CHAPTER 25

Everything happened so quickly.

My mount shrieked, rearing to kick hooves at the soldiers who raced toward me. A hiss cut through the air, a blur of metal shot in my direction, followed swiftly by a wet thud. I became weightless, the force of the mount bucking knocking me backwards. I flew from the saddle, until the stirrup tangled around my ankle. Instinctively I tried to turn my body, eyes scrunched closed as the ground came up suddenly to greet me. But I was stuck, my mount falling down with me.

My lungs emptied upon the harsh impact with the ground, but the jarring pain was nothing compared to the weight of the horse atop me.

For a moment, I felt nothing but the panicked urge to breathe. Then the agony followed. I wanted to reach for my head, but my arms were trapped beneath me. Ringing filled my ears, the tang of blood rupturing in my mouth.

Chaos claimed the forest, a wave of bodies and blades crashing as one. It took a moment for my sight to steady from its constant swimming.

I clawed at the ground, trying to move, but couldn’t shift beneath the force pressing down on me. Looking back, I saw that my mare was splayed across the lower half of my right leg. Its hulking body wasn’t moving, its chest was still and lifeless. Bolts of metal had pierced its muscular torso, each wound oozing dark gore onto the forest bed.

It had saved me, and died for me. But there was no time to grieve the animal or contemplate its final act. I had to get free.

First, I tried to wiggle my toes but felt nothing but agony at the attempt. At least I could feel my foot, that was a good sign that the damage wasn’t terrible. With my free leg I kicked at the animal’s back, trying to pry myself free, all whilst magic clashed ahead of me.

A flare of stark blue light bathed the dark belly of the forest. The air splintered with the sudden heat before dispersing. I snapped my head in the direction to see a Cedarfall soldier running toward me, blade drawn, the desire for death pinched across their face.

I tried to call on my power, but my pain choked me. All I could do was lift my hands as if they had the power to stop a sword.

The air cracked with warning. As suddenly as the man was running at me, the next moment he was nothing but a charred husk of flesh and bone. Lightning cut through the forest, a whip of purple light that devoured him, melting armour and scalding the body it should’ve protected.

Blood misted the air, raining down across my face. I clamped my mouth closed, not before some invaded me, spoiling my tongue with the sour taste of ruin.

“No one touches what is mine!” Duncan bellowed, his voice stern yet dripping with fear. I found him, snakes of power crackling around his fists. His gaze snapped to something I hadn’t yet seen, followed by another burst of blue light that shot across the dark forest. Like the first to die, another soldier faced the same end, a bolt hitting their chest and sending them flying into the dark of the surrounding forest.

A wave of strength came over me at the sound of his presence. From my position on the ground, I couldn’t see anything but the rushing of feet. Unless Duncan conjured more of his lightning, we were bathed in darkness. Only the terrible sounds of a struggle told me that we were completely fucked.

“Robin,” Duncan gasped, eyes laying upon the dead horse across my leg. His teeth gritted, his brow furrowed and then he gave me a command I couldn’t help but follow. “Get up. Your people need you .”

A feral cry tore out of me. Determination filled my body until I had enough strength to get free. I felt the sudden relief as the weight pressing down on my calf was lifted. I thought I’d done it myself, from the sheer need to help my friends. But looking back, I found Rafaela standing before me with the slumped, dead horse now spaces behind her. She was panting heavily. Her dark skin illuminated with gold light that emanated in pulsing waves from the hammer she held.

“Can you move?” she asked, words rushed. Her free hand was outstretched for me, the other gripping firm around the handle of her weapon. I saw the splatter of flesh across the flat surface – Duncan wasn’t the only one to kill someone.

I brought my leg upward, recognising the sharp pain that encased my ankle like an unseen bracelet. “Twisted, not broken.”

“Good. You can fight on it.”

I opened my mouth just as a shadow peeled from behind Rafaela’s wings. There wasn’t time to warn her. Rafaela was torn from her feet and yanked into the air, snatched away from me. I scrambled to follow but thick serpents of root and tree wrapped around her limbs. They twisted around her wrists and legs, wrapping tightly around her waist until her wings were bound and her hands trapped to her side.

She was like a fly, caught in the web of a spider. Except no spider could control trees and foliage like this. Elemental power was rare, and I’d never seen someone command the earth to do their bidding before. It was as though the branches had come alive of their own accord.

Her hammer thudded headfirst into the ground beneath her and tumbled uselessly onto its side. Its golden glow died the moment it left Rafaela’s touch. If it wasn’t for the root that pressed over her lips, I was certain she would’ve erupted in shouts of fury. Her eyes screamed with that emotion – unspent rage that she couldn’t access.

