Page 26 of A Game of Monsters (Realm of Fey #4)

The sun broke through storm clouds, bathing the chasm before me in rays of pure gold. The beams danced across a silent crowd of flesh and feather – Nephilim filling every possible space. Those who couldn’t stand to watch had to fly, wings a multitude of blacks, greys, whites and creams beating against warm air, their eyes pinned to the man who had freed them.

I edged closer to the cliff’s edge to get a better look at them. My feet walked over a smooth man-made path in the rockface, until I came to a stop on a threshold that overlooked Irobel. All around me I could see the ocean, interrupted by the smaller sister islands to the heart of the isle. But my attention wasn’t spared to anything or anyone else. Only Duncan .

Trousers clung to strong thighs, but his chest was exposed to the elements, light reflecting off the hardened lines of muscle. Wind tussled his feathered wings, making the dark hair upon his crown dance like serpents.

Even the crowd of Nephilim who filled the chasm looked up with adoration in their eyes to Duncan, who stood front and centre.

I understood their obvious respect. Not a single soul spoke or made a sound, which was impressive because there had to be thousands of winged warriors looking on at this miracle.

My miracle.

I shared their same emotion. My heart had lodged in my throat for every second we were apart.

Erix stayed at my side. Rafaela and Seraphine had arrived not long ago, on the back of Gyah in her Eldrae form. I noticed the hesitation from the crowd as the obsidian-scaled creature flew into view, but one raised hand from Duncan was all it took to calm them.

He oozed authority and power. Stood tall, his skin exposed to the world, there was not a muscle hidden. Even his back rippled with them – muscles my fingers and mouth had not yet explored. Whatever had happened during the Transfiguration had changed him in every aspect. He no longer looked like the weak man I had worn down with my treatment. Duncan stood tall, shoulders rolled back, likely a result of the two imposing pure-white wings that spread from protruding mounds beside his spine.

I was desperate to speak to him. Every time our eyes locked, I felt that need build, alongside the hiss of electricity racing over my skin. My body was a chamber of overboiling lava, seconds from bursting. But I had to keep control, to focus on keeping myself calm, all whilst I watched Duncan address the sea of Nephilim watching him.

Rafaela gripped my arm, knees weak as she was overcome with relief. Her whisper seemed to be a shout as the world around us was so silent, even the winds calmed in the presence of a being like Duncan. “He has come. Gabrial’s prophesied. Our Saviour.”

Hearing her refer to Duncan as the Saviour warmed my spirit, kindling the hope that couldn’t help but rage inside. Simply looking at him, seeing what he’d achieved, even I couldn’t dispel the concept of the prophecy.

“So, the fey-hunter survives again ,” Gyah drawled, the moment she shifted back into her form. “Are we sure Duncan is not part cockroach or something?”

“He is something incredible,” I said, voice clear cut and swelling with pride.

“When we saw the Nephilim we thought Cassial had come for us,” Gyah admitted. “As much as I’m glad to see Duncan alive and kicking, I am disappointed I don’t get to tear out Cassial’s throat today.”

I stood, dumfounded, and fixated on Duncan’s back. “Soon,” I promised Gyah, knowing it was truly a possibility. “His fate awaits him.”

Now more so than ever before.

“Duncan Rackley has faced the judgement, survived and has returned to us with a purpose,” Rafaela added, eyes fixed, gaze locked on Duncan. “We are now in a position to go against Cassial in a way that he will least expect.”

“I like the sound of that,” Gyah replied, closing in. “But my question is when. Now our purpose here is complete, I want to leave Irobel immediately.”

“We will,” I promised, sharing in the same want as Gyah. “Althea is our priority.”

Gyah looked back to Duncan, a grimace pinched across her face. “I hope so.”

Seraphine leaned in, hand over her heart – likely pressing down on the folded sketch of those she left behind in Durmain. “I must say Duncan has such an impressive wingspan. I can see the appeal now, Robin.”

Her comment conjured a belly-cackle out from me. But before I could reply, Duncan finally spoke up.

“Children of the Creator.” His words boomed across the island, as if the clouds of his conjuring magnified his voice.

