Page 30 of A Kingdom of Lies

“The Cedarfall will have her wounds seen to,” he said, voice dull as he studied his nails carelessly. “In the meantime, I’d recommend calming yourself down before you force me to do it for you.”

“Can we follow her, please,” I pleaded, glancing worriedly to Gyah who silenced herself so quickly that the sudden change frightened me.

Her golden stare was fixated on Duncan. It swirled with hungry vengeance and something more terrifying – promise.

“No. That isn’t how this is going to work.”

“But,” I began, only to be silenced as Duncan whipped his hand up.

“I think you’re forgetting your place, fey.” Duncan simmered with diluted hate, his eyes never leaving me for a second. “She needs to be healed, that is what you wanted, is it not? Because say the word and I will personally drag her back out by her pretty red curls and start off on the long ride to Lockinge. We could even place bets to see if she will survive the journey. Not that you have much of worth to offer up.”

I sat back, defeated and without argument.

Gyah had not given up so easily.

“Takemeto her,” Gyah demanded through gritted teeth.

“Why?” He scowled, long fingers flexing at his sides. “Don’t you trust my hospitality?”

“No. Surprisingly, we don’t,” I replied.

“Well, I don’t particularly trust you either. So, I regret to admit that we have something in common. Even if that thought alone makes me wish to scrub boiling oil across my body just to clean it.”

That comment caused the two Hunters behind him to snigger, looking at each other like a pair of mischievous cats.

Duncan glanced between us both, grinning slightly when his eyes found Gyah. “You both are going to follow me. In a moment my good friends here are going to unchain you and I trust you will behave. This is no place to act the hero… do you understand? I may be able to control my desires, but I cannot say the same for some of these men and women.”

It irked me that he didn’t refer to me when he spoke. The threat was aimed at Gyah. Duncan knew I needed to get to Lockinge to have an audience with the Hand, although that desire was barely a simmer now. Whereas Gyah would fight tooth and nail to get to Althea and escape if she had the chance.

He saw her as a threat, he saw me as a fool.

“Give me the chance and I will tear your face off.”

Duncan rolled his eyes. “I admire your conviction, but this is my domain,Eldrae, you would be a brave idiot to attack me here. Brave yes, but still an idiot. Do not give my Hunters a reason to cause you pain; it’s taking me enough conviction not to grant it myself.”

“We’ll behave,” I muttered beneath my breath. “As long as you stick to your end of the bargain.”

“You have a lot to learn, boy. I don’t deal in bargains. Why don’t we show you to your accommodation first though, yes? We are going to have plenty of time to speak. By the time we reach Lockinge, I have a feeling we are all going to be very, very close.”

Even with the countless burning hearths and wax-dripping candelabras, Finstock was a cold place. If the damned iron cuff was not on my neck, I might’ve even enjoyed the comfort of the winter, how it seeped into the stone walls and clung to the itchy sheets that were fitted onto the bed before me.

There was no reprieve from the cold here, no place to hide from it.

Gyah paced the flagstone ground before the door, arms crossed, as though she kept them from battering the very walls down. Trust me, she’d already tried. Furniture lay scattered and shattered around the door. “I can’t just sit here and wait for news knowing Althea is left with those twisted bastards. They could be doing anything to her – anything!”

“There is nothing we can do but wait,” I said, hating the truth of my words. “Duncan made it clear. The more we cause a scene, the longer we wait. He is toying with us.”

Gyah sneered in my direction, setting my skin on fire. “Do you mean there is nothing youwantto do? You are right where you wanted to be, aren’t you, Robin? In the belly of the enemy all because you had a whimsical thought that they might help you in your quest for blood. Well, look! Blood is what you have got. Althea’s blood.”

“You’re right,” I said, edging back until I was pressed into the bed.

Gyah’s shocked expression suggested she expected an argument from me on the matter. I had no fight left in me.

“Listen, if there is a chance to get to Althea, you must not take it. With or without me. At least, not yet. You saw where we are. How many Hunters are around us. One wrong moveand we may jeopardise what little help they are reluctantly giving Althea. For the meantime, it’s not a risk worth taking.”

“I told her we should not have followed you.” Gyah stopped dead in her tracks, hands reaching for a sword at her waist that was not there. “Althea was adamant, worried about you. See how she thinks of others but you barely spare a thought for anyone but your wants and needs? I told her you need space, but that was not something she was willing to grant you. I have never seen her so concerned. And there was nothing I could have done to convince her otherwise.”

I couldn’t hold Gyah’s scrutinising gaze, opting to look at my scuffed boots instead. “I had no idea.”

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