I threw out my power, thrusting arrows of conjured ice toward the living foliage that continued to encase Rafaela. Some embedded into the vines, while others smashed upon impact and rained to the ground in clouds of crystal.

“Duncan,” I cried blindly for him. “Help her!”

Blue light flashed once again. This time it didn’t disappear without having an effect. I threw my arm up and blocked the debris that exploded toward me. Duncan’s lightning had caught a tree to our side. The cracking sound vibrated through my bones, the heat boiling the air.

I braced myself, lowering my bleeding arm to glance back up. But it wasn’t Rafaela I saw this time, others demanded my attention.

A wall of masked soldiers charged toward me. I saw them perfectly. The forest was alight with fire that had sparked in place of Duncan’s lightning. The irate flames danced off the armour, striking fearsome shadows across the ground.

Anger filled every vein, every vessel, until the storm inside of me was strong enough to ravage a world.

There was no time for questions or wondering how we’d got to this point. I had to focus. I swallowed the sharp ache in my ankle as I brought myself onto my knees. The soldiers continued to stalk toward me, with Rafaela dangling far above them in a cocoon of tree wrapped entirely around her. Duncan was nowhere to be seen. I feared what had become of him, but there was no point worrying until my enemies were taken care of.

I slammed my palms into the ground, letting every ounce of my power free. Leaves crunched beneath my force and turned promptly to shards of glass as I forced the inner cold to spread across the forest bed. Ice devoured everything in a wave of mist and vehemence. I forced so much power into the attack that I forgot to breathe properly, not that I needed it.

My magic fuelled me.

“Restrain the king!” one soldier cried out before my mist met him, consuming him whole. Another stepped forward, their hands raised, eyes glowing with an unnatural green sheen. That’s when more roots emerged from the surrounding ground, coiling and dancing like vipers. They met my attack, the booming crack of elements colliding sending a colossal wave of force outwards. I felt the impact deep in my bones. Even my teeth slammed together, sending a sharp vibration through my skull.

So this was the person responsible for Rafaela’s imprisonment. The same roots she dangled from like a puppet on a string above us now raced toward me. I pumped more strength into my ice, freezing as many of the roots as I could.

But more kept coming.

I barely had time to lift a hand before the ground burst directly beneath me, and the thick roots forced themselves upon me.

My life, and those of my friends, depended on me. I scratched and clawed at the successful root that had claimed my left hand. Forcing my power – not against the root but into it – I froze it through until it snapped with ease. But as before, the more I broke, the more that encased me.

“Nice little trick. Shame I always hated the concept of gardening.” Althea threw herself before me. Her red hair was wild around her head, a crown of flames in its own right. She wasted no time in sending an arch of ruby fire toward the band of soldiers. It broke their line as they threw themselves out of harm’s way. Some moved quick enough, but the soldier with the strange power was so focused on keeping Rafaela and me bound that they met Althea’s fire willingly.

Their scream of suffering was a song to my ears. It was a song of pure, extreme agony as flesh burned and metal liquefied.

No longer trapped by the insistent earth magic, I pushed myself up to standing and gathered my power to hold off the rest of the soldiers who raced to take the place of those who died. There were so many of them – more than just who’d escorted us here. More had been lurking in the forest, out of view, waiting for… Kayne.

He betrayed us.

A new type of ferocity raged within me. I gathered his name in my lungs before shouting it out across the landscape. “Kayne! You fucking coward.”

My power cast outwards, knocking enemies back, all to create a clear path for me to find him.

“Where are–”

Lucari burst into view, silencing me. Althea screeched as the hawk blurred through the air and flew into her line of sight. The hawk tangled itself within Althea’s hair, claws outstretched for her face, iron tips slicing flesh, rendering her powerless.

The conjured fire spluttered, like a candle blown by a weak wind. Once again, the forest was bathed in shadow.

“No,” I screamed, the air turning frigid before me. My eyes snapped around the panic, trying to make sense of where Althea ended and the hawk began. Even if I wanted to cast shards of ice upon it, I couldn’t do so without risking Althea.

“You called for me, Robin.” Kayne’s voice rose from behind me.

I spun, teeth bared, a growl working out of my throat. Blinded by the need to hurt him, I didn’t expect his hands until they were around me, grasping at my throat. He kicked out at my twisted ankle, forcing it to give way.

I was back on my knees before I could so much as conjure frozen winds.

