Page 97 of A Kingdom of Lies

“So you’ve come to save us?”

I swallowed hard. “I have come to try.”

“And what brings you to ask for help from your enemy right at his doorstep?”

I looked at her with a storm in my eyes. “To kill Doran Oakstorm.”

Elinor rocked back, a small fluttering gasp escaping from her. She brushed the loose waves of brown curls from her face, not wanting a single strand to obscure her view of me. “And what hashedone to you to bring about such a desire?”

My jaw hardened; teeth gritted together as I replied. “He took everything from me. And I vow to do the same in return.”

I told Elinor almost everything. How Doran had plotted and succeeded in the murder of the Icethorn Court. How he pointed the blame on the humans to cause a war, doing so because of his jealously that my mother returned but Elinor never did. I told her of my father and the lengths he took to keep me from the realm of the fey and how it ultimately ended in his death at the hands of Doran Oakstorm.

The only thing I held back, finding myself swallowing the admission at the last moment, was what had become of Tarron – what Erix did to him, because of me.

So much death left in my wake, in such little time.

And all because of Doran’s infatuation with a woman who never loved him as he had led me to believe she had. It was clear, from everything I’d heard and learned, that Doran never knew of Elinor’s infidelity. He believed Lovis to be his son just as Tarron was. Elinor was his prized love after all, the only one who gave him children whose blood was not infected with the berserker lineage.

If Doran had known, would he have gone to the lengths he had? Would my family still be alive?

I blinked and saw a storm of gryvern. I saw Erix and his mutated and tormented appearance. So many lives devastated because of a secret. Secrets were destructive – secrets were the world’s greatest evil.

“I understand,” Elinor finally said, a hint of reminiscence in her gaze. “We have all been forced to make choices and I can understand now how you have ended up before me. But I feel as though I should ask you something. Something I wish someone had asked me.”

“Please,” I replied softly. “Ask me anything.”

“Will it be worth it? In the end, when Doran and his presence has been removed from this world, will it bring you whatever it is you seek?”

My mouth opened, lips parting for my initial confirmation to come out. But silence responded. I couldn’t answer. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. Because I didn’t know what it was I longed for. My family? Revenge? It wouldn’t bring them back, I knew that. They were gone no matter what happened tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that.

“You do not need to answer me yet,” Elinor said softly, although her voice still hummed with the air of command, which had not vanished during the many years in this dark cell. “I am not going anywhere, and time is very much a luxury we have in the Below.”

“I’m here now,” I said. “I have no choice but to keep moving forward. It is too late to give up, but my focus is on saving you, Elinor. Saving everyone in the Below. Doran must die, but even I know that my desire is not as potent as those around me who want their freedom.”

“Freedom, what a funny and long-forgotten concept. And what will you do to accomplish that?”

I shook my head, not knowing the answer. “Anything, no matter what it takes. I will set you all free.”

“And what of Doran, the reason you first embarked on this journey?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but closed it again like a fish out of water.

“It is never too late to change one’s mind, Robin,” Elinor added. “Simply alter your desires and join a cause worth fighting for.”

“And what would that be?”

Elinor frowned, her entire face pulling downwards in displeasure. “When you meet the Hand, you will understand the pure size of the evil that is coming to this realm. Doran’s will be nothing in comparison. There will be a time in which his misfortune will be brought to his door, and I would argue that now is not it.”

I stood quickly. Part of me wished to stay with Elinor and question her about my mother, but the burden her words put upon me had singlehandedly shaken my world. Bowing as one would to a queen, I bade her farewell. “Thank you for your time.”

Elinor stood abruptly too, reaching a hand beyond her cage. “Wait, Robin.”

I couldn’t look at her as she pleaded for me to stay.

“May I be selfish and indulge myself with a final question?”

I hesitated, facing towards the path I had walked down. “How could I refuse a queen?”

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