Page 33 of A Game of Monsters (Realm of Fey #4)

I threw myself over the side of the armoured stag. My knees cracked against frozen earth, hands barely reaching in time to steady the fall. Then I vomited in my mouth. The wave of sickness caught in my cheeks, before erupting out of me. Pain ruptured across my chest, so viciously, I pinched my eyes closed and still I could see the image of Althea Cedarfall’s head, pierced on the end of a pike.

We were too late. We failed Althea. Our hesitation, our wasted moments, all led to this. Her death.

Erix was behind me, encasing me in his arms, telling me that it was going to be okay, over and over. And yet, when I was brave enough to look back up, the pike was still there, the amber eyes of my friend staring down at me.

It had been a fey scout who had seen the Nephilim fly into the dead zone between the armies. They’d been alone, sent by Cassial as a harbinger of death. The scout – alongside countless of our soldiers, watched as the Nephilim planted the pike in dewy-wet ground. They’d withdrawn the severed head from a gore-soaked bag and sunk it on its tip.

I could hear the Nephilim’s screams from here, as the fey tore into him. Maybe I should’ve stopped them, perhaps I should’ve turned my back on the severed head and called an end to the advancements.

But it was too late.

The damage was done. Cassial’s message received loud and clear. And, at my back, the shadow of the fey army proceeded forwards, their footsteps thundering across the ground.

“Stop looking at her, Robin,” Erix said, voice breaking from strain. He then turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs. “Someone take her down. Now! Show the queen some fucking respect and take her head off that fucking spike!”

He couldn’t be the one to touch Althea’s head, nor could I. But I couldn’t look away either. For hope that any moment this illusion would break, and it would be someone else’s head on the pike, I kept looking. But it never changed, the vision never wavered.

I searched the details, locating proof of who the head actually belonged to. Was it the real Althea or Seraphine under her glamour? Either option was no better than the other. Both had the ability to ruin me entirely.

Althea’s head looked down with endless eyes of amber-gold surrounded by the most beautiful freckles. Poppy-red curls hung limp and heavy from sodden blood. Her skin had turned a strange grey hue, the flayed torn bits of skin around her neck flapping against the subtle breeze.

“Cassial was never going to use her,” I stammered as tears fell down my cheeks. “I was wrong.”

I’d believed Cassial kept Althea alive to transfer Duwar into her, but that was never true. My hunch was what sent Seraphine on her own mission. And now I didn’t know if she still lived, or if this was her glamoured face I looked at.

Althea was always going to be used as a catalyst for war… unless Cassial found out she was not the only living monarch of the fey realm…

Pain cramped in my stomach. If I had anything left inside of me, more vomit would’ve followed the feeling. Instead, I was empty. Completely, inconsolably void. Even my sadness didn’t reveal itself in sobs, only silent tears that I had no control over.

“This is not your fault,” Erix said, reading between the lines of what I said. “Do you hear me, Robin? Put aside your self-blame, it will not bring her back. Nothing will…”

Erix cried then, chest-cleaving sobs that broke his demeaner like the fragile shell of an egg, spilling out all the contents of his raw soul. Althea meant the world to us both, and Erix had known her far longer.

I clutched the sides of Erix’s face, cold hands pushed on either side of his cheeks, keeping him facing me. “We will avenge her. Her death will not be meaningless.”

Seeing Erix so broken was the reminder I needed to focus – to carry on and control the situation. I had to for him… and for Althea’s memory.

“Another life lost,” he spluttered.

“All because I didn’t have it in me to destroy Duwar when I had the chance.”

Erix shook his head, refusing to look away from me. “I refuse that statement. You have only ever done what you felt was right.”

“Exactly,” I spat, body aching, heart entirely shattered. “I was selfish then, and I am selfish now. But this needs to end.”

“Stop it,” Erix glowered. “Immediately. We have to trust that Duncan is acting according to our plans. You are not alone in solving these problems.”

Duncan. I hadn’t even thought about him since I was brought to see Althea’s head. What had happened? What had he seen in the time we’d been apart?

“But Cassial needed Althea, he needs a fey royal to harbour Duwar successfully – so her death proves that he knows about me.” Out the corner of my eye I caught sight of the fey soldiers removing the head from the pike, covering it in a red silken sheet before carrying Althea’s remains away.

