeper into my soul.

“I need your army.” My voice trembled, but not from sadness. I didn’t feel sad. It was strange, as I expected that to be the emotion that came naturally with losing a loved one. All I felt was unbridled vehemence. As if that anger kept the grief at bay. And it came in waves. The moments of emptiness felt as though time itself didn’t exist. It was the same feeling I experienced when Althea found me within the centre of the rubble where Welhaven had been, sheltering my father’s broken body with my own. The journey back from Welhaven to Farrador had been a blur. I couldn’t remember a single detail. Only the silence. Andhim. Father’s body, draped over Althea’s mount and covered in Gyah’s burgundy-fringed cloak. How it moved with the rhythm of the stag’s trotting, tricking me into believing that he was waking beneath it, ready to tell me this was all some twisted trick.

He never did.

Father was dead and there was nothing in this realm, or the next, that would bring him back to me.

I was thankful for my wrath. The moments of anger sharpened my mind, giving me a sense of refreshing clarity. I saw every expression of those who filled the throne room. The flick of an eye or the turn of a lip, I noticed. Even the tones in which Queen Lyra and her consort, King Thallan, spoke to me when we had arrived carting the dead and broken body of my father back to Court.

Pity oozed from everyone around me, and I despised it. Because if they truly pitied me, they would give me what I want. But alas, they refused my request for an army over and over.

I’d gone from stopping a war to desperately wanting one.

“Our numbers are stretched thin across the border of Wychwood. It would not be a wise choice to send the little we have to Oakstorm’s gates to demand revenge. Robin, I understand you have lost more than many of us will ever experience. However, I cannot fulfil your request.”

“You don’t understand,” I muttered, body rigid as my nails dug crescent moons into my palms. “He killed my father. There was no reason, yet Doran commanded Erix to do it anyway. If you think that I will stand here and do nothing…” I choked on my next words, taking a moment to breathe and calm myself. “Lyra, if you will not stand beside me as the ally I had come to believe you were, then I will find another.”

Another ally who’d hate the king as much as I did – someone who would enjoy the chance to kill a fey.

King Thallan leaned forward in his throne, elbows resting upon his knees. “You are a king now, Robin. You have the Icethorn Court ready and habitable. In time you will grow an army, although I hope you see that war is not the answer. Focus this emotion into rebuilding the Court and the support will come in an abundance of numbers.”

“Time is not a luxury I have,” I replied through gritted teeth. “Doran’s life is mine. I will destroy him before he takes another life. He had my mother, now my father. Erix is gone. You may be happy waiting for him to shift his gaze to…”

Who? Who did I have left?

“Doran has angered a god, leave his fate in Altar’s hands.”

“No,” I snapped with great urgency. “Altar will not take this from me. Doran. Is. Mine.”

My words silenced the room entirely.

Lyra shared a look with her husband. She nibbled on her lower lip, eyes flashing wide for a moment. “Something has changed, Robin. News from Wychwood and Durmain’s border reached us alongside your arrival back at Farrador, reporting of strange happenings. Altar is angry about what occurred in Welhaven, that much was clear when the ruins crumbled after your father’s murder. A storm is coming, one conjured by the Hand. We must focus our efforts on them before we see any more fey under threat.”

Plans formed in my mind. I couldn’t focus on anything but the fact that Lyra was right.

This mysterious figure hated the fey, I wondered how they’d react if I gave them the chance to destroy one of the fey leaders.

“You’re right. A storm is most certainly coming.” I turned from the ruling monarchs of the Cedarfall Court until my back was to them. Althea and Gyah waited before the closed doors, expressions pinched from inner turmoil. “My desire to see Doran dead is far more than a threat. It’s a promise. Your god did little to stop my father’s neck from being snapped. His rules warned us against spilling blood, yet for such a powerful being he just simply watched without intervening.”

“Careful,” Lyra warned. I glanced over my shoulder to see her stand from the throne, flames dancing between her clenched fingers as she called back at me. “I would choose your words wisely, Robin. You are in my Court and I do not care to listen to your disregard and blasphemy.”

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