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

“It’s almost the same every night,” Erix said as he explained that he’d come to Imeria because of a nightmare. Apparently I’d been there, pleading with him to come here. And he did. I didn’t have the confidence to ask him what else his dreams entailed, because my heart told me they were connected to those that plagued me. Which didn’t exactly make me comfortable, knowing the scene I’d been a part of, bodies entangled, the three of us locked in flesh and desire.

We studied each other, me sitting upon the edge of my bed, him moving before it, wringing his hands just to give them something to do.

“Sit with me, Erix,” I said, patting the bed at my side, forcing the dream from my mind. “Your pacing is making me nervous.”

So is the thought of you experiencing the same dreams as me. So is the fact that you are here surrounded by all the secrets I’ve fought hard to keep.

Erix had hardly stopped moving since we’d entered my personal rooms, as though he didn’t feel like he belonged. Truthfully, I didn’t either. From what Eroan had explained, this chamber was once used by my mother. It was one of many in Imeria, and luckily it hadn’t been crushed when the Draeic attacked the castle and caused more than half of it to collapse.

She’d used this chamber on the lower floors in the eastern wing when she was pregnant with my half-siblings – sisters and brothers who King Doran Oakstorm had slaughtered in his desire for vengeance. The connecting room just to my side – a door which was concealed by a large tapestry of mountains, stars, and wild stags – led to the smaller room where Duncan was in his induced state of sleep.

Erix stood before it, scuffing marks into the stone-slabbed floor with his boots. “I’m sorry. This is all just a lot to take in.”

Was he apologising for his fidgeting movements, or the fact he’d turned up to Imeria, saying he’d dreamed about me calling for him?

I swallowed down my anxiety and asked the one question simmering in my brain. “How long has it been happening?” Did I really want to know the answer? “The dreams, that is.”

“Weeks, maybe months,” Erix replied without breath. “In fact, longer. It all blends into one if I’m honest. Sometimes I might not remember what I’ve dreamed about, but my body aches and reacts as if I do. But the one detail that always stands out is you are there, as is Duncan… both of you requesting my presence over and over.”

“You should’ve told me,” I said.

“I could say the same to you.” Erix stopped, looked me dead in the eye, the intensity causing me to look down at my lap. My fingers picked at the seam of my trousers, fraying thread. If I had nails left to bite, Altar knows they’d be between my teeth by now. “Robin, you haven’t given me, or anyone but Eroan and Jesibel, much of a chance to get close enough to speak to you about even minor matters. And until last night, it has only ever felt like a dream, something my own mind conjures to… punish me. For things I have done in my past, but perhaps also actions I never took.”

“This is no punishment,” I replied. “At least not in the sense that you are thinking.”

Erix’s eyes darkened to storm clouds. “It is Duncan, isn’t it? He is creating these dreams somehow. Taunting me – taunting us .”

“Nightmares,” I corrected. “And no, I don’t think I can blame him either. Not entirely.”

It’s the monster beneath his flesh that’s doing this to us.

“And are they nightmares for you?” Erix asked, a hopeful glint in his eye.

I lifted my gaze, looking toward the tapestry, more so what lingered behind it. “Yes – most of the time.”

There was a relief in sharing the burden. Like a weight, not completely lifting from my shoulders, but easing a little. All it would take is to ask him what exactly happened in his dreams, and hope it wasn’t a mirror image of those I had.

Limbs entangled, mouths connected, a blanket of desire and love wrapped around us.

“How is it possible?” Erix asked, although I knew he already had worked out the answer.

“You tell me,” I retorted. “Or are we going to keep pretending like nothing happened when you saved Duncan from Duwar’s realm?”

I studied Erix in the silence that followed, reading the nuances of his expression. The wince in his silver eyes, the deepening of lines across his forehead. How his fists balled at his side, never straying far from the sword belted at his hip.

Before he replied, he finally took a seat.

