CHAPTER 35

I cared little for food but every sense of my body screamed for water. Those feelings never passed, torturing me throughout the seemingly endless hours in the dark room. I slept a lot, unable to keep myself awake for long enough to think of much. Nightmares greeted me now, so terribly real that it was hard to distinguish them from reality.

I dreamt of a winter storm exploding over Durmain, of cities and towns, villages and homes devoured by snow and frozen winds, each left in the same forgotten and empty state as Berrow. It was the sounds of thousands of feet thundering over the destroyed lands as a horde of fey warriors devoured the human realm and claimed it for their own.

Was it a vision of what happened? Had the Passing occurred, and the wild storm of my family's heritage broken free from its cage and consumed the world beyond Wychwood? Even now, my mind willed me to give up on my desire to stop it.

It wasn't long before I even started to wish that Briar would come back. I craved some form of company to break this horror I found myself within. I longed to hear her gloat if it meant that I had someone to see me through the dark. But she never came back. Even after I'd spent time calling her name until my voice could hardly make a sound more than a forced, croaky whisper.

Time slipped by with ease, as did my mental strength.

When the room was suddenly bathed in light, I was confident it was yet another dream. I raised a hand, blocking the glare from burning my eyes from my skull. Then my name, spoken in a gentle and familiar voice, was the worst torture of all.

"Robin, oh Robin. I've come for you."

The outline of the tall, narrow princeling stepped through a portal when I had already given up hope that someone would find me.

Tarron Oakstorm had found me. And that thought didn't fill me with relief.

"No…" I muttered, slapping my hands into my head to rid myself of the unkind vision. "This is not fair. No. No. No."

Soft hands gripped my wrists, stopping me from hitting myself. "Do not hurt yourself, Robin. I am here. Touch me, see for yourself that I am real."

He certainly felt real, hard yet soft skin glowing with light from within, veins filled with golden light as though the sun was his heart, and it filled him with life.

"Tarron…" I reached for his face, dirty fingers leaving a trail as I could hardly hold him. His long, curling hair had been gathered in a tidy bun that rested within the circlet of a crown upon his head. The brass tones caught the light he conjured, highlighting the sharp points of metal thorns that wrapped around his forehead. "How… it was Briar. You need to warn them of her."

"Shh." He pulled me from the floor, holding me up without showing signs of a struggle. "I am sorry it has taken me this long to visit. I would have come for you sooner, but I could not get away. Are you hurt?"

"But…" A cold rush spread from my head to my feet, draining all feeling of relief from me. I pushed away, legs wobbling as I tried to put space between us. " How are you here, Tarron?"

The side of his lip pulled up, not a single speck of worry upon his handsome face. "Because I knew where to look. No matter the space between us, I believe I will always find my way back to you."

I pushed at his chest, palms dusting across the soft velvet of the jacket he wore. But Tarron gripped hard onto my upper arms, making me cringe with pain.

"You are hurting me."

"Oh, I am sorry," he said, but his grip did not lessen. "It could have been far worse, you know. I hope the time you have had makes you understand that."

The truth settled over me as clear as day.

"You…" I hated myself for not understanding sooner. Not once did his name come to mind, as I listed the potential people that could have paid Briar to do this. "Erix was right."

"Luckily, he is not here… his ego would inflate if he heard you admit that. Now stop struggling. It is better for us both if you calm down."

"You wanted me dead!"

"Wanted, yes. That all changed for me though. Your death is the furthest from where I see your future." He tugged me harshly, slamming my chest into his frame and holding me prisoner as his arm snaked around my back. There was no fighting it. There was no strength left in me. No fight. Only fear. "I have great plans for you. For us. But first, we must get this day over with. I would have waited until after the Passing to see you, but I could not keep myself away. It was a risk to come here. Farrador is crawling with people who wish to see you return. But it was a risk I was willing to take."

With weak arms, I pushed out, wanting nothing more than to cause him pain. "I hate you."

