Page 91 of A Deception of Courts

I bit down on my tongue, refusing to answer him.

Kayne smiled, the corners of his mouth cutting from ear to ear. “No, exactly. I won, Robin. Finally, I have bettered you. Go on, shout for Duncan again. See if he’ll come to your rescue this time.”

That’s when I noticed the sheer amount of blood on Kayne’s hand as he drew his thumb up to his temple and cleared a bead of sweat.

“What have you done to him?” I seethed.

“Me? I have done nothing. You’re the one to have doomed him. I tried to make Duncan see sense, but you’d blinded him. I gave him a chance to do the right thing, to remember the cause that once brought us together. His death,alltheir deaths, will be on your hands.”

I forced upwards, not caring for my ankle or the iron at my neck. Kayne had my wrists pinned down, but I still had my teeth. I tried to sink them into any bit of flesh I could find, or even smash my forehead into his – anything to get free.

Kayne hardly flinched as my teeth caught the soft flesh of his arm. In fact, he laughed, as if he enjoyed it. “A little help please.”

I didn’t know who he was speaking to until more hands were on me. As Kayne’s accomplices dragged me away from him, I didn’t stop fighting back. I wouldn’t stop – not for the sake of everyone I loved.

“Oh, I bet you wished you could have done that to me weeks ago,” Kayne glowered, pacing before me. My eyes found the mark I’d left on his arm, and I smiled, blood-slick teeth on show.

“You’re not wrong.”

“Oh, I know I’m not. I even thought you were finally going to crack and hurt me the other night. But you never had it in you. Whereas I do. I have waited for this, almost thinking it would never happen.” He flicked with his hand, and suddenly I was forced back to the ground. “Ah, look at you, on your knees before me. What a beautiful sight this is… from this angle, I can almost imagine what Duncan liked about you.”

His use of the past-tense made me sick.

“Fuckyou–”

My jaw cracked as Kayne’s knuckles met it. My head snapped to the side, but that was all I could move as the many hands still held me up. The inside of my cheeks filled with blood as I yanked my teeth from my tongue, leaving gouged, leaking marks behind. Not one to waste, I gathered it and spat it directly at Kayne’s feet the moment I could.

“See that the rest of them are dealt with,” Kayne instructed a soldier who stepped to his side. “Not a single one is to be left alive.”

I watched with sickening horror as the soldier removed the Cedarfall helmet and revealed something entirely different beneath. I hadn’t even contemplated how Kayne managed to get our own people onto his side – but they were never fey.

Of course not. The man was human, clear from the curve of his ears and the hateful sneer he laid upon me.

“The Hand will reward you greatly for this, Kayne,” the man said, slapping his meaty hand upon the metal breastplate and leaving a bloodied handprint over his heart. Hunter. All of them were Hunters dressed in the clothes of our allies. “Finally, you have proved yourself worthy with your loyalty.”

“Go,” Kayne snarled, forcing the Hunter to scuttle away in a hurry.

“Yes, sir.”

Kayne brought his dirtied, bloodied fingers to his mouth and whistled. A shrill call replied, then Lucari flew so close over my shoulder that I felt her iron-tipped claws graze the side of my face. I watched him fuss over the hawk as she perched on his shoulder, offering her praise as though she were a child impressing a parent. “Such a good girl. My patient girl. We will both be rewarded, you and I. Just look at the bounty we have for the Hand.”

His eyes settled back on me.

“What have you done to Duncan?” I spat, tasting the copper of my blood and the ash that fell from the burning forest. If I had access to my magic, this entire court would’ve faced the wrath building inside of me at the thought of Duncan hurt.

Kayne winced, then gestured to a slumped body on the ground behind him. “See for yourself.”

My body threatened to give way, but I bit down further into my tongue to keep myself upright.

Duncan was splayed out on his back, his body one of many, scattered among fallen Hunters that I hadn’t noticed him until Kayne had pointed him out.

“No,” I breathed, pain lancing through me, draining me of all my strength. “You haven’t… he isn’t–”

“Yes, he is. Look at what you’ve forced me to do, Robin. Surely you can at least see that?”

I dragged my eyes from the body, up to Kayne. “You killed him.”

“This would be the moment to say your goodbyes to Duncan. You’ll not see him again.”

---