CHAPTER 1
The rancid stench of shit, ale and coal-infested smoke burned away at my nose as I navigated my way through the slums of Lockinge. Flies pestered me with their buzzing, but I’d grown far too familiar with their presence, I hardly bothered to swat them away.
With my head kept low and hood pulled over my brow, not even one of the human patrons – cursed to dwell within the city’s slums –noticed me. In their eyes I wasn’t out of place, and neither was the equally concealed figure at my side.
Nefarious happenings were expected in these parts of the human city.
The Cage, as the slums had been aptly named, was rife with strangers harbouring secrets and dangerous desires. No one looked for too long, for fear of being bottled by a drunk or captured by a vagrant, only to be sold in one of the many back-alley markets.
Although the dirtied streets and shoddy residences were full of humans at the best of times, the Cage turned out to be the best place for a group of fey, a mutated human, and a nest of assassins to hide out in. Which had been exactly what our band of unlikely allies had been doing in the weeks following the events with Aldrick and his demonic apparition of Duwar.
Hiding. Biding our time. Waiting for the moment to strike.
If Althea had gotten her way, we would’ve been back in Wychwood by now. Elinor Oakstorm, mother to the deceased Tarron and Lovis and widowed queen to Doran Oakstorm, had returned to Wychwood safely, as her letter four days prior had confirmed. Accompanied by Cedarfall guards, the Queen of Oakstorm was required back in her court. A court that’d believed her dead, killed by Hunters, many years ago.
Information my brief stay in Lockinge Castle’s underground prison had uncovered was not the case at all. That prison being the very reason I’d yet to return to Wychwood.
Elinor’s return home had many benefits to our cause. Mainly to rally the aid we required in the human capital city of Lockinge. Which, to Althea’s great disdain, was where we’d been hiding after we had escaped Aldrick’s clutches.
Truth was, I slept better knowing Elinor was far from Aldrick. Her innate power of healing was crucial to Aldrick’s ability to mutate humans into powered beings. Without her blood, Aldrick couldn’t kill then reanimate any more unwilling humans, like he had done to Duncan.
Duncan . The thought of his name alone conjured the feeling of his calloused hands rubbing up my back and his full, wet lips tracing secrets into the skin of my neck.
Every day that passed only added to the ever-growing panic in my chest. I expected him to break beneath his change, but his resilience surprised me every day. The iron-willed Seraphine, our gracious host who so happened to be one of the lead assassins in the infamous Children of the Asp guild, had gifted him an iron bracelet – thin and delicate – much like the one my mother had left me as a child. It kept Duncan’s new power buried. But I could see, deep in his verdant eyes, it lurked. Waiting, like a snake, to strike.
Deep in the belly of the human city wasn’t the place for explosions of unnatural lightning. It would’ve given us away before we wanted it to. And the little time Duncan had without the band, his magic seemed to control him more than he had control of it . I knew there’d be a time to understand what had happened to him, but until my plan was complete, those wonderings would have to wait.
A shrill cry of a bird tore me from my mind, back to the moment at hand. I didn’t need to look up to recognise the call. Lucari, Kayne’s hawk, sliced through the night sky, a smudge of grey and white against the backdrop of obsidian. The creature moved with such speed that the drunk men who sang from the steps of derelict taverns would blink and miss it.
Sober to the bone, I knew what it meant. Lucari’s two sharp calls gave an obvious message.
Our time of waiting was almost over, and the time for action mere moments away.
“You know, Robin, it is not too late to put a stop to this. If you tell me you have changed your mind, I will stand by you and help you come up with another solution.”
I peered to my side, catching the glint of bright eyes beneath the faded burgundy cloak. Even within the shadows, Althea Cedarfall’s presence burned as bright as the inner flame which sang in her soul. Cedarfall power – fierce as a raging flame.
She’d yet to reveal what she had promised the Children of the Asp in return for their help in rescuing me from the clutches of the Hand. Then again, I too had paid a price for their continued help – one I was not ready to reveal either. That was the thing about me and Althea, we were both as stubborn as a rock amidst a river. I was just thankful she was at my side tonight.
