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Tears pricked in the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them loose. “And yet you know I still can’t go because of the man I can’t just bring with me.”

“No,” Erix replied softly, pacing toward me and taking the invitation from my hands. “Youcan go, it’s Duncan who cannot.”

“I won’t leave him. I can’t. He needs caring for at all times. I have to clean him, feed him… make sure he is still living whilst that parasite is still inside of him.”

“Then allow me do it for you,” Erix offered, voice soft as the brush of his fingers against my hand. “I can look after him whilst you are away. It’s three days. That’s all.”

I narrowed my eyes on him, searching for any sign that his offer was nefarious. “Why would you offer that?”

He held my gaze. “You care about him, so I do too. Duncan is the most important thing in your life, and you… I’ll do anything to protect what you cherish. And I do mean anything.”

His words broke me, bit by bit, but I had to stay strong.

I opened my mouth to refuse him, but as Erix always seemed to know what I was going to say, he stopped me with a finger over my mouth. “Rafaela will be in Lockinge, you know.”

That stopped me from saying another word. Rafaela, the Nephilim who’d tricked her own people into destroying the keys they were sworn to protect. The last time I’d seen her was in the meeting in Elmdew, before she told us that she’d await punishment for her betrayals. Since then, I’d tried to contact her, sending letters to Lockinge – but I’d heard nothing in return.

“You’ve been trying to reach her, have you not?”

“How do you know that?” I asked, voice barely a whisper.

“Because I know everything that happens in and out of Berrow, it’s my duty. Correspondence such as letters written by my kingismy business, making certain none are counterfeit.”

Panic raced up my spine, sending my skin to gooseflesh. “You read them?”

“No, I would never do that.” Erix blanched at my accusation. “But I’d recognise your handwriting anywhere. That, and the fact that every week, I get more and more to send to Lockinge. One begins to wonder what Rafaela could offer you, that I couldn’t. Now, I know.”

“I need answers if I want to save Duncan,” I admitted, but not the full truth. “She might have them.”

“No doubt you don’t need me to remind you this, but be careful what you write. Words on a page are far more incriminating than whispers.”

I scoffed, feeling the heat raise in my cheeks. “You don’t think I’m that stupid, do you?”

“Far from it. But I still worry.”

What could I say to that? My letters to Rafaela, although desperate, didn’t mention Duncan or his state. They did, however, ask for knowledge or books on Duwar. The Nephilim knew more about the demon-god than the fey or humans did. No matter how many books I searched, there were no mentions. No answers. If anyone had them, it was Rafaela.

And I put faith in her faith, that she would be open to help me with my search for information.

“So you already know she never replied to me,” I said. “Not a single letter back, no matter how many I sent.”

“I know,” Erix replied. “And I also understand why you had been trying to contact her.” His eyes drifted toward the door that was no longer hidden behind the tapestry. That swash of material lay in a puddle before it. “If you think she can help Duncan, this is your chance to go and get those answers in person.”

Something sparked inside of me, small but mighty. Hope, was it? I hadn’t felt it for so long, it was hard to recognise it. But Erix was right, there was a chance. Although what he wasn’t right about was exactly what I needed from Rafaela. It wasn’t entirely about Duncan and his affliction.

My request for knowledge led to another secret of mine – one Erix hadn’t worked out yet. One I would never share with him.

“Rafaela told me once of Nephilim who turned to Duwar,” I said, taking a break from chewing the inside of my cheek. “She said that they were bound in labradorite as punishment.”

Erix’s eyes widened. “Sounds like a last resort.”

I bowed my head, not wanting to look at his eyes. If I did, he would see the hint of something I was keeping from him. “It has to be better than death.”

Whose imprisonment I wouldn’t say.

Either way, I’d lose Duncan. This lead was the only option I had to help him – helpme. I could continue poisoning Duncan, keep him locked beneath iron to suppress the fey-magic in his blood, but that wasn’t affecting the demonic presence inside of him. Maybe, if I could understand the process of binding someone in labradorite, it would lead to truly saving this world.

“All the more reason that you need to go to Lockinge then,” Erix said what I already knew deep down. “And I think you should know that Althea has tried to visit you to invite you herself…”