Tarron frowned, slick brows tugging downwards. "You might hate me today, but I can promise you those feelings will change, just as mine have for you. The moment I heard of what you did at the Hunter's camp and what that meant for our kind, I wished to see you gutted from here to here." His finger sliced upwards from my lower stomach to beneath my chin. His nail held my head up to face him. "But then I saw a potential that I had never contemplated. It was always the hope that the Oakstorm Court's power would be the only way to control the storm that we readied to unleash on Durmain. But with you by my side, it will be far easier to regain control… and that is exactly what I require when we are ready for domination tomorrow."

The Passing. It was today.

Even in my weakened state, I felt a spark of hope return.

"I would rather die than help you." I gathered the little spit I could muster and gobbed it at Tarron. The pathetic splatter landed on his cheek. I revelled in the surprise as Tarron let go of me to deal with it.

"Do not say that, Robin." Tarron pulled a square piece of material from the breast pocket of his jacket and used it to clear the spittle as it dripped down his sharp cheek. "I have not long grown used to the idea of you living. It is imperative to my family's plan."

I seethed, speaking through gritted teeth. "I will do everything in my power never to help with whatever your deluded mind has conjured."

"You are forgetting one very important fact. So, allow me to remind you that your father currently dwells in my court. Do not make me use him as a reason for you to comply. Truly, I really do not want to have to go to such lengths."

"If you hurt him…"

Tarron threw his hands up in surrender. "No point telling me that. It is my father you should warn. Imagine how thrilled he was when I presented him with the man who aided in my own mother and brother's abduction. You are going to have to convince him to hold back years of anguish and hate when you finally get the chance to meet him. For now, though… you are going to just have to wait."

"What are you talking about?" I had heard him but struggled to make sense of what he had said.

"Your dear father was involved with transporting my family to the Hand. Whereas your mother was able to return, mine never made it back. My family were not deemed lucky like your mother had been."

I shook my head. "That's a wild guess. You have no reason to believe that."

"It was a hunch at first, but my father has been able to get out lots of interesting answers from your father during his short stay. I still can't understand how your father was able to decide that Julianne's life was more important than my mother's. My baby brother's. That is an answer we are yet to obtain. But time will tell. Just imagine what else he is going to reveal over the coming days. He feels as though he has nothing to live for now. With everyone believing the gryvern have killed you, just as they killed your mother, he is just revealing anything and everything. Amazing what you can get out of a person who believes they have no purpose to live."

"The gryvern… that was your doing?"

"Hard to control, but not impossible. You just have to know what motivates them. My father has a very close bond with them."

"But the humans…" My brain felt as though it would implode in my skull. "They control them. The humans killed my mother, the Icethorn Court."

"And that is exactly what we wanted the world to believe. Do you really believe the humans have power over such creatures? Powerless as they are themselves, they can hardly control their own selves. No, the gryvern are the Oakstorm's pets. King Doran's pets, to be exact. They do as he commands."

My eyes widened, a burning hate filling every inch of my aching, tired body. I felt a power return, clenching my fists to my sides until my nails threatened to draw blood from my palms. "You killed them. You did it, not the humans. My mother is dead because of you!"

"Well." Tarron began to pace, hand tracing his sharp jaw as he spoke. "It was actually my father who gave the command. But of course, I was well aware of the plan. Destroy the Icethorn Court, blame the humans and start a war. It was like killing two birds with one stone. Father dealt with a dark jealously that Julianne returned, whereas his wife did not. Then he wanted to cause the humans pain too. Share what he and I felt. Kill the Icethorns, let their power break through to Durmain and allow us to finally receive retribution. Revenge for what the humans do to our kind. Bring pain to their door, just as they brought it to ours. Then you got in the way. Threatened our plans. My father wished to see you dead and wanted me to ensure that was seen through. Yet here we are. Here you are. Still living, breathing. Father is not too happy with my change of heart, but we will prove to him that you can be most helpful. Together. You see that I care for you, don't you? Just as I do not blame you for what your mother did to my family, you cannot blame me for my father's actions."

I could see from his gaze that Tarron longed for me to smile at him. To tell him that I didn't hate him, and I wanted nothing more than to help him in his quest.

