Page 23 of A Kingdom of Lies

Why am I not fixed?

Something heavy crashed into my back, sending me stumbling forward. A metal tankard clattered to the ground. Then another hit me, pain spreading across the side of my face. I raised a hand to my cheek and felt something warm. Blood coated my fingers as I pulled them away. The remaining patrons of the pub threw things at me, bellowing for me to get out, calling for guards to arrest me.

Murderer. Killer. Evil.

I allowed the words to settle in my soul. They were right after all. I was all of those things.

The door to the pub crashed open, cracking against the outer wall, as I was driven out into the night.

Blood trickled down my face from the cut across my cheekbone, mixing with the tears that had begun to fall freely. I couldn’t clear them away as I still held my arms above my head to stop the objects from hitting me.

It was dark in the street outside of The King’s Head. The world seemed to spin violently, as though the street shook beneath my feet. Night was endless, every single star a witness to my actions as I put distance between the pub and those who wished me pain for what I had done.

I stopped suddenly, eyes pinching shut as a flash of burning red fire exploded before me. The fiery snake spread in a wall, surrounding me on all sides. Panicked at the sudden, unnatural flame, I whipped my head back and forth, searching for the source, already knowing who had found me. My attention became fixated on a parting in the smouldering wall as two figures stepped through; like a curtain it separated, rushing back together once they both stood in the centre of the roaring fire.

Althea Cedarfall swept through flame without fear or hesitation. “Robin, whathaveyou done?”

CHAPTER 8

I squinted, trying to focus through the tears and firelight, a new panic searing out of me as I took in the reality before me. “You can’t be here,” I shouted over the flames, voice hoarse. “I don’t need you, Althea. Gyah. You need to leave.Now.”

“You absolutelydoneed us. Look at what you have done, the mistakes you are making.” Althea gestured to the tavern behind me. A smudge of ash marked her high cheekbone, her skin glowing against the fire, deep reds that matched the braid hanging over her shoulder. “This isn’t going to bring your father back.”

“I agree with the princess, Robin. This madness must stop. We understand what you’ve lost, but that doesn’t justify losing yourself.” The second figure shifted to her side. Gyah. Her golden eyes were bright, even from a distance, as though the creature within begged to be released. “It’s easy to drown in grief. Trust me. We can help keep you afloat.”

They both surveyed me with weapons in hands. Althea with her flame, Gyah with a tall blade.

Tears streamed down my face, threatening to blind me. “You can’t possibly understand what I feel. Not you, not Althea.”

“We can compare cock sizes another time, or perhaps save the conversation for somewhere less… public.” Gyah looked around the circular space created within Althea’s fire, beads of sweat dripping down her dark bronze skin. It was not the fire she studied, but the outline of silhouettes beyond it. Humans. The moment the wall of fire was dropped I was confident that many would be standing watch around us.

“Isn’t this what you want, Robin?” Althea called, lips pulled tight in a snarl. “To create a spectacle? We heard rumours about a fey, you haven’t kept your appearance here very secret. Do you even understand what you have done. Whose gazes are turning towards you!”

Of course I did. It was the very reason I was here. But Althea and Gyah had to leave before those people came.

My tears dried upon my cheeks, hissing near the heat of Althea’s fire. “Turn away whilst you can, Althea. If you know what is coming, you know to leave. I don’t need you for what I have to do.”

“Don’t you?” She tilted her head to the side. “I understand you are hurting. I understand that you are acting out of pain. But it is my duty, as your friend, to stop you from making more bad decisions.”

“Hurry,” Gyah warned, knees bending as she lowered herself like a cat ready to pounce. She sensed something beyond the fire, something that set her on edge. “We do not have long.”

Althea stepped forward, extending a hand out towards me. Ruby flames licked around her fingers like a glove. Although her expression burned with anger, her eyes softened with a sorrow that I recognised as a friend. “Come back with me, Robin. You will not find peace here. We will find another way.”

“It’s not peace I’m searching for.”

Althea’s hand trembled, but she refused to drop it back to her side. “Then what is this all for? You have come here and left a perfectly mapped trail behind you for anyone to follow. The Hunters are coming for you after your short stay in Ashbury; you have practically begged them to find you. And when they do, there is nothing I can do to stop them.”

“Turn away.” Even I could hear the dark edge in my voice. “Let them come for me.”

I felt detached from the moment. Where Althea’s warning of the Hunters should have brought on fear within me, it now conjured the opposite.

“Why?” Althea asked, voice no more than a whisper.

Because I have a plan. One that requires the attention of the very people I escaped Durmain from.

“Your family refused me an army, so I have gone searching for one elsewhere–”

“I strongly suggest we finish this conversation another time!” Gyah shouted.

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