Page 87 of A Kingdom of Lies

My teeth ground together in response to the tearing sound of clawed hands scratching through the dirt. Erix’s back heaved, as though his laboured breaths did nothing to satisfy his body.

“Then this is where it ends for us,” he finally spoke, voice rough as jagged stone. When he looked up, dark, muddy tears coursed down his gaunt cheeks. They dripped to the frost-tainted ground and hissed. He winced as though his entire being was gripped in physical agony. “You are right, little bird, I do not deserve your aid. Not after what I have done to you. But know, from this day forward, my actions are not mine and will never be. As I leave you, I need you to know that the person you have known is no more. Never forget how sorry I am. Because even when this monster takes over, I will not allow myself to forget. I could never forget you, but I do wish for you to forget me.”

I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. No matter with how much pity and discomfort I looked upon Erix, I cried with grief, feeling as though yet another person had been taken from me. Killed. By Doran all the same; even if Erix’s heart still beat as he left me, it was no longer to the tune of his own soul.

“Do not remember me as the man who tore your life in two, but the person who would have given his life to see you thrive.”

Words failed me as my chest was racked with deep sobs. I could hardly catch a breath as I watched Erix stand, his dark tears drying upon his ashen skin. He held my gaze, blinked, and for a moment I saw the warmth of his golden eyes as though they shone through the shadows of Doran’s hate.

“Thank you,” I called as he turned from me. He paused, face still to the side for me to see the stretched points of his ears flicker in recognition of my voice. “Thank you for holding my hand whilst I discovered myself.”

It was the least I could say to him.

Erix smiled, serrated teeth flashing in his brief grin. It was disturbing and beautiful.

I waited for him to reply, but instead Erix turned his back on me again, and walked away. His stretched leather wings dragging across the ground behind him. And with each step he took, I knew that I would never see even a flicker of the Erix I’d known again.

Standing alone in the clearing of the forest, night bathing the world in shadows, I remembered why I had travelled such a way from Wychwood. All concern or doubt about my end goal evaporated.

Killing Doran was a necessity, one I desired more than anything after learning several ugly truths. He’d die slowly for what he’d done. It was time to make him pay for his latest sin.

For the destruction of the man I cared so much for, for using the best part of my new life as a weapon against me.

For Erix.

CHAPTER 30

Erix’s visit was a distant memory when dawn arrived without Duncan’s return. I paced the forest, mind whirling with what to do. His warning not to follow him was no more than a whisper, and one I knew I’d no choice but to ignore.

As if I was ever going to listen.

It was a crisp and cloudless day. The winds had retreated, giving room for the tension of his absence to roar around me in its stead. Even with my usual comfort during the colder weather, a shiver was present across my skin.

Each moment dragged into an eternity. I found myself scanning the distance begging for him to return, holding out hope that he’d only be minutes away from finding his way back to me.Perhaps he was lost. That was the first thought I had, which soon perished with the realisation that Duncan was a man who knew himself as well as his surroundings. Losing himself on a path back to me wouldn’t have been an option. The wave of what-ifs that followed grew darker and more horrific with every hour that Duncan did not return.

Soon the sky was bright blue, not a single smudge of pink dawn tones across it. The sun was reaching its apex above me, rays no more than cold beams across the landscape.

The view of Lockinge was clearer than yesterday, the outline of the castle upon the hill nothing more than a dark mark against the flattened land before me. A city sprawled beneath, clustered in its shadow. From such a distance I could not make out any important details of it, but I could understand its size without uncertainty.

I chewed on my nails as I watched Lockinge helplessly. My eyes followed the city downward, snaking across the grey stone path that cut across the landscape, the very one the Hunters had paraded upon. And there, no more than a faint marking of buildings, was their final checkpoint.

Duncan.

He had to be there. And regardless, I had to pass through there to get to the city’s only main entrance. Duncan had explained the toll for entering Lockinge, a single payment for travellers to make in tax towards the kingdom. Coin, preferably, unless you bore the mark of the Hand, then entry was free.

I left our makeshift camp, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other before I changed my mind. The only way into Lockinge was with Duncan. Regardless, something was wrong. He wouldn’t have left me for longer than he had planned. It was for that reason I swallowed my anxiety and began my journey to Lockinge’s outskirts.

I thought of nothing but finding him. The small hope that we would simply bump into one another upon the road to Lockinge dwindled within me. The closer I grew the more I let that thought slip through my fingers.

The place where hope had lived soon hollowed and filled with rage. The feeling was hideous and overwhelming. It caused my teeth to grind together, and my hands to clench into hardened fists at my sides.

At first, I walked alone, cutting down the middle of the dirt path with not even a bird to witness my journey. Then I recognised the closeness of humans, hardly caring or noticing as they passed me on wagons or by foot. I kept my head down, my hood drawn up to cover my ears hoping to stay as unnoticed as I could.

Then I heard the squawks of birds –hawks.

Large, winged creatures circled above me and cried out in warning to whoever listened. They were brave little fuckers who dived as though to peck the hair from my head.Tracker’s companions.

The Hunters were close.

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