Kayne’s touch disappeared as suddenly as it arrived, although I still felt his presence linger upon my skin. I lashed out with my arm, preparing to thrust my magic into his flesh and shatter him. But nothing happened. My power didn’t respond, its presence silent and forgotten.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t have planned for this?” Kayne towered above me, his face dusted with soot and grime. “How does it feel to be the powerless one now, Robin Icethorn?”

It wasn’t Kayne’s touch that lingered on my neck. Lifting my hand, I found the answer. A band – a cuff of iron – had been locked in place.

Powerless or not, I still had the means to elicit pain. So I took it, jolting forwards, clawing down at Kayne’s chest until he fell backwards. I drew my fist back, arcing it down upon him, knuckles cracking against something hard.

“It was you,” I screamed, spittle falling out of my mouth. “It was always you.”

Kayne couldn’t reply as I rained my fist down upon him. All the pain in my ankle, all the helplessness caused by the lack of my power, I took out on him.

“I’ll kill you,” I bellowed.

His eyes met mine before another punch could crack into his face. “And if you do, who will stop Lucari from prying the eyes out of Althea’s skull?”

I stopped, enough to recognise Althea’s cries which still thundered behind me. It was a risk, but there was something joyous about the way Kayne looked when he said it that told me he was telling the truth.

My moment of hesitation gave him the chance he needed. He shifted his weight, spinning me onto my back until he was the one to straddle me. I thought he was going to beat me, like I had done to him, until the world spun again and I was on my stomach, facing Althea. Lucari continued to claw at her face just as Kayne suggested. My friend had thrown herself into a ball on the floor, her head was covered with her arms, skin glistening with gashes spewing dark blood.

And the only way I could help her was by not fighting Kayne. “Stop it,” I pleaded. “Please, Kayne.”

He whistled, surprising me with his word. Lucari stopped her attacking, instead flying to perch on a nearby branch. From the shadows of the tear, more soldiers ran forwards, overcoming Althea before she had the chance to right herself.

“Don’t fucking touch her.” I fought against Kayne’s weight, but he pressed his knee into the soft spot on my back, causing me pain every time I moved.

“Duncan,” I cried for my love, waiting for him to strike Kayne down with his power. But the forest had stilled – the battle no longer waged. At least the noise told me we still had a chance, but the silence I was met with hurt me more than any wound Kayne could give me.

Duncan didn’t respond.

“Are you going to be a good boy and stop your struggling?” Kayne asked.

“That depends,” I said, struggling for breath.

My view of the forest ahead moved again as rough hands spun me onto my back. I was forced to look up at Kayne, seeing the dark forest crown his dishevelled face. “I will be the one to remind you that you’re on your back, and are in no position to make demands. Do you hear that?”

I bit down on my tongue, refusing to answer him.

Kayne smiled, the corners of his mouth cutting from ear to ear. “No, exactly. I won, Robin. Finally, I have bettered you. Go on, shout for Duncan again. See if he’ll come to your rescue this time.”

That’s when I noticed the sheer amount of blood on Kayne’s hand as he drew his thumb up to his temple and cleared a bead of sweat.

“What have you done to him?” I seethed.

“Me? I have done nothing. You’re the one to have doomed him. I tried to make Duncan see sense, but you’d blinded him. I gave him a chance to do the right thing, to remember the cause that once brought us together. His death, all their deaths, will be on your hands.”

I forced upwards, not caring for my ankle or the iron at my neck. Kayne had my wrists pinned down, but I still had my teeth. I tried to sink them into any bit of flesh I could find, or even smash my forehead into his – anything to get free.

Kayne hardly flinched as my teeth caught the soft flesh of his arm. In fact, he laughed, as if he enjoyed it. “A little help please.”

I didn’t know who he was speaking to until more hands were on me. As Kayne’s accomplices dragged me away from him, I didn’t stop fighting back. I wouldn’t stop – not for the sake of everyone I loved.

“Oh, I bet you wished you could have done that to me weeks ago,” Kayne glowered, pacing before me. My eyes found the mark I’d left on his arm, and I smiled, blood-slick teeth on show.

“You’re not wrong.”

“Oh, I know I’m not. I even thought you were finally going to crack and hurt me the other night. But you never had it in you. Whereas I do. I have waited for this, almost thinking it would never happen.” He flicked with his hand, and suddenly I was forced back to the ground. “Ah, look at you, on your knees before me. What a beautiful sight this is… from this angle, I can almost imagine what Duncan liked about you.”

His use of the past-tense made me sick.

“Fuck you –”

My jaw cracked as Kayne’s knuckles met it. My head snapped to the side, but that was all I could move as the many hands still held me up. The inside of my cheeks filled with blood as I yanked my teeth from my tongue, leaving gouged, leaking marks behind. Not one to waste, I gathered it and spat it directly at Kayne’s feet the moment I could.

