Page 149 of A Game of Monsters

“Answer the question.”

“What I require of you is to strip the access to chaos that Duwar gave the fey. Starting with the army heading our way. Draw out every ounce of magic in their blood, and transfer it over, just as the Creator first desired, to the humans.” Cassial rubbed his hands together, his entire demeaner greedy.

“You do it.”

“And kill myself in the process?” Cassial laughed. “No, we both know that will not happen. It has to be you. If you do it, the fey will be spared. We will strip them of their control, send them back into Wychwood and seal them away forever. That way you can continue in life knowing those you love will live. But you must decide with haste. Time is running out. My offer only stands for as long as it takes for Erix to get here… then it will be presented to him once the ground is stained with innocent human blood.”

My answer was simple. “I will not accept until I see Duncan for myself.”

Cassial leaned in, washing the vile stench of decay over me. “Again, choosing Duncan over the lives you’ve sworn to protect, just as you tried to convince me otherwise. Further proof that I am right. If that is not confirmation enough of how selfish you are, Robin, I do not know what is.”

“That is my counteroffer,” I sneered, breath coming out ragged.

Cassial offered me a grin so wide, his crumbling face cracked like broken glass. “Would you like to know what the Asp said before I tore her head from her shoulders?”

I didn’t want to do it, but my eyes trailed over to the headless body to my side. Cassial had made sure I didn’t stop looking at it, as if the reminder of what could happen would make me act in his favour.

In truth, it was working. “I don’t care.”

“Oh, but you will.” Cassial was so close I felt the rotting flesh emanating from him. “The Asp said, ‘be selfish, Robin’. It was a message for you, proving to me that you would always be chasing after her. I knew, in that moment, you would come. Odd words to waste your final breath saying, but those were it. I could not help but believe she wanted you to hear them. You see, even she knew you were a selfish person. No doubt everyone who follows you does too. And I promised her I would tell you, before her pretty little head fell from those pretty little shoulders. Although by the point I finished agreeing, she could no longer hear me.”

Be selfish. Those were Seraphine’s last words.Robin. Meant for me.

Her last command.

I pinched my eyes closed, remembering what she had told me back on the ship to Irobel.“An Asp is trained to use their last words as a means to guide the next onwards…Not a breath is wasted, not a word is worthless.”

I drew back my disdain, knowing Cassial was right. I was selfish, and Seraphine knew it. But her reasons for saying it were not what Cassial hoped for.

This was what Seraphine wanted. Everything she’d done was to get me here, in this place, with this choice. I had to believe that she’d put herself in Althea’s position, knowing her imminent death would start the war we all tried to stop. Because she needed me to accept Duwarbeforeacting.

I had to ensure her death was not wasted.

Be selfish, Robin.

I fixed my eyes on Cassial as a rush of calm came over me. With the sweep of my tongue, I pushed the vial back between my teeth, ready for another time. “I will do it.”

His eyes widened, red hot like the churning fires of the sun. “You will?”

“I willingly accept Duwar.” I made sure my voice had no room for anything but confidence. “You are right, it is the only way.”

“Then we begin–”

“No,” I answered. “First, you take me tohim. Prove to me that you are a man of your word, and I will then do the same.”

Be selfish, Robin.My request to see Duncan was only further proving the point, which was exactly what I needed.

“Then the Asp was right,” Cassial said. “You truly are selfish, Robin Icethorn.”

Cassial’s impatience had little to do with the impending army. He too was selfish – using the humans as a shield proved that. His impatience was born from a place of knowing that everything he planned for rested on my cooperation.

“Shall we?” I asked, itching to get out of these chains. “As you said, time is not our ally.”

Cassial nodded, before waving a hand. He changed before my eyes. His skin rippled, his face morphing back into another. Cassial used Duwar to build an illusion around him, fixing Duncan’s face where his hand been.

At first, I thought he had been tricking me all along, until the chains shattered apart, and I slumped forwards.

Cassial wouldn’t allow himself to be seen by the world outside this tent. Because if they saw the truth of what he’d become, then his illusion that the fey were monsters would be ruined.

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