The hairs rose on my arms, not from his command but the lightning that still thickened the air around us. The storm may have passed, but when Duncan was close, it never strayed far.

“The Creator’s Faithful warriors. You have been locked away for sins that never belonged to you. It would seem the years have confused our brothers and sisters; the path we’ve walked for generations has faded and many have lost their way. You paid the price. Shut away in the continued effort to prevent history from repeating itself – cast into stone simply for doing what was right. No longer shall you be hidden away. No longer will you face the endless imprisonment. The time to right the wrongs of the Fallen is upon us.”

A perfectly synchronised cheer rose from the chasm. The sound shook the very sky, with more power than any conjured thunder could. It split the clouds further, bringing forth more rays of golden light.

I could practically taste the admiration they all held for Duncan.

“And who are you, Duncan Rackley, in the eyes of the Creator?” Rafaela shouted, voice rising in pitch as she directed it to Duncan. I was surprised Duncan heard. He slowly turned to face her, his severe brow softening as he laid eyes on Rafaela. There wasn’t anger, but the sorrow of someone who understands a price paid.

Rafaela had lost so much, Duncan recognised that.

Duncan offered his hand to her. Everyone watched, not daring to breathe, as he lifted her from the ground and drew her to his side.

When he answered it was personal to Rafaela, and yet he ensured the entire crowd heard him.

“My given name is Duncan Rackley, although you know that was not the one I was born with.” The sorrow in his verdant eyes told me that Duncan had already uncovered the secrets of his birth. I wondered what else the human god had whispered into his ear. “I have been given true life by the Creator to give the Faithful a second chance. There has never been a time when your iron-clad faith has been more required. Duwar has been freed – chaos has, once again, been taken by the hands of those undeserving. The Creator knew, in his last moments, that keeping Duwar out of play was the only way for peace. He faced his regrets in those last moments, and yet some of his creations seem to have disregarded his enlightenment for the hunt of power and control. And as we were first designed, from the grief and loss of the Creator, we must ensure that His regrets do not continue into our future. For that, I stand before me, as Duncan, Herald of His word. Bringer of change.”

Rafaela fell to her knees, hands clasped in prayer. Tears spilled down her face, staining the dusted ground beneath her. “Gabrial promised this day. She saw it, in a potential future, one of knotted paths and shadowed potentials. And now the Creator has proven He understands the damage Duwar will cause – how it tore Him apart from Altar. This is proof to the world of what we must do.”

Belief, religion and prophecy blended into one, forced into the vessel that was Duncan. Everything had led to this moment. All the lies and betrayal, the secret plays on a game board that I never knew we were a part of.

Duncan’s wings flared wide, further proving Seraphine’s earlier statement. His wingspan cast a shadow of his form down over the crowd, gathering a gasp of amazement from the Nephilim watching.

“We follow you, Herald .” Rafaela was renewed with a sense of authority, as if Duncan’s presence reminded her of her possibilities. “Tell us how we are to right the sins of those who betrayed us, and we shall see it through.”

Duncan drank in Rafaela’s words, power flashing across every inch of him.

“Cassial has lost his way. It’s up to us to offer him the right path, show him the way back into the Creator’s arms.” Duncan ensured his gaze fell on every possible watching soul. All but mine.

What I’d give for him to turn around and look at me, recognise me. I was beginning to think he ignored me for a reason. Perhaps the physical change was not the only thing that had altered during the Transfiguration. It didn’t pay to contemplate what else was different.

“If unchallenged, Cassial will fulfil the Fallen’s hopes of bringing forth a new world in which only the humans shall thrive. An imbalance. The fey are not the enemies of mortals, but the protectors as Altar intended them to be. It’s up to us to prevent any other future from happening. I ask you, forgotten children of our Creator, discarded warriors – will you stand beside me in the name of what is right, to fix the wrongs before us and stop our enemies from threatening the realms again? Will you fight beside me, human and fey, to ensure a world in which we finally can live beside one another in complete and irrevocable harmony?”

A chanting began in response to his questions.

It started with the stomping of feet, then every set of wings began to thump as they were contracted against powerful bodies. Soon the sound filled the island, even sinking deep into my body where I felt it in every vein and vessel.

