Page 84 of A Kingdom of Lies

My hands felt strange as he let go of them. They seemed to hover in the space they’d been as he turned away, straightening his jacket as he faced the dark path still visible through the tree line before us.

I waited, wrapped in the chill from the dropping evening temperature as Duncan took his first steps away from me. Just as he was to be engulfed in shadows Duncan paused, looking back at me with verdant eyes glinting and lips upturned. “I haven’t even left and already long to return to you, Robin Icethorn.”

I exhaled all the tension that had built within my chest. Smiling back at him, I clung to the hope that this plan would work, stealing his confidence. “Then get on with it and hurry back to me. Who knows, perhaps my bed will not be cold tonight after all.”

CHAPTER 29

I woke to the thud of feet upon the ground. The sound tore me from my light slumber, unnerving me. Sitting up, mind heavy and body grasped in panic, I combed the dark woods for what could have caused it. That was when I felt intense eyes upon me, a trail of discomforting prickles spreading across my face.

A figure peeled itself away from the dark outline of trees ahead of me. I scorned myself for falling asleep in the first place.

“Duncan?” I called, ice already spreading beneath my palms across the moss-covered floor.

“In such a short period of time you already have another man’s name filling your mouth,” the shadow-figure replied, voice gruff as though he spoke through blunt knives embedded within his throat. “What has he got that I cannot give you, little bird?”

It wasn’t Duncan who spoke.

Before the man stepped into the faded, silver moonlight, I threw my hands forward, commanding the ice to follow. It crackled, a wave of deep, ominous blue as it tore across the ground towards him.

Towards Erix.

He did the impossible, pouncing into the air as though he weighed no more than a feather. Two strange-shaped limbs exploded from either side of him, keeping him afloat for a moment, before gently falling back to the ground on light toes.

“Can we not just talk?”

My magic retracted as my mind made sense of what I saw. Perhaps this was a bad dream, the impossible blend of reality and fiction. “You died.”

“No,” Erix replied. “I did not – unfortunately.”

I couldn’t believe it. This had to be a nightmare, except one haunting the waking hours. Relief and fear blended into one within me, so seamlessly that I couldn’t discern one from the other.

“Step into the light,” I commanded, slowly pushing myself to standing for a better view. “Let me see you.”

“It is best I stay here,” he snapped, voice sounding as though three people spoke at once. Erix took a breath, those strange limbs flexing back down to his sides as they folded in on him. “I want to know something first, before you see me.”

“You’re in no position to be asking questions.”

“Please, little bird–”

“Don’t call me that.”

I studied to the outline of Erix’s hands as he flexed them at his sides. His fingers seemed longer – sharper. I blinked, wishing the vision was wrong.

“Do you remember when you told me what you fear the most? How is it you can stay alone, in the dark, with your Hunter so far away? There would have been a time when you could not have slept without a candle being lit by your side. Now look at you.”

A chill wind danced between my hands, tugging my dark hair away from my face and wrapping around me protectively; magic spilled from my skin. “I’ve learned that monsters are not unique to dark places, butallplaces. Why would I fear the dark when what is revealed in the light is far more frightening?”

“Is that so?” Erix said, voice rough as stone against stone.

“Step into the light and let me prove it.” I had to see him, to know what caused his body’s outline to be different, his voice to sharpen and mutate. Whatever stood in the shadows before me was not Erix, at least not the one I had known.

“I am in need of something from you.”

“Then you’re sorely mistaken,” I shouted. “Your needs are not important anymore. Everything you do is for Doran. I will be the first to remind you of that.”

“Listen to me,littlebird,” he snapped, a guttural growl of frustration building within him. “Please.”

“My name is Robin!” I stormed across the ground, closing the space between us as my cold wind spread its freezing embrace around me. A prickle of tears stung my eyes, from both sadness and desperation. “Even that name shouldn’t dare cross your lips after what you have done to me.”

---