Page 28 of A Deception of Courts

Little bird.

I drew my hand back from Gabrial as though her touch burned me. She held her eyes on me. Her resolve was powerful across her youthful face.

“What happened?” Althea snapped, encasing me in a protective arm.

“I’m fine, Althea.” I couldn’t explain it. The visions, so real that I could hear, taste and smell my surroundings. “Impressive gift the Creator has given you,” I added, eyes fixed to Gabrial.

“What did you see?” Althea asked, her concern rushing over me in a tidal wave.

“I showed Robin his past,” Gabrial confirmed for me, likely aware I couldn’t form the words to begin to explain.

“The stones,” I said, wanting to divert the topic from the potential of slipping to the royal guard I fought daily to keep from my mind. “What are they?”

“Ah, so Gabrial has shown you the gate we have left behind,” Rafaela said, patting her comrade on the back. “That gate is what our kind have spent centuries protecting. The reason why we have been too occupied to meddle in human and fey affairs.”

“It will take more than that for us to trust your intentions,” Althea said.

“I trust them,” I added quickly, needing to diffuse the distrust between both parties.

Rafaela shrugged, fighting a smile. “Your internal concerns are for you to explain, not for me to speculate. We simply wish to understand what Aldrick is doing in his task of freeing the Defiler. Why he keeps your kind prisoners and how his followers have access to powers that should not be possible. Hence our interest in Duncan Rackley.”

Before I could open my mouth to fight back on his behalf, Althea spoke for me.

“Perhaps we go and find him straight away. Then you can ask him yourself. If you say that Duncan is no longer human enough for you to see his story, then he is no longer your responsibility. Leave him to us.”

Heat coiled in my chest at Althea’s words. I mouthed my thanks, and she nodded. If there was anyone who could protect him as well as me, it was her.

“I have an idea,” Seraphine spoke up, shattering the tension. “How about you tell us about the keys, and we will consider giving you what you need. A trade, so to say.”

There was a silence in the room that stretched and devoured us all. No one dared speak first, not when it signalled the forfeit. I waited, willing to encapsulate every single Nephilim in the room in ice to ensure they could never even think of Duncan again.

“Your trust in us must be earned,” Rafaela said finally. “Robin has made his stance on Duncan clear. We will not push again.”

A warmth unfurled in my chest at Rafaela’s words. My anger was now not with the Nephilim, but with the assassin who was still under my employment. It seemed she required a reminder. Abruptly, I stood, followed by Althea, who grimaced in silent agreement that this conversation had ended. “Thank you for your time. I have ships full of fey who I have promised to return home. You have a demon god to stop from destroying the world.”

For once I allowed the illusion of the king to slip, giving way to the selfish man who lurked beneath. And that part of me needed to get Duncan as far away from these people as possible.

I turned on my heel and moved for the door.

“Unfortunately, I cannot let you leave.” Cassial stood before it, his hulking frame blocking out the glorious light of late afternoon. His sudden presence was unexplained. He had shifted from his seat to in front of the door in a blink.

“Out of the way big guy,” Seraphine growled, setting herself before me. Like Cassial, she had moved unseen and now held two curved blades in her hands. Weapons shouldn’t have been brought into the meeting, but of course, the assassin had means of slipping in a few.

“I am afraid I am not able to do that.”

Seraphine’s lips curled over teeth. “I won’t ask again, I will make you instead.”

Cassial chuckled, glancing at the assassin’s knives with a lack of fear. “Pretty. I use blades bigger than those to pick food from my teeth. What is it you wish to do with those?”

“I have a few ideas.”

Althea was behind me, facing back into the room. Fire danced around her wrists, building its heat and intensity with each passing moment. “What is the reason for this?”

“Your protection,” Rafaela added quickly, both her and Gabrial sitting calmly at the table as though we were not moments away from a fight.

“Do you need us to prove that we do not need it?” I asked, stepping to Althea’s side. Ice crackled across my fingers, bringing the temperature of the room down.

“We do not wish to argue with you.” Rafaela held her arms up at her sides in surrender.

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