Erix drew up a chair, opting not sit on the bed with me. It was a wise choice, a cautious one, born from the knowledge of our past, and the fact my present and future was festering in a bed of chains in the room beside us.

Being without Duncan’s touch had starved me. I was famished for the comfort a familiar hand could offer. Or was this the remnants of the dream-world lingering? But it wasn’t Erix who could offer it to me, and he knew it.

“I fear the moment I tell you, that it will make it all real,” Erix said, leaning forwards with his elbows propped on his knees. He looked… exhausted, defeated almost.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Not because anything he said was humorous, but because we were finally facing the maelstrom of secrets he’d kept from me. It was a reaction born of relief. “It’s real already, Erix. Duncan is… Duncan isn’t himself and hasn’t been since you saved him.” Saved him. Could I even call it that anymore? “Many of us changed after Rinholm, but Duncan… it is different. Darker.”

Erix leaned closer, his fingers reaching out for my knee, his touch exactly what I needed in that moment.

“Take your time,” he commanded, looking through his lashes at me.

I nodded, gathering myself. “I’ve tried everything to help him, but I have finally run out of hope.” I choked on my emotion as it clogged my throat, control over myself a far-off concept.

“The Gardineum was never for you, was it?” Erix asked, refusing to look away.

I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t.”

Erix slumped forwards, burying his face in his hands. His breathing came out ragged, so much so that the urge to lay a hand on him so he could feel comfort was a siren call hard to ignore. His hands clawed into fists, the knuckles white with tension. Fleetingly, I reached over and let him feel my touch, to know he wasn’t alone. Just as it worked for me, it seemed to have the same effect, because Erix’s hand slowly shifted until it lay over mine, keeping me in place for a few seconds.

Then the connection severed, as I knew it would.

“Duwar was waiting for him when we fell through the gate,” Erix began, clearing his throat to give room for the self-assured man to tell this story. “The world beyond it was in complete ruin, not a single sign of life. The sky was blood red, the ground leached of colour. It felt like… death, and yet there was something else. A potential for power I could not place my finger on.” Erix looked up and met my gaze. “But then there Duwar was, except it was not the demon I expected to see–”

“What do you mean?” I encouraged, needing to know.

“It – it did not look the same as it had when we saw its reflection. Certainly not the same figure we saw in Aldrick’s mirrors. Duwar wasn’t the horned, fire-and-brimstone form. They looked… normal, almost. A vision I certainly didn’t expect.”

My breath caught in my throat. I dared not move for fear it would stop the truth from finally being shared. Everything Erix was saying, horrifying as it was, was knowledge I craved since the moment I first knew that Duwar had successfully escaped in Duncan’s body.

Erix took a deep breath in, and said, “It was another trick. A lure to get Duncan close, no doubt. And it worked.”

It was no different to what Duwar was doing to me now. Using Duncan to lure me in only to ensnare me in a trap.

“What did Duwar do to him, Erix?” I asked, voice trembling. “I know it physically marked him, the scars he had on his chest still don’t heal. But surely I’m missing something in all of this?”

Silence hummed between us, Erix barely blinking as if he was trapped in a memory that frightened him to death.

“Please,” I persisted. “You need to tell me.”

“Duwar was just… talking. Duncan was listening. I – I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Duncan wasn’t frightened. He didn’t fight back. And then…” Erix shook his head, struggling with the memory.

“What you are going to say may be the key to fixing this. To saving Duncan.”

“Those marks, the scars that will not heal, that was when Duncan got them. It wasn’t because Duwar attacked him, there was no sense of danger between either of them. It… I tried to get to Duncan. I was too slow. If I was just a little quicker, then–” Erix lifted his hand and began slamming his fist into his head.

I felt his pain and suffering as though it twanged down a taut piece of string connecting us to one another.

“Stop it,” I cried, leaping from the bed and snatching his arm. It took all my might to stop him from hitting himself. “Stop, Erix. I fucking command it! Do you hear me. Stop this now .”

