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It didn’t matter how I felt, what mattered was fixing all the problems around me. Starting with Duncan. “Duncan needs a healer the moment we reach Irobel.”

“I am aware.” Rafaela looked away from me, making me think she was hiding something still. “Duncan is the first known mortal to host Duwar in all of time. Having Erix guard him is wise. We will be unsure of the damage he has suffered, lasting or not, so it is best not to take any chances with the small band of people we have left.”

My mouth dried, my tongue turning to sand in my throat. “Then you agree that I should be worried about Duncan?”

The signs pointed to his suffering, the clawed marks on his chest as pronounced as they had been when I last saw him.

“Ihopenot.” Rafaela leaned forwards, facing across the ocean again. I joined her at the rail, glad for the physical support to prop me up.

Stars glittered across the dark oceans, sea-salt breeze tangling my black hair. “How long do we have left of the journey?”

“If the winds are swift, and the oceans our ally, then I hope we will reach land sometime tomorrow,” Rafaela said. “I sense we are close, like a tether is pulling at me, pointing my inner compass toward home.”

“You speak on these isles as if they haven’t harboured monsters all this time.” My accusation caught in the winds, amplifying the disdain in my voice.

“Home is home, whether the memories there are painful or not.”

I took a deep breath, feeling it rattle in my aching lungs. “Why didn’t you warn me? When I came to the Below, you could’ve given me a heads up about Cassial’s plans and prevented this from happening.”

Rafaela released a heavy sigh that carried on the winds and into the dark. “I could not tell you Robin, because if I had, you would have felt like you had no optionbutto kill Duncan yourself.”

“And was that my only option all along?”

Rafaela spared me a glance, proving to me she already knew I had the answer. “I did what I had to do.”

“Because Zarrel could’ve got your truth out of me with the hammer?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“That was always a risk.” Rafaela didn’t tell me I was wrong. “It was better, this outcome.”

A shiver passed down my spine at her comment. “Althea has been captured because of this game you continue to play against your own people. Elinor is dead,” I seethed, finding the fury coming out of me without warning or control. “I don’t see how this outcome is better than any others. Wychwood is left without its leaders to guide it. We have lost, Rafaela. Surely you can see that?”

“No, we have not lost. Not yet.” Rafaela laid a cold hand on mine. It was then I noticed just how tight I held onto the railing. My knuckles were white, the veins protruding out the back of my hand. I eased my hold slightly beneath her touch.

“I will not lie to you and tell you that we are on the road to victory,” Rafaela said. “Many more innocent lives will be taken from this realm, and more so will feel the pain of that loss. But this was the outcome thathadto happen. We –Ihad to return to Irobel if we had any hope of going against Cassial. Duncan had to return to Irobel.”

“What do you mean return?” I asked, feeling my heart swell in my gut. “He’s never been there–”

The look in Rafaela’s eyes stole the breath from my lungs. “What do you know of Duncan’s parentage?”

It was one story I was confident about. “They were killed by Aldrick who lied and told Duncan the fey murdered them, just to manipulate and use him.”

“Then you see that the Nephilim are not the only creatures capable of lying, Robin Icethorn. You of all people should know that.”

“Thanks for that.” My grip tightened on the railing, knuckles turning white. “Listen, for the sake of our frayed relationship, Rafaela, I strongly suggest you stop speaking between the lines and get to the point.”

She tipped her head in agreement, looking back out of the dark waters. “The prophecy I told you about, the one Gabrial – rest her soul – had many years ago. It is the heart of this conflict, and the key to solving it.”

“The prophecy about the Saviour?”

Rafaela winced at the use of the word. “Before Cassial and his Fallen took over Irobel, we – the Faithful – continued with our life’s work. Duncanisthe product of those plans, a child born from angel and man. Someone…”

“Made from both realms,” I answered, repeating the words she had shared with me days ago. My blood hummed through my veins, so loud that my ears rang with it. Duncan, made from angel and man. I couldn’t begin to understand how this was possible, and yet my mind told me it was. “You said that you thought it was me that prophecy spoke of. Half fey, half human. But you lied.”

“I admit there have been so many lies that I have long forgotten which hold truth. But yes, I may have suggested that you were the prophesied Saviour in case Zarrel got the information from you and discovered the truth. Turns out I placed my worries in your mind being invaded, and did not worry about my own.”

I clutched my gut, wondering if the sickness was from the rock of the boat, or the upturn of all these truths. “I no longer care about what you have said before now. I need only to know every detail, no matter how small you may think it is to the matter. I need to know what part Duncan has to play in this game.”

As if the game hadn’t already ruined him.