Page 86 of A Game of Monsters

“They killed her, Robin!” Gyah screeched to the skies as if she had the power to rip it apart. “They killed my Althea!”

I reached for her, clasping firm hands to her trembling arms.

“Althea is alive, Gyah.” The truth rushed out of me; I only hoped it was strong enough to cut through her grief and make her believe me. “Jesibel… she dream-walked and confirmed. I – the Nephilim confirmed it too. Altheaisalive…”

Gyah paused momentarily, looking for someone behind me. “The Asp, she told me that Althea was dead.”

Discomfort twisted in my gut. I knew the reason behind Seraphine’s lie, it was a way to turn Gyah into a weapon, and it had worked.

Althea was in the hands of the enemy. I could only imagine the feeling of losing Duncan and my body would want to implode. Then I thought of Erix, losing him, and the feeling intensified.

“She is not dead, I promise.” I had nothing but the words of Jesibel to believe, and the confirmation of the Nephilim I’d interrogated. That had to account for something. “We will save her.”

Gyah fixed golden eyes on me, boring through my soul. “Captured and held by Cassial is no better than death. It… it is worse.”

“I know,” I said, laying my chin on Gyah’s head as she rocked back and forth in my arms. “I’m sofuckingsorry.”

My betrayal, my lies and my deceit, all of it had led to this.

“Althea!” Gyah bellowed, only capable of speaking one word. Then her voice dove to the deepest pits of tone and she growled another name. “Cassial.”

Gyah roared it to the skies, demanding in every syllable of the name, as if she commanded the gods to return her love to her.

No one answered.

“He will suffer for what he has done.” I refused to let her go. I wouldn’t – not now, not ever. I swept my gaze over the ruin around us, the splintered, blood-soaked wood, torn bodies and ice. All of it, and it just wasn’t enough. Whether or not I had the power in me to destroy them all, I would find a way.

Neither of us heard the footsteps until a large shadow passed over us. I looked up into the faces of two men. Bright verdant eyes beside a gaze of polished silver.

For a second, the ability to breathe failed me.

Erix had Duncan held at his side, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. Both men hobbled out of the ship’s belly, squinting against the light, skin coated in dust and wounds. And I wanted nothing more than to turn to them and allow them to console me.

“Oh, my darling,” Duncan said, sorrow painted across his handsome face. He drew away from Erix, his gaze falling on him for a beat longer than normal. Then he slipped to the ground and wrapped his arms around me. As his arms encased me, I didn’t let go of Gyah.

The three of us held one another. Comfort came in the form of our connection, but something was missing – someone was missing. I looked up to Erix who watched on. I could see in the lines of his face that he shared the grief but also something else. Relief. It was relief in finding me alive.

So, I extended my hand to him and gave him a command. “Come.”

And Erix did. He knelt before us, wings shifting to give room. Then he put an arm around Duncan, another around me and lowered his forehead to mine. Erix tensed against the storm of emotion. I could see he was equally as broken over the news about Althea. And still he had it in him to offer me the strength with calm, collected words. “I am here, little bird.”

I closed my eyes as Gyah’s sobs quietened and Duncan’s breathing matched pace with mine.

“You always are,” I replied, aware of the comfort he offered me but also feeling as though I didn’t deserve it.

Erix’s exhalation washed over me. “And I always will be.”

When I heard more footsteps, I lifted my face out of our bundle of bodies to see two more people step out of the stairway. Seraphine came first, hands clasped before her.

“That is everyone accounted for,” Seraphine said, sorrow drawing at her thin brow. “No one else is on board, only the dead.”

I swallowed the bile down, looking around the small band. Someone was missing – a person who had been with us in the church. It wasn’t until the second shadow behind Seraphine parted, and stood in the light, that I saw them.

Rafaela.

Relief rose its head, before shattering like glass to stone as Gyah released a vicious snarl.

Gyah uncoiled from us, standing tall as she cleared the tears from her cheeks with a blood-coated hand. Her gaze settled on Rafaela, and the sound she emitted was a promise from the Eldrae lurking beneath her skin. “Youdid this.”

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