The resistance in Erix’s arm faltered enough for me to gain control. I stood over him, panting for breath, as I made sure he couldn’t hurt himself again. His eyes were fixed on an unimportant place on the floor, his brows furrowed and wings twitching nervously.

“I understand this is hard,” I said, laying fingers beneath his chin. I guided his head up until his eyes found mine again. That seemed to calm him. “It’s been torture for me. But hearing you speak so freely about Duwar, it makes me feel a little less insane in all of this. And as horrifying as the truth is, it is giving me the comfort I have desired for months.”

“All this time and you’ve been coping with this alone.” Erix shook himself, giving up his fight against me, the side of his head bloomed red from the force of his hits. He looked at me through tear-filled eyes, which broke me to the core. The gaze of a haunted man, the very same I saw in my own reflection every time I lifted the mirror beside Duncan’s bed. “I can’t live with myself knowing I left you…”

“I made you go, Erix. That is my fault, not yours.” I wished he not only heard me but felt the sincerity in my tone. “When you are ready, I need you to explain how Duwar was able to trick Duncan enough to get close.”

What Erix revealed next was not what I expected to hear from his pale lips.

“It was you,” Erix said. “The being I saw Duncan talking with was you. Not the demon-god, but you . I think that was why Duncan got close – he was confused because there you were, waiting for him, as if he’d not just fallen into the hellscape that was Duwar’s realm.”

Another illusion, another trick to make us defenceless.

“Me?” I gasped, wondering how Duncan must’ve felt when he fell into that realm of corruption and saw me standing there. Did he think I fell in with him? Had he come to save me, only to find himself punished for his selflessness?

“Yes. And I saw you too. That power I mentioned, it was coming from you like you were some beacon. A light, a god. I knew it wasn’t real, or was it? I still to this day cannot say which.”

Erix fell into silence again.

“Keep going when you are ready.” If the fury in my tone, or the command, had the power to stop Erix harming himself, it was the desperation in my eyes that truly rendered him powerless to refuse me.

“Duwar – or you – laid a hand on Duncan’s chest. I thought it was a simple gesture, like the greeting of friends… lovers. But clearly the action hurt Duncan. He screamed. Then he fell to the ground and Duwar was gone. I didn’t stick around to see what had happened. I picked Duncan up and flew back to the gate before it closed. It wasn’t until we were through that I saw the claw marks on his chest.”

The wound that hadn’t healed in the weeks since it happened. The angry, puckered marks that oozed blood and pus. Neither Elinor’s healers in Elmdew, nor any medicine I’d ordered from the apothecary, had been successful in healing the infection that burned there.

“It was some form of transference then,” I said, speaking aloud as my mind pieced together the scrambled puzzle pieces. “That was how Duwar was able to enter Duncan.”

“So, it’s true. Duwar is here… in him .”

I grimaced at the sharp crack of Erix’s final word. “Unfortunately, yes.”

I saw the pieces of the puzzle slot perfectly together in Erix’s mind.

“I am so sorry, little bird. This is my fault. I should have–”

My legs gave out as I sat back on the bed, hands numb as they rested on my lap. “I’ve told you. This is no one’s fault but my own. I should have never agreed to put my power into the stones. I was convinced it was the only way to prevent this threat from ever affecting our realms again, but instead I only made it a possibility. Now three keys are destroyed, Duncan is possessed and the only way to destroy Duwar is by murdering his host. But I’m just so selfish, I could never do that, Erix. This all could be over if I just killed Duncan, but I can’t… I’m too weak…”

“Your self-pity and regret are misplaced, and yet I feel them as if they are mine to harbour,” Erix said. “I hate myself for allowing you to deal with this alone. I should’ve refused you when you sent me away. No matter how you shut me out, I know you well enough to sense that something was wrong. I just never… I never thought it would be this.”