“See that the rest of them are dealt with,” Kayne instructed a soldier who stepped to his side. “Not a single one is to be left alive.”

I watched with sickening horror as the soldier removed the Cedarfall helmet and revealed something entirely different beneath. I hadn’t even contemplated how Kayne managed to get our own people onto his side – but they were never fey.

Of course not. The man was human, clear from the curve of his ears and the hateful sneer he laid upon me.

“The Hand will reward you greatly for this, Kayne,” the man said, slapping his meaty hand upon the metal breastplate and leaving a bloodied handprint over his heart. Hunter. All of them were Hunters dressed in the clothes of our allies. “Finally, you have proved yourself worthy with your loyalty.”

“Go,” Kayne snarled, forcing the Hunter to scuttle away in a hurry.

“Yes, sir.”

Kayne brought his dirtied, bloodied fingers to his mouth and whistled. A shrill call replied, then Lucari flew so close over my shoulder that I felt her iron-tipped claws graze the side of my face. I watched him fuss over the hawk as she perched on his shoulder, offering her praise as though she were a child impressing a parent. “Such a good girl. My patient girl. We will both be rewarded, you and I. Just look at the bounty we have for the Hand.”

His eyes settled back on me.

“What have you done to Duncan?” I spat, tasting the copper of my blood and the ash that fell from the burning forest. If I had access to my magic, this entire court would’ve faced the wrath building inside of me at the thought of Duncan hurt.

Kayne winced, then gestured to a slumped body on the ground behind him. “See for yourself.”

My body threatened to give way, but I bit down further into my tongue to keep myself upright.

Duncan was splayed out on his back, his body one of many, scattered among fallen Hunters that I hadn’t noticed him until Kayne had pointed him out.

“No,” I breathed, pain lancing through me, draining me of all my strength. “You haven’t… he isn’t–”

“Yes, he is. Look at what you’ve forced me to do, Robin. Surely you can at least see that?”

I dragged my eyes from the body, up to Kayne. “You killed him.”

“This would be the moment to say your goodbyes to Duncan. You’ll not see him again.”

“He’ll never forgive you,” I shouted, throat aching, eyes stinging. But I refused to cry – refused to show weakness to the traitor before me. Instead, I would turn the agony inside of me back on Kayne. He was a monster, he betrayed us – but he loved Duncan, too. I could see that he struggled from the slight pinch of his mouth, and the way he couldn’t look at Duncan for a single moment. “He loved you like a brother, and you’ve betrayed him.”

Kayne shrugged, cracking knuckles to give himself something to do. “What good is asking forgiveness from a dead man?”

“He loved you!” I screamed again, unwilling to consider the possibility of Duncan’s demise.

“Not in the way that mattered,” Kayne snapped, eyes flaring wide. “I never asked for him to see me as his brother. I wished for more. For years, I have longed for him. Then you came and bewitched him. Ensnared him like a wounded dog caught in a trap.”

I turned my head, daring to admit aloud what I had wondered all this time. “All of this… all this death and deception because you were jealous of me?”

Kayne’s shadow cast over me, then he leaned in close. Lucari screeched in warning, her amber eyes flicking over me with hunger. I expected Kayne to deny me, to conjure another excuse as he had all these weeks.

He didn’t.

“Yes,” he whispered, lips dusting close to my ear. “And if you are wondering if I feel bad, I don’t. I never shall. Because now neither of us can have him. And once you have been handed over to Aldrick, my life will be blessed far greater than anything Duncan could have ever provided me.”

“You’re pathetic,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “You desperate, disgusting prick.”

“Says the king, powerless and alone, who’s on his knees before me. Since Lockinge, I have waited to see you beaten down. Aldrick encouraged my patience, told me to wait and I would be rewarded with this very moment. He knew this was how it would come to an end, and he was right. I can honestly admit it was worth everything just to see you like this.”

“You’ve been lying to us… since Lockinge?” I asked, unable to ignore the stinging in my heart.

“Indeed. From the moment we escaped Aldrick, I have been waiting. How else did Aldrick escape the city before we ambushed the castle? The attack on Imeria Castle? Jesibel? Even that fucking Nephilim, Gabrial, the nosey bitch…” Lucari flexed her wings in pride, chirping happily at the mention of the dead Nephilim. “Everything I’ve done, everything I will do, was to see this moment. I’m a man of faith, Robin. Did you actually believe I could turn my back on all I’ve ever known, just because you swept in with ideas of grandeur? Unlike Duncan, it takes more than a pretty boy to distract me from my path.”