“Then, it shall be. We leave for the mainland soon.” Duncan turned to face Rafaela, dropping his voice so only those on the podium of rock could hear. “See that you are prepared. If we are to get close enough to Cassial to stop him, he must not recognise a difference in our warriors from his own. To succeed we need to infiltrate Cassial’s ranks, take him down from the inside. But before that, a contingency plan must be made.”

“Certainly, Herald,” Rafaela said. “The necessary plans will be drafted with your guidance.”

Already the world weighed too heavy upon Duncan’s shoulders. I sensed it, as did Erix, from the tight draw of his lips.

Duncan, too, stiffened at the title, but only I seemed to notice his discomfort. “We do not have long to act. Once you organise the Nephilim, see that a space is made for the rest of us to discuss these important matters. If we are to succeed, we must leave by dawn tomorrow.”

“Anything else?” Rafaela asked, head bowing.

“Yes, actually. In the meantime, I would appreciate a moment alone–”

Duncan lifted his eyes over Rafaela’s shoulder and fixed them to me. My breath caught, as though lightning shot between us and struck my chest. His expression was serious for a beat, until his lips curved and parted, forging into a gentle smile that tugged at the scar down the side of his face.

“With them ,” he finished.

I looked to Erix, following Duncan’s sweeping gaze. His eyes were wide and watching, locked to Duncan who gave him a subtle wink. If my heart had skipped beats before, it practically leapt in that moment.

“Unfinished business, isn’t that right, Erix?” Duncan said, stepping in close, bringing with him the air of power around him.

“It is, indeed, Saviour.” Erix nodded to Duncan, whose smile seemed to widen. There was relief in his verdant eyes, a happiness I’d not seen in a long time.

“Duncan will do,” he replied. “It’s the name I am used to hearing and much prefer. It’s not my future that defines me, but my past and present.”

“And what are you going to do with the present?” I asked, voice cracking from nerves around him. “Now that… that you have secured it.”

Duncan didn’t reply at first, but I sensed his desire in his silence.

It was in the way he looked at me. It was as if the wings and strength, the power and command all faded away, leaving the man I’d first come to know standing before me. “ You , darling. Both of you, as I told you, I am a man of my word. ”

I laid a hand over my chest, as if that had the power to still it. Duncan had heard us from his cocoon, and that filled me with the greatest sense of relief.

Duncan offered a hand to me, and then his other to Erix.

“Althea,” Gyah said in reminder, brow creased over storm-filled eyes. “That is where our focus must be. Not Cassial, but Althea.”

A thrum of emotion filtered over the crowd. Duncan fixed his gaze to Gyah and then to Seraphine. Although the space was silent, not a word spoken aloud, I saw the slight widening of Seraphine’s eyes and got the impression of a message being shared between them.

She nodded, in agreement it would seem, then took Gyah to the side and whispered something to her.

Duncan squeezed my hand, then said two distracting words. “Shall we?”

I couldn’t form a reply for fear I would break down. Instead, I took his hand and melted into the warmth of him. My palm tickled against the residue of his power – like called to like.

I longed to say something, but I couldn’t force the words out.

“I’m sorry I had to leave you both this morning,” Duncan said to me, his voice back to his normal self. “As you can imagine, I had some business to take care of.”

I swallowed hard, the sound audible even as the roar of Nephilim took flight around us. “I can see that.”

“But I’m back, and no longer is my focus split.”

“For the record, Duncan ,” Erix said from my side, laying his hand in Duncan’s waiting palm. “My wingspan is definitely larger than yours. Not that it’s a competition or anything.”

“Is that so?” Duncan’s brow lifted in jest, turning his attention to me. Altar, his smirk had the power to warm my insides. “What do you think, darling?”

Heat unravelled in my groin, hot and sudden.

“Careful with your answer, little bird,” Erix warned, mischief simmering in his silver eyes.

I gathered the confidence to address Duncan. And when I managed to get the words out, I spoke with the one emotion that came naturally. With the same sarcasm that always rose as a shield in times when I needed it. “Ask me after I get the chance to investigate for myself.”