Erix’s voice cracked as he replied, which made the fissures in my chest widen.

“You’d never be able to refuse me, Erix,” I whispered. “We both know that.”

He bowed his chin to his chest, his sigh monumental. “Because you are both my greatest weakness, and my greatest strength.”

I stood abruptly, putting space between us as guilt racked through me. I couldn’t do this, not with Erix – not as Duncan lay, helpless and dying, in the room beside me. It was wrong, and yet it felt almost right. He was comforting me, and I him. And even though my intention was pure, I still suffered with the concept that I was crossing lines that I shouldn’t even contemplate.

Perhaps it was a repercussion of Duwar’s nightmares, or maybe my own internalised feelings. But having Erix here was both the biggest blessing and an equally terrible allure.

The war inside of me wasn’t helping me make sense of the actual battle I had to face. But then it clicked. The draw to Erix had little to do with our past, and everything to do with that fact that I finally had shared the heavy weight of truth that pushed down on me.

This was what I craved, the openness, the ability to share a problem I had previously taken so long to get used to and was forced to forgo.

“I have no right to ask you to stay and help me,” I said, forcing the words out and making them sound like I actually meant them. “But I admit that having someone here to share this burden with is… a relief.”

“Eroan does not know about this?” Erix asked, surprise creasing his handsome face.

“No, and neither does Jesibel. She’s been through enough; I wouldn’t put this upon her. I caused this problem, so it’s my responsibility to fix it.”

“Maybe you enjoy the burden then, but as you said, I am here now to share it.” Erix stood too, towering over me to the point that my neck tilted just to keep his gaze. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

Shivers passed over my skin so powerfully, I wondered if Erix’s gaze at my arms was because he noticed.

“I think it’s best you leave,” I replied. “It isn’t safe for you to be tangled in this web too.”

“Is that another command?” Erix asked, all without moving from his seat. “Or will you allow me to make a decision of my own?”

I swallowed down the urge to retract my statement. “Tell no one, Erix. Not Althea, Gyah, Cassial or his Nephilim. This isn’t for them to know. I will find a way to solve this issue that doesn’t involve you or anyone else. This is my problem alone to face. I opened the gate. I destroyed the keys–”

“You only did what you believed you had to do.”

I spun around, fury and grief melding to one tumultuous emotion. “I gave Duwar the ability to leave his realm, using Duncan as a vessel. I brought a demon god here, threatening the lives of everyone I love. My actions, my deceptions , have spat in the face of everyone who died in the journey to prevent this very thing from happening.”

Erix reached for me, clasping my hands in his and refusing to let go.

“Now listen to me carefully, Robin Icethorn.” The use of my full name shocked me to stone. “Once again you blame yourself, falling into the ease of self-pity as though it is your one and only option for comfort and support. Enough. You have said this is your burden to bear alone, but it is not.”

“How can you say that to me with such conviction, Erix?” I pulled free of his hold, and began to pace. Gathering all the nervous energy burning through me, I put it to use. “I’m a fool. A selfish, desperate child who acts before he thinks, and because of that half of my heart is lying in a bed, chained like a monster, dying, whilst the other half of my heart is trying to justify my mistakes. You only look at me like that because you’re too blinded by your care for me to see that I’m no less a monster than Duwar.”

“Lies,” Erix snapped. “All of it. Lies. You can continue to repeat those things to yourself, and you may believe it, but I do not. I will not.”

I realised what I admitted before I took my shuddering breath at the end of my speech. There was no ignoring it. My heart, split in two, held in the hands of two men. Perhaps this was Altar’s way of punishing me for such transgressions. I could pretend and blame the dreams Duwar punished me with every night, but these crashing waves of feelings began long ago.

That was why I had to refuse Erix. Because if I gave in, I was only failing to Duwar’s tests and trickery. The demon brought us together for a reason, and I had to trust it was not a good one.

