Page 49 of A Game of Monsters

“Nothing has been signed yet,” I said. “Anyway, this is Nephilim affairs, and has nothing to do with the humans. What problem is it going to cause if Rafaela is in Irobel… right?”

Cassial couldn’t punish us for being caught out in a lie, not when he needed us to put ink to paper and sign the treaty he’d worked tirelessly to draft.

“And if he has lied about Rafaela and you find her, what then?” Erix asked the question that was likely on everyone’s lips.

“That will be a discussion we can all have with Cassial, but first I need to see what is happening in the Below.”

Althea’s nervous mask lifted back into a light smile. “If anyone can get away with it, it would be Robin.”

I didn’t know if that was supposed to fill me with confidence or dread.

“Now, about that distraction,” I added. “I need something to keep Zarrel occupied enough that he won’t follow me.”

“All right,” Althea replied, fingers scratching her narrow chin. I felt her eyes search every inch of me, trying to discover what I was hiding from her. “Any suggestions?”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead. After finding out where Rafaela was being kept, there hadn’t exactly been a lot of time to think.

I was glad when Gyah spoke up. “Erix, want to test out which one of us is more durable, Gryvern or Eldrae?”

“You havegotto be kidding me,” Althea said, rolling her eyes at the suggestion. “Sparring just before our wedding? It’s a recipe for disaster.”

“As is breaking Rafaela out of prison,” Gyah reminded her. “But alas, Robin is fixated on the idea. Don’t worry, my love,” Gyah wrapped a hand around Althea’s shoulder, planting a kiss upon her cheek. “I intend to beat our favouriteberserkerand come out without a single bruise.”

“Is that so?” Erix said, cocking his head from side to side, elongated fingers flexing to claws at his side. “Do Eldrae not bruise? Now I think that is a theory I would like to test.”

Gyah chuckled. “I suppose we will find out.”

Althea’s eyes gestured toward the dais at the back of the room. There was a door there, the one I’d been brought through during my last visit, and the same I’d escaped through with Duncan, Kayne, Elinor and Seraphine when Doran and his Gryvern attacked the castle.

Althea wrapped fingers around my forearm, stopping me in my tracks. “Please try to stay out of trouble, Robin.”

“Depends if trouble finds me,” I replied.

She released me, although not with hesitation. “Make sure Rafaela is okay. If she is, best to leave her where she is, until a proper plan can be formed.”

“And if she is not?” I asked, dread squeezing my lungs at the possibility.

“Save her,” Althea glowered, then turned away.

If Seraphine was right, and I found Rafaela, I had no intention of leaving her. Treaty or wedding, Rafaela’s life was more important in the grand scheme of things.

I gritted my teeth, body buzzing with unspent energy. Everything was leading up to this, and I could almost not wait.

“Hey,” I called over to Erix and Gyah. “Go easy, okay?”

“I shall, little bird,” Erix replied.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I added, eyes flickering to Gyah whose skin was melting into shadows as her shift began.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Erix added with a wink just before his wings flared and the serpentine, obsidian-scaled wyvern uncoiled where Gyah’s fey form had stood.

Seeing her, for a brief moment, took me by surprise. Perhaps it was my previous trauma, but she looked more like the Draeic than I’d ever noticed before. Just smaller, more compact – but equally as deadly as she settled golden eyes on her opponent.

If anything, this distraction was less about being seen leaving, and more about making sure I wasn’t followed.

When the air ruptured with the roar of two monsters, and bodies clashed, I took my chance and ran.

CHAPTER 12

---