Sighing, I lifted my gaze to the dark outline of the castle far ahead. Lockinge was built on an incline of land. Seraphine had explained that the humans once believed the castle itself was constructed on an extinct volcano as a tribute to the Creator. A way of ensuring they were as close to his heavenly domain as possible.
Just the thought alone made me cringe. The castle was once a signal of faith and love for the Creator, but it now housed the one person hellbent on bringing forth a time of demons and their vengeful power.
“There’s nothing more important to me which would make me put a stop to these plans, Althea. We’ve worked too hard, I’m going to see them through.”
Her fingers snaked from beneath her cloak and into the sleeve of my under jacket, where she found my hand and held it. The moment of her touch was brief yet comforting. “This could end terribly; you understand the risks, don’t you?”
Of course I did . I exhaled, my breath clearing space within the dank, heavy air. “And it could also work. It has to work.”
When I slept, I ran over my plans. During my waking hours they lingered clear in my mind. There was not a moment of the day or night I’d wasted, always thinking about what waited before me.
“Your belief inspires me, friend. Let us do it. Not that you need a reminder, but I am by your side until the end.”
As I had said many times over the days, I repeated two words that began to lose all meaning. “Thank you.”
My mind, as it did during every moment of silence I was awarded, drifted to the warren-like caverns far beneath Lockinge’s castle and to the countless fey trapped there. How could I have returned to Wychwood knowing what was left behind? The answer was simple: I couldn’t.
I thought of Jesibel often. Her face burned hot in my mind whenever I contemplated giving up on my wild idea of saving all of them from Aldrick. She, like the others trapped within the Below, had been stolen from her home and used like cattle. All so Aldrick could see through his fucked-up wishes to create an army of powered human beings that would help bring forth a promise of a demon in a world that had turned its backs on its gods.
How many Icethorn fey had been captured because of my family’s death? If I’d returned to Wychwood, I would’ve been taken to my court only to find it empty and void of existence. Because they were here. In Lockinge, buried beneath the ground with iron cuffs around their necks.
I was a king now. Whether I completely believed it or not, it had to mean something. If not to myself, then to the people who relied on me to save them.
My mistakes and grief had led me to this place. I refused to leave it without taking what was rightfully mine.
“You came back for me. What I am doing for those in the Below does not differ from your choice of always standing by my side.”
Althea kept pace at my side, boots slapping into puddles of Altar knows what. “I know. Which is precisely the reason I have not snatched you by the short and curlies and dragged you back to Wychwood against your will. This is the right decision. Dangerous, yes. Slightly fucking stupid, but excellently planned, also yes.”
“Your mother is going to kill me when we get back, isn’t she?” I exhaled, mind flashing to Lyra Cedarfall, who was a projection of what Althea would look like in the years to come. Burning red hair, eyes glowing with authority.
My comment was not made to make Althea laugh, but it did. She released a gleeful bark into the night, throwing her head back as she did so. “Not if you are successful. It is not her you should be concerned with anyway. Gyah will ruin you if this all goes wrong. She has grown rather protective of me since our short and unpleasant stay in Finstock.”
I found that Althea spoke of Gyah a lot. As though her mind was occupied with her personal guard, a feeling I understood well. It warmed my stomach, watching how Althea’s face would brighten at the mention of the Eldrae. Her admiration was abundantly clear across her expression whenever Gyah’s name crossed her lips.
“Remind me to keep poking at what’s going on between you both,” I said. “When this is all over.”
Althea punched a fist into my shoulder, even gently her strength was paramount. “If we survive, then I may just tell you all the juicy details. On the agreement of a trade with the details about you and your Hunter .”
“Duncan,” I corrected for the hundredth time. I’d yet to hear Althea call him by his name, always referring to him as the title we first met him under.
“Yes, General Rackley, which… speaking of the devil.”
