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Death. Certain death. The very thing I had fought hard to prevent.

“Cassial. There is nothing to discuss. Don’t do this. I beg you,” I hissed, spitting at the Nephilim who grasped me, holding me in place. “There are other ways to remove Duwar from this realm, ways that do not include killing him. If you hurt him–”

“Hurt Duncan?” Cassial pressed a hand to his chest, mocking shock. “As if I could harm him any more than you have, Robin. Look at how you have treated him. The torment, the pain – the punishment. And all because you didn’t recognise what you held so dear.”

“A demon!”

“Wrong. Wrong.Wrong,” Cassial replied, lifting Duncan’s head again from where it lolled to his chest. “You have beentoldthat Duwar is bad. A demon-god. You have been told stories woven by us to believe that Duwar is the Defiler – a beast, ruin, a monster. But the truth is so much simpler than that.”

Duwar’s words filled my mind, just as the same words left Cassial’s mouth. “Duwar is power.”

I am power.

I couldn’t think – couldn’t breathe – as a small spark of relief turned to terror.

Hate pinched Cassial’s face into a mask of disdain. He narrowed eyes on me, burning pits of endless promises of suffering. And yet, his smile never faltered. It morphed into something darker, but still drew at the corners of his mouth. “I have no plans to kill Duncan today. Whereas his potential was wasted in your hands, in mine he will help change the world. Fix the wrongs left in the wake when Altar betrayed our god.”

I grappled with what he said, but one thing clicked in my mind. “You never wanted to protect the keys. You… you wanted to use them.”

Cassial looked at me though his dark lashes, this perspective of his face morphing into something utterly demonic. “Yes, Robin. That is exactly what we wished to do.”

CHAPTER 18

My heart thundered under every point of contact as Zarrel clasped my wrists behind my back. He moved me toward a throne of labradorite, seating me next to Althea who strained against her own bindings.

The Nephilim pinning Erix down didn’t dare move. Every now and then I would get a flash of his eyes – the whites entirely consumed by the black haze of the monster his bloodline had made him. He continued to fight against them, more monster than man now as the berserker had taken over.

Erix would fight fang and claw to get to me, and I didn’t ever want him to stop. If anything, he was occupying many of the Nephilim, which left fewer of them to deal with myself.

“Do you forget yourself, Cassial!” Althea sneered, veins bulging in her neck as she strained forwards in her seat. “We have signed the treaty. You break it by harming us. Your actions alone have forfeited the human realm–”

“I forfeitnothing,” Cassial snapped, his large hand not straying from the back of Duncan’s neck. “From where I’m standing, Althea Cedarfall, the fey have lied to the world. You’ve harboured power in your realm – a power strong enough to wipe out everyone who opposes you. What would the humans outside this door think if they knew the truth? Not to mention those who’d not long witnessed the events in this room, they have seen what your kind have hidden… they know the truth of whose deceit runs deeper.”

That was why they filled the church with humans, so they could witness Cassial, their Saviour, discovering my dark secret and pretending to protect them from it.

Duncan began coughing, drawing my attention from our hope of escape to him. Blood spluttered beyond his cracked lips, staining his chin in gore. Cassial grimaced, drawing back at the sight of the blood, as if he wasn’t already covered in it.

“Duncan is unwell,” Althea said, but I could see from the pinch of her brow that she knew it was more than that. “This is surely a grand misunderstanding. Do not let this misunderstanding be cause for a war no one will benefit from.”

“What do you know of war, Althea?” Cassial spoke from his chest, lifting his chin to reveal just how confident he was. “We – the Nephilim, favoured children of the Creator – will do anything to prevent such a thing from happening again. This is the very purpose of us being here today. And now, with the source ofchaosthat is Duwar, you shall be powerless to stop us from righting the wrongs Altar cursed the realms with his greed.”

I sat in silence, my thoughts were a maelstrom, putting together the details of everything. The mirrors in the hands of the humans, that had been Cassial’s plan. This illusion of a wedding, to bring the heads of the fey courts under one roof. The labradorite, arranged in a perfect circle – the ground amongst it swirling with mist.

“Elinor,” I called out, fixing my eyes on the woman across from me. Her head was slumped, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. I knew – without a doubt – that the Oakstorm key was successfully within the throne she sat upon. Proof the transference of power had worked was in the way the mist gathered and swirled, spinning in the centre of the four thrones. “Elinor, look at me.”

But without the existence of the other three, there was no hope to open the gate and lock Duwar back in it. However, it was clear that was far from what Cassial wanted.

“Elinor, look at me!” I demanded.

She didn’t have the strength left in her to even lift her head.

“Do not waste your breath, Robin. Elinor Oakstorm has served her purpose, let her rest.”

“You’ve tricked us,” I said, spearing my accusation like an archer, aiming straight for Cassial. “You brought us here to attempt to open Duwar’s gate. That was your plan all along.”

“It was, and I have,” Cassial admitted with a smile full of pride. “One remaining key was better than all four. I hoped that opening a sliver of Duwar’s gate, paired with the mirrors to refract the image of the power – the belief from a world united, all watching, would provide the remaining strength needed to free Duwar. If anything, I could go through, as Duncan and Erix had, and claim the power waiting on the other side. But can you imagine how much time I’ve wasted, if only I knew that you, Robin Icethorn, have been keeping the power all to yourself. Of course, I had my suspicions. With the incessant amount of letters you sent to Rafaela, I wondered why you had so much interest in our customs. I just didn’t think for a moment that it was because you were keeping Duwar to yourself all this time.” His lip curled as he regarded me, before spitting his final words out. “Selfish little king.”

“So much for protectors of the keys,” Gyah hissed. Her eyes were fixed on Cassial, as if he was the only person in the world. It was in the reflection of them that I saw her desire to tear flesh with her teeth. “That is why you punished Rafaela, because she knew what you planned, and she went against you!”