Page 92 of A Deception of Courts

“He’ll never forgive you,” I shouted, throat aching, eyes stinging. But I refused to cry – refused to show weakness to the traitor before me. Instead, I would turn the agony inside of me back on Kayne. He was a monster, he betrayed us – but he loved Duncan, too. I could see that he struggled from the slight pinch of his mouth, and the way he couldn’t look at Duncan for a single moment. “He loved you like a brother, and you’ve betrayed him.”

Kayne shrugged, cracking knuckles to give himself something to do. “What good is asking forgiveness from a dead man?”

“He loved you!” I screamed again, unwilling to consider the possibility of Duncan’s demise.

“Not in the way that mattered,” Kayne snapped, eyes flaring wide. “I never asked for him to see me as his brother. I wished for more. For years, I have longed for him. Then you came and bewitched him. Ensnared him like a wounded dog caught in a trap.”

I turned my head, daring to admit aloud what I had wondered all this time. “All of this… all this death and deception because you werejealousof me?”

Kayne’s shadow cast over me, then he leaned in close. Lucari screeched in warning, her amber eyes flicking over me with hunger. I expected Kayne to deny me, to conjure another excuse as he had all these weeks.

He didn’t.

“Yes,” he whispered, lips dusting close to my ear. “And if you are wondering if I feel bad, I don’t. I never shall. Because now neither of us can have him. And once you have been handed over to Aldrick, my life will be blessed far greater than anything Duncan could have ever provided me.”

“You’re pathetic,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “You desperate, disgusting prick.”

“Says the king, powerless and alone, who’s on his knees before me. Since Lockinge, I have waited to see you beaten down. Aldrick encouraged my patience, told me to wait and I would be rewarded with this very moment. He knew this was how it would come to an end, and he was right. I can honestly admit it was worth everything just to see you like this.”

“You’ve been lying to us… since Lockinge?” I asked, unable to ignore the stinging in my heart.

“Indeed. From the moment we escaped Aldrick, I have been waiting. How else did Aldrick escape the city before we ambushed the castle? The attack on Imeria Castle? Jesibel? Even that fucking Nephilim, Gabrial, the nosey bitch…” Lucari flexed her wings in pride, chirping happily at the mention of the dead Nephilim. “Everything I’ve done, everything I will do, was to see this moment. I’m a man of faith, Robin. Did you actually believe I could turn my back on all I’ve ever known, just because you swept in with ideas of grandeur? Unlike Duncan, it takes more than a pretty boy to distract me from my path.”

His freckled fingers clasped my face and squeezed. The pain was nothing compared to what I felt inside. In fact I relished in it. And there was so much I wished to say. Names and curses I longed to hurl at Kayne. If my hands weren’t bound or my power drawn away by the iron around my neck, I would’ve thrown every ounce of my strength into hurting him over and over.

But there was nothing I could do but listen as he divulged his betrayal, his deception. He’d been patient and got what he wanted, and so would I.

“Should I offer my congratulations to Lucari?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, of course, how else would I have kept in contact with Aldrick and my fellow Hunters? Between her and those pesky dreams – oh, you know the ones – I’ve been in communication with him. And he is rather impressed with me.”

Jesibel. Dream walking. I had often found Kayne awake at ungodly hours, looking as exhausted as I felt.

And I scorned myself for not trusting my gut. All this time, Lucari had never been missing, Kayne’s hate for me was more than just surface-level distrust. I should have known, and my hopes to be wrong had led to the demise of those I loved.

“So, this is it, then?” I asked.

“Oh no, you are required for so much more.”

“Indulge me for a moment, Kayne.” My body shook, my skin itching with the desire to fight. “Now you have no one left to stop you. What happens next? Are you going to take me and hand me straight over to Aldrick yourself? Because I can imagine just how praised you will be when you do so.”

Kayne dropped his hand from my face and raised it sharply before me. I flinched, and he laughed. I thought he was going to strike me, but instead he rested a caring hand upon my shoulder. The circular dance that his thumb began made my insides knot, bile burning my throat. “You’re going to join me on the journey to Elmdew. But I promise to atone for the sins you believe I have committed. Once Aldrick takes what he requires and kills you, I’ll make sure your body is returned to those with enough care to bury you. Perhaps they may even be kind enough to entomb you beside your dear lover.”

I searched for a lie in his wide stare but found only honesty. Fear crept up my throat and threatened to strangle the air from me once again. “What makes you hate the world so much that you would aid the end of it?”

Kayne pondered the question, chewing on his lower lip as he did so. Before he could reply, we were greeted by a rush of roaring winds. It coursed through the forest, dousing the flames and returning the underbrush to darkness. Riding the wind was a grumbling roar that tugged at my soul. The trees bowed beneath the force, screeching and groaning as though they cried out in alarm.

The calm expression on Kayne’s face, as the winds pulled back at his ginger hair, told me he wasn’t shocked at the strange power that radiated around us.

It left as suddenly as it arrived.

And all around the forest, the Hunters exploded in cheers of delight. I felt their excitement buzz through the very ground at my feet as they danced and whooped.

“It would seem the second key has been successfully collected,” Kayne announced, making the cheers intensify. “Aldrick will be disappointed it wasn’t himself that dealt the final blow. But I’m certain he will feel fulfilled to know another has been eradicated. We are one step closer to saving this ruined world.”

I blinked and saw Elinor Oakstorm in my mind’s eye.

“Is that a tear I see?” Kayne asked, brows furrowed.

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