Erix tried again to reach for me, wings twitching with unspent energy. He caught his lip between his teeth, his silver eyes darkening to forged steel. “I refuse to let you deal with this alone anymore. Fuck your commands. Fuck what you want. For once, I am going to do what I want to do, with no one to control me. I’d sooner be locked in the dungeons of this castle, if that means I’m still close enough for you to call on.”

It hurt like a dagger to my chest to realise my treatment of Erix was no different to how his birth-father had treated him.

“And what is it you want to do?” I stopped long enough to ask. “Risk yourself for me until fate finally catches up with you?”

“If that is what fate has in store, then so be it.” Erix’s jaw tensed, the muscles in his cheeks becoming pronounced. “I want to help you. Support you. Be with you .”

Part of me wanted to fall into his arms and thank him. The other part – the louder, more dominating side of me – wanted to slam my palms into his hard chest and force him out of Imeria myself, for good.

Ice crackled in the air around me, mirroring my lack of control over my emotions. Since the key I harboured in my blood had been destroyed, my power was not what it once was. Before it was endless, now more contained, not weak in the sense of the word, just… limited.

“Why?” I spat.

Erix straightened, contemplating his reply in a moment of silence. As he opened his mouth, I was prepared to hang on his every word. But the shattering of glass in another room stopped him from replying.

I turned sharply, looking toward the direction of the noise. It had come from Duncan’s chamber, beyond the hanging tapestry.

Before I could even contemplate what I was doing, I ran. Without thought, Erix was on my heels. I ripped back the tapestry, tearing it from the wall so it slumped across the floor. With a shove, I threw open the door, wood cracking against the stone wall on the other side.

“Duncan,” I cried out, seeing his body slumped over the side of the bed as if he was reaching for something. He didn’t look at me, his focus entirely diverted. Heavy, tired eyes blinked, and sweat shone on his brow, hair tangled in knots where it hung limp over his face.

“He should be sleeping,” I gasped, knowing the administration of Gardineum had happened barely an hour ago. “Why isn’t he sleeping!”

It was impossible he was awake – unless…

“Altar, bless us.” Erix took a rasped inhale. It was most likely from the shock of seeing how I’d been keeping Duncan, or from the disgust that came from the smell of the room. Clearly, Duncan had soiled himself. It wasn’t uncommon, since I couldn’t risk removing the iron from his body and allowing him to relieve himself.

I’d need to clean him – bathe him. But for that, he had to be heavily under the influence of the Gardineum and clearly the dosage I was giving was nowhere near enough.

Perhaps it hadn’t been for a long time either, and that thought unnerved me more than anything.

I raced to Duncan’s side, almost stepping in shattered glass. The mirror, the one I used to check his reflection, was lying broken on the ground. I saw my reflection hundreds of times, wide, sad eyes looking up at me, whilst catching a glimpse of Duncan – and how terrible he looked. But it was him, his reflection instead of the demon beneath his skin.

“He shouldn’t be awake, Erix,” I said, clearing the floor of glass with my boot. “I’ve only just given him a dosage of Gardineum. Something is wrong – Duwar is persisting, growing stronger as Duncan becomes weaker.”

Erix was stunned to silence, barely moving. I didn’t have time to care as I hoisted Duncan’s body back over the edge of the bed, assisting with him lying down.

“Talk to me, Duncan,” I pleaded, feeling how warm his skin was. He was boiling to the touch, his skin clammy. “What’s happened? Do you need something?”

Duncan swept his tired eyes from me to Erix. He wasn’t shocked when he saw my ex-guard shadowing us from the doorway. In fact, his reaction was soft, brows lifting from their tense line. Relief, it painted his tortured face.

Duncan sighed, closing his eyes as the lines across his forehead smoothed. “Erix… came… Good .”

I was dumfounded, utterly shocked as I helped Duncan lie back down. His words settled over my consciousness like embers, hissing and spitting and yet not uncomfortable as I expected they would be.