But in truth, I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze the air from his lungs. My fingers itched at the tight iron bracelet, thoughts of what my power would do to him right here, right now.

But I had to be clever. Just as Briar had explained, slow and steady.

Only the hand of the person the iron band belonged to could remove it. Although Briar had done it, it was because of Tarron. I had to put faith that he was the one who had the iron spelled.

I stumbled a step towards Tarron, forcing a placid expression onto my face. The tears that pooled in my eyes told him one story, but it was not sadness. It was hot, overwhelming and horrific anger that caused my eyes to fill.

Tarron welcomed me into his arms. I ran my hands up his chest, noticing the imprint left on his jacket as the material shifted beneath my touch. I kept my gaze soft, wide and blinking. I took my time to speak, careful not to reveal the demon that longed to strike out and rip his beautiful blue eyes from his face.

"I… understand now," I told him, without explaining what part of his story I connected with. He was right. I couldn't blame him for his father's actions. His father's commands. But I didn't need to blame Tarron to know I required him to escape this place, if I wanted any chance to stop all of this. "Take me with you. I will help you."

Tarron's hands rubbed my arms, breathing through a smile as he tilted his head like a confused puppy. "As much as I wish to believe you, trust is earned, and I am not blind; I know your mind has not been changed. Not yet. But once you see the damage your family's power does to Durmain, you will then accept it, blood for magic."

I was so close, his fingers grasping my wrists, the tips of them brushing just shy of the iron band.

"No." I could not stop my lips from pulling tight or my body from shaking with the desire to lash out, to cause pain. "I do not want to help. You are right–"

Tarron silenced me with a kiss. My entire body tensed, unable to move, as his face smashed into mine. His lips were cold and unwanted. I felt his tongue try to encourage my own mouth to part, but disgust was impossible to ignore. I bit down hard, drawing blood from his lower lip. Tarron's muffled scream was music to my ears as my teeth cut into his skin.

He pulled back sharply. All I could taste was copper, as though my mouth was full of coin.

"Bastard!" he screamed, skin glowing bright as he covered his bloodied mouth. Before he could do anything else, I grabbed his shoulders, pulled back my head and snapped my skull into the bridge of his nose. The room was bathed in darkness for a split moment. I thought it was my own mind losing consciousness as the pain of the connection overwhelmed me, but then light soon returned, revealing the dishevelled and twisted face of Tarron.

"Like I said," I growled, trying to steady my stance as adrenaline masked the weakness that actually gripped my body. "I will never help you. Keep me alive, and I will stop you, after the Passing or before. As long as I live, I will see that you fail."

"You will change your mind in time. Kindness is not my only way of making you comply," Tarron said, spitting blood as he screamed at me. "Do not force me to make you do as I need."

"Make me?" I pulled my hand from behind my back, revealing the grip on the dagger. Tarron's face paled, looking down to the empty sheath that was hidden beneath his jacket. I had felt it when he first held me as it dug into my chest. "I'm not one to do anything I'm told to do."

Tarron couldn't stop me as I slipped his dagger between the iron bracelet and my skin. It was a risk. But fey were tricksters, as was their magic. I put trust that the spell on the band was no different.

I cared little for the pain as the sharp edge cut into my flesh, not as I tugged hard with as much force as I could muster.

I had learned quickly upon my imprisonment that the bracelet wouldn't be removed except by the person it belonged to. And using Tarron's dagger, his presence smudged all over it, I tricked that fucking band off.

This was a risk, but one that finally paid off.

The snap of the bracelet was a beautiful sound. It was louder than the small gasp that Tarron made. He stepped back, slicing the air to create his portal of light to escape. But my magic was back and with it, a rush of energy and strength that me gasping for breath.

I ran for him, just as the slip of light closed. My shoulder connected with his waist, knocking out his breath as we passed together through the portal.

As our bodies connected with the hard, unforgiving floor beyond, I felt the light, cold kiss of magic swell in my chest.

It was time to fight for my life.