Page 57 of A Deception of Courts

I wondered if she heard the guilt in my offer. Gabrial was dead because of us, after all. Her blood was as much on our hands as it was on Aldrick’s. If we’d not required Gabrial’s gifts, perhaps she’d still be breathing, smiling that kind smile. But alas, those chances for life had been taken from her.

“There will be no need for a burial,” Rafaela replied, voice cold as the winter winds invading the camp. “In the eyes of the Creator, it matters not in what state the body is left behind, but the memories and marks the person left upon the world. Gabrial will be with him now. Allow her body to perish, knowing her soul thrives in paradise.”

There was no denying the slight choke as Rafaela spoke. Then she was gone, tearing out of the tent and leaving a gaping hole from her presence. As the canopy flapped open, it invited the chill of the dawn to invade within. I could’ve stopped the icy winds if I wanted to, but I didn’t. Its presence was comforting to me. The sting of ice on my cheeks did more to wake me than anything else could’ve at that moment.

Silence thrummed across the tent behind me, surrounding the body of the dead.

I turned on the small company, taking time to look at every single one of them. “Ensure that whatever has been discussed here does not spread across the camp. Now is not the time to create hysteria. If we allow for chaos, we will lose control.”

No one disagreed.

“There is still the issue of whoever killed Gabrial.” Gyah glowered, the only one brave enough to look at the covered body on the table. “If the killer is still here, I would like to dine off their flesh. I will scout the area until we have left, if you permit it, Robin.”

I could taste the indignation in Gyah’s comment. As though the scaled creature hidden beneath her skin spoke for her. But more so, there was no denying how important her request for permission was. It was a sign, to everyone in this room, that it was me who Gyah looked to for command. Not her queen, who stood on watching. But me.

“As much as I share in your sentiment, I cannot risk you leaving alone,” I replied. “We stay in pairs at all times. No one is safe. Aldrick has invaded, and I hardly imagine he will retract his claws, knowing Gabrial is dead. His presence is still among us. Iknowit. And now there is the issue of us needing information about him, or we will forever be chasing his tail, guessing his next moves too late.”

Althea noticed something in me, just as I knew she would. “And, from that look in your eye, you have a plan, don’t you?”

It was the easiest answer to give. I just hoped I had enough to tempt an Asp out of their retirement. “Oh, I do.”

CHAPTER 17

I tugged on the leather reins, willing my mount to slow to a stop. Ahead of me, parting though thick winter mist, was a haunting shard of ice and stone. The last I’d seen Imeria Castle was from the edge of the village of Berrow. From a distance, it had looked big, but with it before me, I couldn’t fathom its sheer size. It speared skyward, stabbing through grey clouds, an imposing monstrosity that represented the family that died inside of it.

I could hardly believe that a place like this could ever exist.

Streams of frozen winds slashed across the many turrets. It danced cautiously around the castle’s edge as though even the elements feared the building. Icicles, far larger than me, hung from beneath balconies like pointed teeth. It wasn’t a place of warmth and life. From the outside, I could feel just how vacant the place was. Even the cobbled stone road which led us here was buried in inches of snow and treacherous black ice.

“Are you sure they are inside?” Duncan asked from beside me.

“I am,” I replied, my breath forming in a cloud of mist beyond my lips.

Imeria Castle had been crafted upon the face of a mountain. Harsh, raw rock mixed seamlessly with white polished stone that enticed natural light and refracted it in a myriad of hues and colours.

My neck strained as I looked up its entire length. I cast a hand over my eyes to block out the light. There was no knowing where the castle stopped as its tip was concealed among the heavyset clouds.

I could just about make out the dark stone which crowned the furthest northern spire. The obsidian spike’s never-ending surface reminded me of the lake between the Icethorn and Cedarfall Courts. The Sleeping Death, as Erix had once explained. A body of water that seemed more like a realm of pure darkness.

Erix had been on my mind a lot today. There was nothing I could do to rid myself of his memory. And for the first time, I didn’t want to either.

“No wonder you gave it away,” Rafaela commented from her mount, a stained brown stag with two oversized antlers that dripped with icicles that were not there when we had left the encampment earlier. “It’s not exactly a welcoming place. Perhaps your acquaintances left the moment they arrived. Anyone with sense would know this is no place to call home.”

At least the Nephilim shared in the same feeling as I did.

“Oh, no, Seraphine is here,” I replied, leather gloves squeaking as I gripped tighter on the reins. There was a small part of me that wished to remind Rafaela that Imeria had been a home once before. But I felt the need to advocate for the place was counterintuitive. I’d given it away, I couldn’t start regretting that decision now. “Compared to the hovels the Asps had been previously living within, Imeria is the pinnacle of luxury for them.”

There was the soft patter of hooves upon the snow. To my left, Duncan rode forward on his black steed. He chose the horse over the stag, commenting on how his thighs wouldn’t feel so offended if he rode on something he was already used to.

“I think it’s the second most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Duncan gazed up at the castle through the shadows of his hood. It was drawn low enough to cover his eyes but did nothing to conceal the purse of his lips. They revealed exactly what he felt as he looked upon the castle.

“What’s the first?” I asked.

He shot me a look, one that already told me I knew the answer before he said it. “You.”

Before Rafaela could comment, not that she would, Duncan made another point. “Forgive me for admitting this, darling, but I can see why Althea is royally fucked off with you.”

“Comforting,” I replied.

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