“I did,” Erix replied, tone careful. He took his place on the other side of Duncan’s bed, his demeanour taut as if every muscle he had was hard as stone. “Because of you.”

Duncan’s weak smile tugged the corners of his cracked lips. “You took your… time.”

Erix cleared his throat before continuing. “Can I ask why you orchestrated my visit, Duwar ?”

Duncan winced at the name. “The power is resting… you’re speaking to me. And to answer your… your question, I brought you here because Robin needs you. For that, I need you.”

“No.” Erix sucked in a sharp breath. “Robin needs you to get better, that is all.”

“Wait,” I said, snatching a broken shard of glass and lifting it before Duncan’s face. Tears welled in my eyes when I saw the reflection of the man I loved so terribly that I’d give my own life for him. “It’s really you.”

“Yes, darling.” Duncan’s words were slurred, and yet unmistakably his. “It is me… for now.”

I leaned over him, back hunched as adrenaline flooded out of me.

“Erix,” Duncan rasped, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Not a ghost, Duncan. Just you. I must say you’ve looked better, friend.” Erix scoffed an awkward laugh, but his face was void of any humour or happiness. Seeing Duncan in his state had shaken him deeply, only adding to my guilt.

“I’ve felt… better too.” Duncan extended a weak, shaking hand toward Erix, who took it without question. “I must speak with you, Erix. There isn’t time to… waste.”

Erix glanced cautiously at me, almost searching for permission. I didn’t need to give it, but I nodded anyway as I smoothed down Duncan’s greasy hair with a shaking hand.

Slowly, Erix approached. His pace was slow with trepidation, his hand never straying from his sword. Although I knew he’d never use it against Duncan, a feeling I didn’t need to be confirmed with words.

“Do I… really look that bad, Erix?”

Erix’s face screwed up, lips pouting in contemplation. “You certainly are still the handsome man I first met, Duncan,” Erix said as he stepped to the bed’s side. I admired his awkward attempt to soften reality, but it barely met its intended mark. “It brings me no comfort to see you like this.”

“Try being… in my position, friend.” Duncan smiled weakly. “Listen to me.” He reached for Erix and wrapped trembling fingers around his wrist. It was so sudden, so full of panic, which reflected in Duncan’s unblinking stare. “Robin… needs you. No matter what… whatever Robin says… I ask that you don’t leave his side again.”

My breath caught in my throat, tears finally falling in rivulets down my cheeks.

Erix spared me a glance. “As much as I agree, I can’t force him to do anything. You know this–”

“You would both refuse a man in such a dire state?” Duncan rolled his head and faced me, the inner pain painted in his exhaustion and colourless cheeks. “I made Erix come… for you. Because if I can’t protect you from yourself, he can.”

“Duncan, you must rest,” I began.

“And you must listen,” Duncan gasped, struggling to force out the words. “I know Erix will lay his life down for you… and that is all I can ask for.”

There was no stopping the sob that broke out of me. I clapped a hand over my mouth a moment too late. Erix noticed but didn’t take his eyes off Duncan. The intensity between them was thick. So overbearing I found my knees trembling beneath it.

Erix didn’t shy away from the demand. Instead, he knelt at the bedside, clasped Duncan’s hand and held it firm. “You need to continue fighting Duwar. Do it for Robin, promise me that and I, in turn, will promise to stay with him.”

“I’m so tired… so very tired.” Duncan closed his eyes, exhaling a breath through ruined lips. I waited for him to open them again, but he didn’t. His breathing evened, his grasp on Erix loosened. And in the wake of the last few minutes, we were left in a gaping void of silence that had the power to undo every fibre of my being.

Time moved strangely. Erix had come round to my side of the bed without me noticing. I could barely think straight, couldn’t form a thought long enough before my mind crumbled.

“How about we clean this mess up,” Erix suggested softly. “Then you need to rest too.”

