Page 135 of A Deception of Courts

Duwar. In the reflection, I had my arm wrapped around the demon god. The same one I had seen in the mirror in Lockinge, the same one which had poisoned every reflection in the room of mirrors Aldrick had constructed within this very castle.

This was different, so very different.

Duwar didn’t stand at our sides, following us like a starving hound. He stood in place of Duncan. He was…

No.

No.

“Robin?” Duncan said my name in question. It had sway over me, the way he said it drew me back out of my mind. “Do you see something you don’t like?”

My stiff neck ached as I turned to look at him in the flesh. Deep green eyes waited for me. His mouth parted, lips lined with a thin trail of spit. Duncan no longer sang, but the glazed look in his eyes told me he was still not completely here.

I couldn’t reply, dared not make a sound for fear this would all be real.

“Is something the matter?” he asked again, voice deepening with worry.

We had stopped walking, the door to his room only a stretch away.

A storm built in my stomach, twisting it into knots. I felt bile slither up the back of my throat, threatening to burst out of me.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “Should there be?”

For a moment, Duncan’s gaze cleared. He straightened slightly, removing his weight from me as he peeled back. Then he kissed me. Pressed his sodden, heavy lips into mine. Our teeth almost clashed with the urgency. I tried to pull back, but his fingers encased my wrist and squeezed.

I wondered if he sensed my hesitation when he pulled away. I bit down on the insides of my cheeks as he regarded me down the line of his nose. If I didn’t cause pain, I would have faltered beneath his stare.

“I am just sohappyto be here,” he said. No. It wasn’t Duncan who spoke. “And it isyouI have to thank.”

A cold tear of ice rolled down my spine. I felt it run across every inch of my skin, spreading across my body in a wave of goosebumps.

“Come now, Robin,” he said through a smirk. “Help me back into bed. I am going to need my rest.”

I didn’t refuse Duncan. I couldn’t. Except, I knew without a doubt that it wasn’t Duncan who spoke to me now. This was the demon god, Duwar. The reflection confirmed my greatest fears.

Duwarhadmade it through the gate.

The gate that had been closed, the keys destroyed alongside it.

And yet Duwar was here, before me, encased in the flesh of the man I loved.

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