Page 89 of A Game of Monsters

Rafaela gritted her teeth. I waited for her refusal, but it never came.

“I will help her,” Seraphine added quickly, which translated to ‘I don’t trust Rafaela, so I will keep a close eye on her’.

Not to my surprise, Rafaela agreed.

I looked to Duncan, my heart lodged in my throat. He was alive, freed of Duwar, but the price had been great on him. But after losing Elinor, the raw pain of it, I couldn’t bear to imagine if it was Duncan who’d died.

Or Erix.

I turned to Erix, drinking in his straight posture, his ever-present concern for me evident in the way he winced as if I was glass moments from breaking. And I knew, more than ever before, that I couldn’t live without either of them.

“We need to talk,” I said to them both.

There was guilt I had to bare before we could continue.

“Go and be with Duncan.” Erix bowed out, stepping back as if he hadn’t noticed that the ‘we’ included him too. “I will make sure Gyah is okay with her endeavours.”

I opened my mouth to explain myself further, but Duncan beat me to it.

“Erix,” Duncan said, voice as weak as he looked. “Robin means for you to join us.”

At that, Erix fixed his eyes on Duncan. The muscles in his jaw feathered. Although, I’d be a fool not to notice the softness to Erix’s edges as he took in the man at my side.

“The three of us? Talking?” Erix laughed awkwardly. “What could possibly matter enough when the world is crumbling around us?”

“He does,” Duncan said, nodding at me. “Robin matters, which you agree and cannot dispute. So, we shall talk.”

I swallowed my reservations and panic.

Finding even the open air suffocating, I fought the sudden urge to walk away. But I’d never get far, not with the ties from both these men always anchoring me. “Yes, Erix. It’s time we have the conversation whilst we have the time.”

Erix didn’t ask me what I meant. He knew. We all did.

Perhaps it was Althea’s capture that triggered this confidence in me. It reminded me what I had to lose. And like Gyah, I’d devour the flesh of any being who took either Duncan or Erix from me.

Before our group departed, it was Gyah who added the final sentiment. “And when we are all back together, I would like to know how you are alive.” She pointed to Seraphine, whose lips curled into a smile.

“Once an Asp, always an Asp, Gyah Eldrae,” Seraphine replied. “And by Altar, do I have a story for you.”

Seraphine looked from me to Duncan and back to Gyah. If there was one conversation I dreaded having, it was what happened when Duncan and I returned to Imeria. But it was time for pointless secrets to no longer stay buried.

But first, there was one secret that was eating me alive. And that involved me, Erix, the balcony and a kiss.

CHAPTER 21

We found a cabin which must’ve belonged to the captain, from the grandeur of it. This was no bunk for those without a station, from the large oak bed to the well-crafted furniture and plush curtains and rugs – this belonged to a person of importance.

Hadbelonged, I corrected.

The bed took up the back wall, large enough for the Nephilim to sleep in, accommodating their wings. A case of gold weapons hung on the wall: swords, spears, daggers and a strange ball-shaped weapon attached to a chain and a handle. Erix was looking at it, pretending to keep busy, whilst the awkward silence hung heavy around us.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Duncan, although the evidence was clear before me.

He didn’t lookwellat all.

It was hard to look at him for long, to see the shadows beneath his eyes, the sickly pallor of his skin. Duncan looked like he’d been to hell and back, which in a sense, he had. Sometimes by my own hand. When he moved, I caught a glimpse of the multiple angry wounds at the side of his neck. Marks I’d made with the continuous injections of Gardineum.

If those were the wounds I could see, I hated to think of the scars left that my eyes could not reach.

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