Page 149
Story: A Game of Monsters
“Answer the question.”
“What I require of you is to strip the access to chaos that Duwar gave the fey. Starting with the army heading our way. Draw out every ounce of magic in their blood, and transfer it over, just as the Creator first desired, to the humans.” Cassial rubbed his hands together, his entire demeaner greedy.
“You do it.”
“And kill myself in the process?” Cassial laughed. “No, we both know that will not happen. It has to be you. If you do it, the fey will be spared. We will strip them of their control, send them back into Wychwood and seal them away forever. That way you can continue in life knowing those you love will live. But you must decide with haste. Time is running out. My offer only stands for as long as it takes for Erix to get here… then it will be presented to him once the ground is stained with innocent human blood.”
My answer was simple. “I will not accept until I see Duncan for myself.”
Cassial leaned in, washing the vile stench of decay over me. “Again, choosing Duncan over the lives you’ve sworn to protect, just as you tried to convince me otherwise. Further proof that I am right. If that is not confirmation enough of how selfish you are, Robin, I do not know what is.”
“That is my counteroffer,” I sneered, breath coming out ragged.
Cassial offered me a grin so wide, his crumbling face cracked like broken glass. “Would you like to know what the Asp said before I tore her head from her shoulders?”
I didn’t want to do it, but my eyes trailed over to the headless body to my side. Cassial had made sure I didn’t stop looking at it, as if the reminder of what could happen would make me act in his favour.
In truth, it was working. “I don’t care.”
“Oh, but you will.” Cassial was so close I felt the rotting flesh emanating from him. “The Asp said, ‘be selfish, Robin’. It was a message for you, proving to me that you would always be chasing after her. I knew, in that moment, you would come. Odd words to waste your final breath saying, but those were it. I could not help but believe she wanted you to hear them. You see, even she knew you were a selfish person. No doubt everyone who follows you does too. And I promised her I would tell you, before her pretty little head fell from those pretty little shoulders. Although by the point I finished agreeing, she could no longer hear me.”
Be selfish. Those were Seraphine’s last words.Robin. Meant for me.
Her last command.
I pinched my eyes closed, remembering what she had told me back on the ship to Irobel.“An Asp is trained to use their last words as a means to guide the next onwards…Not a breath is wasted, not a word is worthless.”
I drew back my disdain, knowing Cassial was right. I was selfish, and Seraphine knew it. But her reasons for saying it were not what Cassial hoped for.
This was what Seraphine wanted. Everything she’d done was to get me here, in this place, with this choice. I had to believe that she’d put herself in Althea’s position, knowing her imminent death would start the war we all tried to stop. Because she needed me to accept Duwarbeforeacting.
I had to ensure her death was not wasted.
Be selfish, Robin.
I fixed my eyes on Cassial as a rush of calm came over me. With the sweep of my tongue, I pushed the vial back between my teeth, ready for another time. “I will do it.”
His eyes widened, red hot like the churning fires of the sun. “You will?”
“I willingly accept Duwar.” I made sure my voice had no room for anything but confidence. “You are right, it is the only way.”
“Then we begin–”
“No,” I answered. “First, you take me tohim. Prove to me that you are a man of your word, and I will then do the same.”
Be selfish, Robin.My request to see Duncan was only further proving the point, which was exactly what I needed.
“Then the Asp was right,” Cassial said. “You truly are selfish, Robin Icethorn.”
Cassial’s impatience had little to do with the impending army. He too was selfish – using the humans as a shield proved that. His impatience was born from a place of knowing that everything he planned for rested on my cooperation.
“Shall we?” I asked, itching to get out of these chains. “As you said, time is not our ally.”
Cassial nodded, before waving a hand. He changed before my eyes. His skin rippled, his face morphing back into another. Cassial used Duwar to build an illusion around him, fixing Duncan’s face where his hand been.
At first, I thought he had been tricking me all along, until the chains shattered apart, and I slumped forwards.
Cassial wouldn’t allow himself to be seen by the world outside this tent. Because if they saw the truth of what he’d become, then his illusion that the fey were monsters would be ruined.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149 (Reading here)
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180