My heart lodged in my throat as two shadows peeled from the wall of a building ahead of us. We slowed, hesitant at what waited before us. If it wasn’t for Lucari, who swooped down from a great height and perched on the shoulder of the shorter figure, I would’ve thought they were a threat, when in fact, they were both the complete opposite.
In my eyes, at least.
Wooden shutters flapped in the icy winds, groaning and screeching on hinges that wouldn’t survive the night. Plaster crumbled away in patches, littering the cobbled street beyond it with snow-like mounds of worn paint and brick dust. The abandoned building didn’t look like much else compared to the darkened homes which leaned on it from either side. There was no marker to suggest it was one of the many burrows the Asps used as a place for hiding and scheming. Not so abandoned after all. But after tonight, it would never be used for anything again.
I thought of the thin, tired mattress floors above us. It’d been rolled out beside a cracked oil lamp within one of the top rooms of the building. I felt no love lost for the idea of it going down in flames. Literally. I thought of the down-turned mirror, which had gathered dust since our first night. Since seeing Duwar, I found looking into mirrors difficult now. Each time I passed one, I expected to see a molten, horned god staring back at me. Thankfully, Duncan made sure this was one less concern by removing the few that’d been hanging within our base.
One of the many things Duncan had done for me.
“Any sign from the castle yet?” I spluttered, practically falling into the outstretched arms of Duncan. He held me close, my cheek pressed into the leather belts strapped across his chest in three lashings.
It was dark within the shadow of the building. Not even the moon dared to provide me with enough light to see him in all his glory. So I used the rest of my senses to admire him. I inhaled deeply, allowing a moment to convince myself it was only him and me with no needs and wants. If I kept my eyes closed long enough, I could’ve pictured us during another time, another moment. One which didn’t include the impending doom of what the night was to bring.
“Not yet.” Duncan’s deep voice rumbled through his chest and into mine. “However, Seraphine has confirmed the Hand has left Lockinge. But until the signal reaches us from inside the castle, we must wait. It’s imperative that Aldrick is far away if we dare hope for success.”
I pulled away from Duncan and looked back up toward the ugly outline of the castle far ahead. There was a tower which reached skyward, far taller than any other beside it. The point flirted with the dark clouds, which, now and then, would conceal the pointed tip from view.
As Duncan had already confirmed, the tower was dark. My sight might’ve been stronger if my blood was full fey, but I could still make out the slit-like etchings across the tower’s walls. Windows. Dark and lifeless. Much like the rest of the castle had been since the night when Doran’s gryvern attacked. Part of me had hoped Aldrick’s silence resulted from the fact he had died beneath the mirror Seraphine had pushed atop him.
But our intel suggested otherwise.
Aldrick was a weak, crazed man. His power was to leech into minds, smothering will and control. His magic was strong as a web woven from iron, rendering anyone he desired completely powerless. He could enthral us all if we got close enough again, which was why it was essential to my plan that Aldrick left Lockinge before we snuck back inside.
I buzzed with nerves. Not wishing to even blink for fear that I would miss the tower glow with firelight in signal.
“We are perhaps a couple of hours away from Wychwood ships reaching us,” Kayne warned, expression stiff. Lucari lowered her beak and dropped something small into his hand. “If anyone else catches wind that an armada of fey ships are hidden on horizon of the human capital, it will spark a frenzy before we have a chance to even begin.”
I looked Kayne dead in the eyes every time he spoke, which was rarely. There was still trepidation in the way he looked at me. Unlike Duncan, Kayne’s years of brainwashing had yet to vacate his gaze. We were close, but more time was needed. No matter if he may have believed he hid it well from me, he was wrong. Trust went both ways, after all.
I’d shared my concern about Kayne with Duncan, who’d planted a kiss upon my forehead and promised me his friend could be trusted. Until he proved otherwise, I would have to let the red-haired Hunter prove himself to our cause. I couldn’t deny that his skills as a Tracker had been essential in getting us this far. Without Lucari and Kayne’s knowledge of the city, we wouldn’t have heard the whispers suggesting Aldrick prepared to leave Lockinge.
