Page 93 of A Kingdom of Lies

She dropped my hand without care. With an unimpressive huff Jesibel rolled her own sleeve up, flashing her moon-kissed skin. In the crook of her arm was a fresh, angry wound surrounded by a halo of red-stained skin. “Now, what makes you so special? Even the newbies are drained before entry. It is payment for this wonderfully comfortable accommodation we are provided with. Yet here you are, skin unmarked.”

“I’m sorry, Jesibel–”

“Please, Jesi is fine.”

“Jesi.” I forced a smile, unable to ignore how I annoyed her. “I saw that same mark on my escorts. The women had it on their arms as well.”

Just the memory of the welts made me want to reach out and scratch my own arm.

“Good to know that the Twins aren’t above paying with their blood like the rest of us then. It has been almost two weeks since I last paid my tithe. And far longer since this fucking iron has been free from my neck. Healing is slower as you will understand, but there is something about the leeches they use that hold off the skin’s regeneration, I’m sure of it. I think they soak in a bowl of iron-infused water or something. Hunch, but a strong one.”

So thatwaswhere the Hunters took the blood from. Leeches. My skin crawled at the thought. I believed the extraction to be far deadlier; images of necks sliced and skin flayed had not been impossible to imagine. But it made sense. Keeping the fey with power alive, taking blood and waiting, giving them time to refill until the next time they were bled for the Hand’s gain.

“Do you know what he does with it?” I asked, knowing that answers came easily from Jesi. I needed as many as I could get before I met him. “Your blood, that is.”

Jesi shrugged. “No. Not that it matters. Stuck here until we are bone dry, so what good is thinking about the above world anymore? My advice for you, Robin, is you should put the thoughts of the world you knew behind you. It’s what the world has done to us. The sooner you give up on it, the easier your future will become. Trust me.”

Pain. It started in my heart, before spreading down every limb and filling every vein. Jesi was but one of the products created when an entire realm forgot about her. The fey had been here all along, and we – the fey courts – had done nothing to help them.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her just how wrong she was now. But I didn’t have the heart to tell her of what my appearance meant. Not yet. If I was to inspire a revolt, it had to be at the right moment.

“Listen,” I said, the urgency that festered in my chest becoming hard to contain. “I need to get out of here.”

“Ha. Don’t we all. Don’t worry, that feeling will pass when you realise that leaving is not an option,” Jesi replied, a smirk across her lips but hardly reaching her eyes.

“You don’t understand…”

Jesi scrunched her nose, pulling a face of pure disgust as I got close to her. “You smell like shit warmed up, Robin. How about you have a wash before you put me off tonight’s dinner of gruel and bread. Wouldn’t want my hunger being ruined. If you follow the cavern to the far end, you will come across an area of fresh springs. Beside the springs is an area where you can be given clothes. There will be something in there that will fit you, no doubt.”

I looked where she pointed, noticing how the cavern we were in seemed to spread out further than imagined. This place was a system of interconnecting caves, a honeycomb of rock and stone filled with the bodies of fey stolen from their lands.

Jesi gave me a push as she leapt out of her chair. Even with the iron around her neck, she was still naturally strong. “What are you standing around for? Go and clean yourself.”

“But if I go, how will they find me again?”

“Who?”

“Those fey women, The Twins, they told me they’d come for me. You need to understand I have to be ready.”

“The Twins said that to you?” She tilted her head, intrigued.

I nodded, wanting nothing more than to return to the gate and demand the Kingsmen to take me to the Hand immediately. All I could think about was Duncan and what had happened to him, and what else was in store for him. The thought threatened me with a terrible sickness. It gripped my stomach and would have likely made me vomit if it had been full of food.

“I’ve been promised an audience with the Hand.” I felt the need to say it quietly. “And you need to understand that I cannot just wait here for them to get me at their own leisure. I don’t have the time to wait.”

“And the Twins told you this?” she repeated, as though saying it again would make it easier to believe. Her sharp brow rose, clearly proving she didn’t believe a word that came out of my mouth.

“Yes,” I snapped, annoyance itching at my skin. “They said they would come back. You don’t believe me?”

“Actually, I do.” Jesi gripped my upper arm, squeezing with a strength I couldn’t fathom. Her face was pinched, brows furrowed; there was a scar across one, slicing the dark lines in half. “The Twins do not lie. But I’m now wondering why you are so special to get a sit-down session with the Hand. Seems odd, doesn’t it?”

I gritted my teeth, aware of her nails digging into skin. “Let go of me, Jesi.”

She ignored my plea. “The Twins do not lie because theycannotlie. No one in the Below has ever seen the Hand. Except one. And if what you are saying is true… I think you need to come with me.”

She began pulling me towards a pocket of shadows within the rocks that snaked off into another system of caves. “Jesi, get off of me.”

We came to a stop, face to face. There was something distrusting about her stare. It was as black as her hair, seemingly blue when the strands caught the flames of the burning lanterns hammered into the walls. “Why would the Hand desire an audience with you, Robin?”

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