Page 23 of A Deception of Courts

“I believe you,” I said, fingers strangling around the crumping parchment.

Her lips thinned into a line, but the lines across her forehead softened. “I’m glad you have sense, my king.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Duncan added behind us.

“Finally,” Althea added. “Something we agree on. There are currently winged humans waiting, not a stretch away from us. Now is not the time for distrust. As a group, we need to stand as one if we want so much as the chance to see this to the end.”

Althea made sure she glanced at each one of us as she spoke.

“Althea is right. We stand firm together, unbreakable in the face of change.”

“Said like a bona fide royal,” Seraphine replied. “Your kind has a knack for motivational speeches, as I remember.”

“Remind me, what court was your home before you defected to the Asp nest?” Althea asked, chin raised.

“Not yours, sweetheart,” Seraphine replied, blowing a kiss that turned Althea’s cheeks red with fury. “Elmdew, although the court of Spring is not exactly a home for me. It hasn’t been for a long while. I turned my back on that place many moons ago.”

“Which explains why you struggle with authority,” Duncan added, closing his eyes. He didn’t see her scowl, but smiled anyway.

“Seraphine, your insight has been pivotal to getting us here. I don’t doubt you were not aware of Aldrick’s last movements, but do you think your Asps can locate any hint of where he may have taken the fey? Just because Jesibel is not with us now doesn’t mean I wish to stop searching for her. I made a promise. I take that seriously. Kayne, I ask that you investigate with the fey we saved; if anyone might know who was taken, it would be them.”

Both the Asp and the Hunter nodded.

“What is to say he took them anywhere?” Althea added. “He needs their blood, not their flesh. He may have drained his supply and taken it with him to conduct his monstrous mutations.”

The thought alone had the power to unravel me. I refused to believe it was an option.

“I will send word back to Lockinge and to those who are staying behind,” Seraphine said, shooting me a wary glance. “If there are bodies to find, they will locate them. Don’t worry.”

The ground swayed beneath me. I opened my mouth to speak, but it filled with a rush of sick that slipped over onto the floor. I folded over, hunched over my knees. Althea jumped back. Duncan called my name. But all I could picture was Jesi, a stranger who I had fixated on helping… dead.

“I’m fine,” I gasped, as my allies tried to help me. Clearing my mouth, I spat the last dregs of bile and hardened my resolve. “Jesi’s death is not an option I’m willing to accept. Jesi is alive, as are the others he took from the prison. If he has left Lockinge, he will need a lasting supply of blood to keep his power. He needs her alive.”So do I.

“Then we will find them all,” Althea said, eyes wide with determination. “Your promise to Jesi will be met. I guarantee it.”

I couldn’t explain aloud just how profound an effect Jesibel had had on me. She’d represented the Icethorn Court’s people. Alone, lost and then stolen, whilst fleeing a broken court left in the wake of my family’s death. It was up to me to put it right. Her face had been at the forefront of this rescue mission, and the burning hope I coveted in my soul had been doused completely by the realisation that she was still lost to me.

Seraphine shifted, sensing movement at the door before anyone else. “Time to go.”

We all turned to the captain of this ship. Flanor was an older man with sun-spotted cheeks and meaty hands that looked as tough as the bottom of a boot. The Cedarfall captain had bright sun-yellow hair and a rugged beard that likely harboured stories from years at sea.

“A small boat cuts across the sea,” Flanor said, throat thick with age. In his hand, he gripped a brass spyglass. “You asked to be informed the moment we saw them coming, and I have. The crew is growing restless at their arrival.”

“We will be up shortly,” Althea replied curtly, already pacing toward the doorway in which Seraphine prepared to leave.

Flanor bowed his head to Althea, offering her the spyglass as she swept to his side. “For giving up your cabin, Flanor, I will see that my mother thanks you generously.”

His rosy cheeks swelled at that. “It’s my pleasure, truly.”

Duncan had slipped into sleep, his eyes fluttering. I was thankful he was not awake to argue his point again. It was easier this way – at least, that is what I told myself. Each step away from his tired body only clenched at my gut.

“Robin,” Kayne said as I moved for the door.

“Yes?”

“I’m going to stay back with him,” Kayne gestured toward Duncan, who had begun softly snoring. “It doesn’t seem right to leave him alone among–”

“You don’t need to say it.” And he didn’t. Kayne was the only one who still carried his sword on his hip. The handle was never out of reach. Duncan and Kayne were Hunters. Regardless of what had been done, I knew Kayne still felt that his presence among us was threatened.

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