“If he knows that you still live,” Erix said, voice trembling with unspent rage, “he is trying to bait you.”

I knew, deep down, that Erix was right. “I know. And it will work.”

“Now is not the time to react,” Erix said, grappling a hold of me, fingers like iron against my skin. “Cassial is not going to get the chance to use you, I will not allow it.”

As I stared into his silver eyes, drinking in the horror harboured within them, I realised something. “No, Erix. I’m not the only one at risk. He can also use you if he finds out.”

Erix recoiled. I watched as the words sank in and realisation crept over his handsome face. It twisted into a mask of horror.

“Cassial couldn’t know,” Erix said, clasping a hand to his chest. “Before the wedding – Elinor promised me that no one else would know until my decision was made. Unless someone… Ailon Oakstorm added the information into his communications with Cassial.”

“I don’t believe your uncle would have done that,” I said, mind whirling. “It would have weakened his claim. Ailon wanted Duwar for himself.”

My throat ached with the fresh bite of bile.

“I’m at a loss for what to do,” Erix admitted, standing tall as he looked at the advancing line of warriors. “I was never his second option for a host for Duwar. I think that the reason he has killed Althea, it means he has his hands on another option already…”

There was something in what Erix had just said that clicked in my mind. In a single moment my thoughts became frantic, but in the panic, I was piecing together the puzzle at efficient speed. “Who does he have?” Speaking it aloud tore apart the frail seams holding me together. “If he has used her death to spark the war, it is only because he is still a step ahead. I fear you are right, and he has another option already.”

“The Elmdew baby,” I gasped. “A host he can control.”

His eyes locked with mine. Urgency overwhelmed any other emotion he felt.

“Regardless, he has made his move. Cassial has shown the world Althea is dead, it is to spark the war he has been desperately waiting for,” Erix spoke aloud my very thoughts.

If that was the glamoured head of Seraphine on a spike, it would mean Althea was still alive.

Erix acted on instinct and called out to the soldiers taking Althea’s head away. “See that the head is taken directly to Eroan. Make sure that he checks over it for any potential glamours or illusions.” There was a hesitation from the solemn fey who looked as grief stricken as we felt. “Do it now, with haste!”

With my command, he rushed off, leaving us to wallow in the dark truth.

“Cassial must be desperate,” Erix said finally. “That is what this move is. Using Seraphine to make us think Althea is dead.”

That was if the head belonged to Seraphine, otherwise she was still out there, and her plans to sacrifice herself would be for nothing.

The box in my pocket grew heavy, reminding me it was one detail I’d not shared with Erix yet. And for good reason. Because Seraphine knew the risks when she infiltrated Cassial’s camp, and she also knew I would follow.

“I must go to Cassial,” I said, almost preparing for an argument or refusal. But Erix locked eyes with me, his lip curling over the slight point of his canines. And, as always with Erix, he was willingly to stand beside me, and never before me.

“It is not safe to make such decisions,” Erix began.

I silenced him with a single look. “Our army is advancing. War is upon us. We can petition for them to stop if we can prove that it is not Althea’s head that was just taken off that spike. But if they believe it was, they will move. If this is a ploy for Cassial to provoke us, it has worked. If not…” Then my closest friend was dead. “There is no other choice if we hope to save the slaughter of all those innocent humans he’s using as a shield. But if I go, you can stop them. Put a halt to the army for as long as you can.”

“Before you say it.” I took his hands in mine. “ Please , don’t refuse me.”

“You know I can’t do that.” Erix traced fingers down the side of my face, eyes brimming with tears. “And I will not, only if you tell me your plan and every step it entails. I can’t let you go alone knowing there is nothing I can do.”

“And I will. If we are wrong about the Elmdew child, then I am safe in Cassial’s hands. He needs me, and he will not risk harming me if Althea is dead, or no longer in his possession. If I continue to hesitate, more people will die.”

Erix swallowed hard, the muscles in his jaw feathering. “Then tell me what you need of me, and I will do it. Together, remember.”