His freckled fingers clasped my face and squeezed. The pain was nothing compared to what I felt inside. In fact I relished in it. And there was so much I wished to say. Names and curses I longed to hurl at Kayne. If my hands weren’t bound or my power drawn away by the iron around my neck, I would’ve thrown every ounce of my strength into hurting him over and over.

But there was nothing I could do but listen as he divulged his betrayal, his deception. He’d been patient and got what he wanted, and so would I.

“Should I offer my congratulations to Lucari?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, of course, how else would I have kept in contact with Aldrick and my fellow Hunters? Between her and those pesky dreams – oh, you know the ones – I’ve been in communication with him. And he is rather impressed with me.”

Jesibel. Dream walking. I had often found Kayne awake at ungodly hours, looking as exhausted as I felt.

And I scorned myself for not trusting my gut. All this time, Lucari had never been missing, Kayne’s hate for me was more than just surface-level distrust. I should have known, and my hopes to be wrong had led to the demise of those I loved.

“So, this is it, then?” I asked.

“Oh no, you are required for so much more.”

“Indulge me for a moment, Kayne.” My body shook, my skin itching with the desire to fight. “Now you have no one left to stop you. What happens next? Are you going to take me and hand me straight over to Aldrick yourself? Because I can imagine just how praised you will be when you do so.”

Kayne dropped his hand from my face and raised it sharply before me. I flinched, and he laughed. I thought he was going to strike me, but instead he rested a caring hand upon my shoulder. The circular dance that his thumb began made my insides knot, bile burning my throat. “You’re going to join me on the journey to Elmdew. But I promise to atone for the sins you believe I have committed. Once Aldrick takes what he requires and kills you, I’ll make sure your body is returned to those with enough care to bury you. Perhaps they may even be kind enough to entomb you beside your dear lover.”

I searched for a lie in his wide stare but found only honesty. Fear crept up my throat and threatened to strangle the air from me once again. “What makes you hate the world so much that you would aid the end of it?”

Kayne pondered the question, chewing on his lower lip as he did so. Before he could reply, we were greeted by a rush of roaring winds. It coursed through the forest, dousing the flames and returning the underbrush to darkness. Riding the wind was a grumbling roar that tugged at my soul. The trees bowed beneath the force, screeching and groaning as though they cried out in alarm.

The calm expression on Kayne’s face, as the winds pulled back at his ginger hair, told me he wasn’t shocked at the strange power that radiated around us.

It left as suddenly as it arrived.

And all around the forest, the Hunters exploded in cheers of delight. I felt their excitement buzz through the very ground at my feet as they danced and whooped.

“It would seem the second key has been successfully collected,” Kayne announced, making the cheers intensify. “Aldrick will be disappointed it wasn’t himself that dealt the final blow. But I’m certain he will feel fulfilled to know another has been eradicated. We are one step closer to saving this ruined world.”

I blinked and saw Elinor Oakstorm in my mind’s eye.

“Is that a tear I see?” Kayne asked, brows furrowed.

“What have you done?”

“Everything required of me.” Kayne caught my pesky tear and cleared it away with his thumb. “You don’t even know who it is you cry for, do you?”

From stubbornness and fury, I refused to answer him. I dared not speak aloud Elinor’s name for fear it would curse it. Selfishly, I wasn’t prepared to know that Aldrick had pushed at the Oakstorm borders and killed her when she had not long found her freedom.

“You’ll pay for this. All of this,” I sneered, no longer able to see him through the goblets of tears that filled my eyes. “Elinor didn’t deserve…”

“Elinor?” Kayne barked a laugh, one his Hunters echoed back at me. “You believe Elinor Oakstorm is the one who has fallen to our cause?”

My mouth dried as I saw the deranged joy in his eyes.

No . No.

Kayne narrowed his eyes on me. “You’ve just worked it out, haven’t you?”

I couldn’t speak – wouldn’t.

“Robin, if it wasn’t for your wish to visit Cedarfall, it may well have been Elinor who was dealt with first. But you wanted otherwise. You drew us to the Cedarfall Court, and we simply took the opportunity to ambush it when it was least expected. Queen Lyra Cedarfall’s death is because of you. Now, time to get up.”

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t move. What Kayne had just revealed had me refusing even myself.

“You’re lying,” I whispered, silently pleading that my accusation was right.

“Actually, for the first time I’m being rather honest with you,” Kayne said, his chest puffing out as pride spread across his face. “The Cedarfall Court is dead. And you shall be the next to follow.”