Page 42 of A Kingdom of Lies

“You’re different to them,” I said with a mouth full of hard cheese. I was unable to sit in this awkward silence a moment longer. It was clear that Duncan wasn’t going to break first as he relaxed in the warmed waters.

“Oh, do tell me more.”

“I don’t think I need to.”

Duncan peered at me through one eye. “Is this because I don’t permit the murder of children?”

So the children would’ve died here, if he didn’t intervene.

I nodded, eyes falling upon Duncan’s undershorts that now rested upon the stone-slabbed flooring. “I would’ve thought you’d send them to the… Below, or whatever you called it.”

“The Below is a place for Fey with magic.” Heat flooded my cheeks as I quickly looked away. “Trust me when I say death would be a better outcome then ever reaching the Hand’s prison.”

I couldn’t imagine just how terrible of a place that was, if death was a kinder option.

“You didn’t join in with prayer during the rite last night either,” I said.

“So it’s my lack of outwards belief which causes distress, Robin?” Duncan asked, wet arms holding on to the tub’s edges as fat droplets of water fell from him. “The way I practice my faith does not make me any less of a believer than those who would wish to see blood spilled from innocents.”

“You see fey children as innocent? Even if they are the kind your fellow cultists have spent years hunting?”

“I see them as children, nothing more. When I spoke of innocents, I was referring to those who sacrificed their lives in the name of our God with the belief of providing that god sustenance in return for a blessing.” Duncan reached a hand towards a wooden stool that held jars filled with creamy liquids and bars of chopped soaps. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind passing me the soap.”

I almost choked on the picking of stale bread. “You’re joking.”

“Not at all,” Duncan replied, smirking. “Unless you are going to insist I climb back out of this tub and get it myself.”

I couldn’t believe what I was doing as I stood from the bed and moved towards the stool where the bar of soap rested. But the concept of seeing Duncan without an inch of clothing on him had me doing exactly as he requested.

“Careful you don’t drop it, Robin.”

My mouth dried as I swallowed, thrusting the square soap above the tub where I let it fall from my hand with a splash.

“Oops,” I muttered through a sickly sweet smile, returning to the seat at the end of the bed. My eyes fell on Duncan with distaste for a moment as he fished the bar out of the murky waters.

“If that’s all you require of me, then I ask to be returned to my friends,” I said. “The promise of dinner was rather disappointing.”

“I’m far from done with you. My journey today has given me a chance to form a rather impressive list of questions I have for you. When I am done, only then will you be permitted to leave.”

I leaned back on my hands, fingers clawing the material of the bed, as I regarded Duncan. “Then ask away.”

“You have pointed out my differences, but I must say yours are also rather alarming.” Duncan’s arms moved beneath the water. I dared imagine what he was doing but I hoped it was something innocent. “You are not a full-blooded fey, are you?”

I shrugged. “Disappointed? Does it lower my value with the Hand?”

“Yes,” Duncan replied. “And no.”

There was no time to work out what he was agreeing or disagreeing with.

“The differences are subtle. At first, I could hardly tell. But you move like a human. Speak like one. I would sit next to you in a tavern and hardly notice if your hood was drawn over your ears.”

His comment shouldn’t have felt like an insult, but it did.

I tugged at the cuff around my neck. “Take this off and I will show you just howfeyI can be.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second. So how did a man, torn between two realms, choose which side he wanted to be on?”

A scowl pinched across my forehead, my jaw clenching until my teeth felt as though they would be stuck together for an eternity. “I’ve chosen no sides.”

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