I looked down, seeing what he pointed at. The glass was everywhere, but I didn’t care. None of it mattered, not as Duncan’s weak request echoed in my mind.

“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted. If it wasn’t for Erix embracing me, I would’ve fallen to the ground and stayed there. “I can’t – I don’t know how to fix this.”

“Shh,” Erix hushed, laying his chin on top of my head, wings folding around me until I was entirely encased. I allowed this moment of connection, because Duncan had been clear in his intention in bringing Erix here. “I am here now and I am not going anywhere. I have new orders to follow now, and I vow to do so until my last breath.”

Duncan’s orders, that was what he referred to.

Somehow, through the trickery of Duwar’s forced dreams, Duncan had woven his own intention within them. He’d brought Erix here, for me. Which opened a new question.

How was Duncan able to use Duwar?

You called, so I came.

I knew, without a doubt, that Duncan achieved this for one reason. Because he knew that Erix was the only other person who’d give his life protecting me, just as he said.

That’s what you did when you loved someone. Even though our love had changed over time, it was still there. Duncan understood that even if I wasn’t brave enough to face it.

I looked back to Duncan, recognising the soft smile as he slept. His expression was peaceful, something I’d not seen in a long time. I couldn’t help but feel like this was Duncan’s way of accepting his fate. He was happily giving up, because he knew I wouldn’t be alone. Duncan would die, hopefully taking Duwar with him.

But that was only a theory, not something to throw a life away for just to try.

“I’m so scared,” I admitted into Erix’s chest. “The path ahead is dark and I – I don’t think I’ll make it to the end without you, even if my head is telling me to turn you away.”

I’d once told Erix I was scared of the dark, but that fear was tenfold now.

“Tell me what your heart is saying?” Erix encouraged. “Speak it aloud, do not let it fester.”

I toyed with my answer, either giving him the full truth or just a fraction of it. “My heart is telling me to listen to Duncan’s wishes.”

In case they are his last.

Erix drew back enough that I could see the utter determination in his gaze. “As I told you when we first met, you only need to call for me and we’ll face the darkness together. You’re my duty and my pleasure, little bird. But first, you need to rest. Then, and only then, we will begin to formulate a plan.”

He released me slowly, but his touch still lingered.

I stood by and watched Erix clean up the shattered glass. Duncan slept soundly, showing no sign that he was conscious. Once Erix had finished, he guided me back into the joining chamber, re-hanging the thick tapestry behind us. I didn’t say another word, for fear further conversation would dilute the last thing he said to me .

You’re my duty and my pleasure.

It wasn’t until he tucked me in bed, pulled the curtains shut to block out the light of dawn, that I was brave enough to make a sound.

“Erix, will you watch over Duncan for me?” I asked. “Would you wake me if – when he stirs again?”

I watched him contemplate the question as though I’d asked him to answer life’s greatest mysteries. “Only if you promise to sleep.”

Not even the thought of what nightmares I’d face could frighten me. Only if Erix stayed close. “I promise I’ll try.”

Erix didn’t hesitate. He left the door to Duncan’s room open, giving us a full view of his bed. Then he drew his chair up beside my own bed, respecting the boundary line between us. Even after Duncan’s request, I sensed the line between Erix and me, keeping us apart. The respect for my relationship with Duncan shone in Erix – I admired him for it.

Maybe the nightmares would stop haunting me, now Erix was here? I could only hope that was the case. To think straight long enough to find a solution to this issue, I’d need uninterrupted rest.

I opened my mouth to fill the silence, but Erix quickly interjected. “Ah, ah. You promised to rest. No more talking.”

My request lingered on the tip of my tongue, unspoken and left alone. I nodded, rolled my back to Erix and closed my eyes. This position gave me the perfect view to Duncan where he lay, his face soft and relaxed, not an ounce of suffering etched into his features.

That was enough for me, for now at least.

Sleep came quicker than it had in a long time. Because for the first time, even with Duncan always close, I didn’t feel alone.