I looked up at him, recognising the slight hesitancy in Erix’s lack of movement. His worry was written in every crease and line across his face. I wished I could tell him that this would all be okay in the end, but the severed head at my back was proof it wouldn’t. Someone had died – I couldn’t focus on who it really had been, for fear it would ruin me.

But I took it, harboured it in a chasm of vengeance in my chest, and knew it would be waiting and ready for me in time.

“Together,” I repeated. “Whoever is left in this fight must all work as one, not separated. Not anymore.”

Surprise broke over his face, lasting only a moment. “It would seem Robin Icethorn has learned the importance of trust.”

“I just took a little while to recognise it,” I admitted.

Too late to recognise, my inner thoughts added.

All my life, I had done things alone. No matter how people had offered their support, told me they’d work beside me. I’d always chosen the solitary path, hoping it would be the one with less pain and loss as I navigated it. But that wasn’t true. I knew that now.

Regardless of the poison in my pocket, if Cassial became a threat, I knew what to do to use it against him. There were risks, but it would be worth it for the realms.

“Have your gryvern stall our army as long as they can,” I said, aware how close they were to us now. It would take hours for them to reach Cassial, but he would be waiting. He’d be ready to show the humans that the fey are monsters.

So, we’d have to show them otherwise.

Cassial expected us to respond with a war, but that wasn’t what he’d get.

At least, not yet.

“If I create a blockade between the fey, it will cause further tension between the courts,” Erix reminded me. “So you must be sure this is what you want from me?”

“I am. Conflict in Wychwood will not matter if by dusk the courts have been completely eradicated from the map. Please, this is the only way. Block the army; you are king now, it is in your power to command as much. Whether you wear a crown or not, you must use the voice that Altar has blessed you with.”

Erix closed his eyes for a moment, creases of concentration lining his brow. Then I heard them, the screeches and screams of gryvern. The sky broke with the noise, as bodies of grey flesh and leather wing cut out of dense clouds, spearing down toward the earth. Hundreds of them.

Monsters flocking to their master’s call.

I watched in awe as their bodies thumped against the ground, one by one, forming a line of talon and claw between us and the advancing army.

I leaned into Erix, glad for his support, whilst hating that I would need to lie. I hoped for what was a final time. “There is one more thing I need to ask of you, Erix.”

“Anything, little bird.”

Magic unspooled beneath my hands like curling mists of winter’s first frost. “Find Duncan when you can. And when you do, look out for my signal. You won’t miss it. Only when my signal has been given do I permit you to lead a full assault on Cassial’s camp, sparing as many as you can. I need death to be minimal. Any fey who harms someone without a weapon will be charged with crimes of war. Our focus is on the Fallen. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Good.” My blood thrummed through my veins, my muscles itching for action. “Then this is it. I need time to get ahead and reach Cassial. Ensure no one follows me. You must find Rafaela and Duncan; you must prepare them to act when the time is right.”

Erix reached up, took my face in his hands and planted a kiss on my mouth. Although no more words were shared, the connection of our mouths told a thousand unspoken promises. When he pulled back, he fixed his gaze on mine, his expression set into a firm line.

“If Eroan can prove that it was Seraphine’s head on that spike, it will hold off our armies.”

I hated what I was about to say, hated that I even contemplated who I would’ve preferred to have died in that moment. Althea or Seraphine, they both deserved life and yet the truth was that one of them would never get to experience it again. Either option was terrible. “Then if it is Althea who is dead… you tell Eroan to lie. You make sure everyone knows the sacrifice of Seraphine, the Asp. Her story must mean something, and if she has died by his hand, the only way I can ensure that is by finishing the task. Tell Eroan that is a command from his king. Anything to hold back our army, Erix. Anything .”

He winced, sharing my discomfort in discovering who Cassial had killed. “I will do it, for you, for the realms and for tomorrow .”

“Thank you,” I said, running my hand down his cheek.

“I love you.” Erix said, sharp and sudden. “Go, before I see sense and change my mind.”

I reached for the reins of the mount we’d ridden to get here, then Erix helped me into the saddle. There was so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to do. But all I did was lay my hand on the vial in my pocket and look to the stretch of barren lands ahead of me. Erix patted his palm on the mount’s behind, urging it forwards. And as it took me away, I didn’t look back. Only forwards, focus ironclad, and will just as indestructible.