But his involvement didn’t mean that the moment I felt he was a threat, no matter his friendship with Duncan, I would destroy him. The wary glint in Duncan’s dark emerald stare spoke volumes. He understood that, and didn’t waste breath arguing against it.
“Show me what has been sent,” I said, trying to keep the harsh command from being too prevalent in my voice.
Kayne nodded, unkempt ginger curls falling across his brow. He outstretched his hand, unfurled his pale fingers and revealed the twig with three distinct golden leaves.
Leaves from the city of Aurelia.
Althea’s breath caught in her throat. “It is them.”
I felt a swell in my chest as I regarded my friend. There was no concealing the smile that leaked across my face. “Elinor did it, just as she said she would.”
“Never underestimate the bond of friendship. My mother and Elinor have been close since childhood. If there was ever a connection powerful enough to send ships to sea for us, it would be them.”
Kayne fisted the golden leaves, crushing them to powder in his palm. Elinor’s letter from days ago had promised her aid, but seeing the hue of the leaves and the golden dust it left stained across Kayne’s fingers, it all became extremely real.
There was only a flash of excited anticipation before it all came crumbling back down upon me. Reality did that, ruined a moment, sharpened the sense. Without it I might’ve lost myself in my hope, rather than the hard work still ahead of us.
Winds shifted, bringing with it a sharper scent which cut through the smells of the slums. My eyes stung. I blinked it away, unable to stop myself from wincing as the acidic scent invaded the back of my nose and throat, clinging there.
“Everything is in order.” I stepped away from the building and swallowed the urge to cough violently. “But if the signal doesn’t come from the castle, then we take faith in Seraphine’s confirmation Aldrick has left the city, and we move. Too much is riding on this to turn back.”
Soon enough, the horrific smell from the building would alert the intoxicated nightly wanderers of the Cage that something was wrong. This wasn’t the only building which bled such an aura. Spotted around the Cage were other empty Asp buildings, each one soaked with oil.
Ready and waiting for that one signal. Everything hinged on it.
I fixed my gaze back on the dark tower and waited. My anxiety was reminiscent of being suffocated. It felt as though a strong, gloved hand pressed down over my mouth and another pinched at my nose. The more time passed without the signal, the stronger the drum-beat of anxiety became. Someone was speaking, but my mind thundered as if an army of horses stampeded through it.
“Robin?” Duncan said, his tone suggesting it wasn’t the first time he’d spoken my name. “Tell me you are still with me…”
I ripped my attention away from the still-dark tower and looked toward Duncan. Even with the iron bracelet around his wrist, I was certain I felt the crackling of sharp, white-hot lightning dancing across his concerned gaze.
His hand worked circles into my back to calm me. It worked enough for me to fake my reply. “I’m fine, just focused.”
“You have a lot on your mind, but don’t allow it to drown you. Speak to me, share the burden.”
I swallowed, feeling as though knives filled my throat. “If I fail them–”
“If it brings you comfort, the fey in the Below will know no different,” he replied quickly. “Focus on what you can control and not what you can’t. Okay? Keep a clear head.”
I forced a smile. If Kayne, with his judging stare, or Althea, with her obvious distaste for the man who touched me, were not at our sides, I would’ve kissed him. Gods, I wished I could. The promise of losing myself to him was the reward I’d give myself when this was all over.
“Better?” he asked, dipping his face toward mine.
“Much,” I lied.
Perhaps fate was willing to join our band of unlikely allies. It wouldn’t have been an impossible thing, considering the group I stood a part of. A king, a princess, a Hunter and a mutilated human. Fate would’ve felt rather at home among our ranks.
Which is why she picked that moment to reveal herself.
Three quick and high whistles broke through the night. Shivers prickled across my skin as I threw my attention back to the tower in time to see golden, beautiful fire spark into existence. The glows of wondrous flame danced from within the tower. To anyone else looking up at the castle, it would’ve seemed normal. The occupants of the castle were simply choosing to occupy the tower this night. But to me, it was the signal we’d been waiting for. One Seraphine had planned with the few remaining Asps who still were inside the castle.
