Page 129 of A Deception of Courts

It was strange how Erix could be so close, yet so far.

Erix had little to say about what happened when he dove in after Duncan through the portal into Duwar’s realm. All he revealed was that it was a dark and quiet place. One moment they were buried in it, the next, they had returned.

I knew there was more to it. But every time Erix was pressed for more information, his silver eyes would dart away to someplace else. His gaze shifting as though his consciousness slipped back into Duwar’s realm and the secrets he harboured from it.

If I had the energy, I would’ve demanded the truth. But who was I to force such things out of people when I had become the greatest liar of all time?

It was my lies that had torn us all apart – and saved the realms.

A steep price to pay, but I held onto the knowledge that it was the right thing.

I’d saved the world, but destroyed mine in the process.

Night had fallen over Rinholm when a knock rapped on the door, waking me from my light slumber.

My voice cracked as I replied. “Come in.”

There was the screech of the door followed by a soft thud as it hit the wall behind it.

I looked up, eyes heavy with sorrow and exhaustion, to find Erix standing in the doorway.

“I have been asked to escort you to the meeting.” Erix’s voice was distant. Emotionless. I hated it.

“Let them wait,” I replied, turning my focus back to Duncan, searching for signs that he’d improved in the time I’d been asleep next to him. There was nothing to see besides the sheen of sweat clinging to his forehead.

“They have been waiting, for two hours, in fact. Althea postponed the requirement for your presence for as long as she could,” Erix said. “I recommend you come so you can get it over with, and return back tohim.”

My chest shivered with the thought of Althea doing something for my benefit. I wouldn’t let myself believe she did so because she cared. It would hurt less to believe in such things.

“I can’t leave him,” I mumbled, brushing my fingers over the soft rise and fall of Duncan’s broad chest. “What if Duncan wakes when I am gone? I can’t bear the thought of it.”

We both knew it wouldn’t happen, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t hope.

I had yet to look at Erix, but his lack of footfall suggested he had not stepped any further into the room than a single pace. If I glanced up, would I have seen pain painted across his face? Would he attempt to hide the way his gaze always flickered uncomfortably between Duncan and me?

“Let the healers return so they can care for him. Duncan will not be alone, I vow it. The moment the council meeting has concluded, I will bring you back to him.”

I longed to refuse him, but I had no fight left in me.

My body creaked in tandem with the cot as I shifted to standing. The side of my body ached from lying in the same position since I’d arrived. Across my cheek, I felt the imprint of the sheets like fresh scars on my skin. These would fade, unlike the ones deep inside of me. Those scars were there to stay.

I silently bid Duncan farewell. Once I had my back to him, I had to ignore the violent urge to turn and clamber back on the cot at his side. Every step out of the room was harder to take than the one before it.

Erix watched me pace toward him with stifling intent. His nail-tipped hands were clasped together at his front, his wings shifting awkwardly in the Cedarfall uniform, which had been re-tailored to fit around his newly altered frame. Besides the thin-membraned wings, the grey tint discolouring his skin, and the points of his canines slightly overlapping his lower lip, he looked more the part of my personal guard than the gryvern, which made up half of him.

Maybe Eroan had painted a glamour across Erix. He would’ve had time after he tore the glamour from me, removing Kayne’s mask for good. Eroan had the power to hide, or at leastdilute, the gryvern within Erix. Or maybe I just saw him differently. In a new light, one not painted through a haze of hate or disdain for him.

“Shall we?” I gestured to the open door his body blocked. “I wouldn’t want to keep them waiting. There is no need to give them more reasons to hate me.”

Erix paused. Hesitation lingered in his stiffened posture. I waited for him to move out of the way. Instead, he looked down the point of his nose at me. Steel-silver eyes so wide they seemed to drink me in. “Are you okay, little bird?”

His question caught me off guard. I wanted to laugh because, of course, the answer was plainly clear. But I betrayed my control with my reaction.

“No, actually,” I spluttered, pushing myself into his chest until my face was buried in the warmth of his torso. Erix drew his hands apart, in surprise or disgust, I couldn’t tell. “I’m not.”

Pinching my eyes closed, I inhaled Erix. His scent filled my nose and throat like heavy smoke. I felt stupid, cocooning myself into him when Erix refused to touch me in return. After everything, all the hate and regret, I wished he would just hold me. I wanted him to provide me comfort. Comfort which once lingered in his arms. Comfort he would have willingly given me before everything.

Before Doran, before Aldrick.

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