When the Hand leaves Lockinge, the tower will burn.
It felt as though time slowed to a near stop as I watched the tower begin to burn.
Then another fire started. An explosion rocked the Cage, brightening the night sky in a cloud of vicious flame. The sound was so jarring it restarted my heart, allowing the adrenaline to flow like a wild river through my blood.
Far in the distance, buried deep within the belly of the slums, an Asp hideout erupted in flames. I blinked and could imagine brick and glass raining down upon the empty streets, heat searing across the dirt-covered roads.
Screams from unexpecting humans.
Another explosion followed. This time from another pocket of the Cage. Then another. And another. One by one, the slums of Lockinge shook beneath the destruction of fire. One small spark, that was all it took, and the oil-soaked buildings burst into flames.
“Should we toast to our success?” Althea asked from my side, lifting something before her. Carefully held between two fingers, she displayed a corked vial of brown liquid. Part two of our plan.
“I think that would be a splendid idea,” I retorted, joining Althea and taking an identical vial from my chest pocket and holding it up.
One by one, the others followed suit, drawing free a vial of tonic. Our corks popped in tandem, discarded on the cobbled street without a second thought.
Seraphine had explained many times how she didn’t succumb to Aldrick’s mind control during her infiltration into his inner circle. The tonic the assassin twins ingested daily – Mariflora – was basically a flower ground up into a paste and diluted with liqueur. The flora, although native to a particular woodland in the Elmdew Court, was currently being farmed in the basement of one of the buildings that now burned deep in the Cage.
After tonight, we wouldn’t need to take the necessary precautions to keep Aldrick from grasping control of our minds. We would be far from this wretched city by morning, as long as we were successful–
No, Robin. Focus.
“Bottoms up,” Duncan said, winking at me. My breath hitched in my throat; scarlet threatened to overcome my cheeks.
“You wish,” I whispered.
“Oh, I do.” Duncan’s tongue departed from his lips a second before he pressed the vial to them and cocked his head back.
“Fuck,” Kayne grunted, shaking his head like a dog. “Disgusting.”
Althea squinted at the vial, not an ounce of disgust across her face. In fact, she brought the empty vial to her mouth and licked the dribble of tonic that escaped down its side. “Grow a pair, Kayne. I’m sure you’ve had worse in your mouth.”
The Mariflora burned down my throat, not leaving an inch untouched. It took effort not to choke on a laugh as I watched Kayne’s face turn as red as his hair.
At least he had sense in not joining a verbal duel with Althea. No one would win against her.
“Now we’ve all had some good-old liquid courage,” I said, my mouth feeling like I was breathing fire. “Care to do the honours, Althea?”
She no longer held her empty vial. In its place was a bud of golden fire. It threw light across her concealed face, highlighting the wolfish grin contorting her freckled, beautiful face.
“I cannot even express how much I have looked forward to setting this place alight.” Her fire grew in size, sharing in her excitement.
“Oh, we know,” Duncan added, with a friendly roll of his verdant eyes. “It’s all you’ve been talking about since you first stepped foot in it. Not up to scratch for a princess, is it?”
Althea’s grin intensified, flashing teeth at Duncan, who only returned her smile – even if that was not the reaction she was looking for. “I prefer my beds off the floor and covered in at least eight pillows.”
“Then light it up,” I said, secretly feeling the same as Althea. Even if the fire did burn away the grime, mould and stench of the building, I didn’t think my skin would be rid of its memory quite so easily.
“With pleasure…” Althea lifted her arm back as though the fire in her palm was a ball, and she was ready to throw it. “Time to break into a prison and free some fey.”
I nodded, grinding my teeth, body vibrating with the need to see this to the end.
Althea rolled her shoulders back, tilted her head downward and flashed teeth, offering us all a warning. “ Run .”