Page 38 of A Kingdom of Lies
I turned my head, unable to watch the moment. It was too familiar, the tension raw and tender, reminding me of the man I left behind – the one who left me.
It didn’t take long for Althea to find sleep. She slept before she would’ve heard Gyah’s reply. But I did. It settled over me, words which were not meant for me still made me feel as though I was enveloped in a warm embrace, whilst taunting me and my past.
“It is both my duty” – Gyah lifted Althea’s knuckles against her lips – “and my pleasure.”
CHAPTER 13
Finstock, among many things, was a silent place. Even with the stone-cold rooms full of humans there wasn’t a sound. It made falling asleep surrounded by enemies an easy feat. Althea, Gyah and I had managed to sleep in the same room as it became apparent that no one was coming to separate us.
At the arrival of dawn the next day, the serenity ended.
When the screams began, it shattered the illusion of being alone. The sound clawed into my consciousness and dragged me, unwillingly, from the dreamless state I’d found myself in.
It was Gyah who woke first, urging us all awake with her sudden shout of dismay. “Do you hear that?”
I rubbed sleep from my eyes, glancing at Althea who did the same. Colour had returned to her skin, the apples of her cheeks flushed red once again.
“I thought I was dreaming it.” Althea pushed herself to a sitting position with less effort than the night before.
Gyah raced to the glassless window and was about to speak until her eyes settled upon something that caused her distress. She clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling the swear that clawed out of her.
I joined her side in an instant, shoulder to shoulder, as my eyes fixed upon the cause of commotion.
Fey. There were three of them, carted within a wheeled cage, surrounded by the stern-faced cultists. And they were screaming, begging to be freed.
Gyah slammed a palm into the wall, almost cracking stone. “This cannot be happening.”
“What?” Althea called over, voice strained and pleading. She couldn’t stand from the bed to see what was happening outside. If she had, iron cuff or not, I imagined an inferno would’ve devoured the world.
“They have fey captives outside,” I explained, unable to take my eyes off the three horror-stricken, tear-streaked faces of the prisoners. The fey wailed like cats, each clinging onto one another as though they tried to keep afloat within stormy seas.
But that wasn’t what sickened me to the core.
“They are…” My voice broke, unable to finish as bile raced up the back of my throat. I had to swallow it down, otherwise the little food we’d been given would’ve been wasted.
“Robin.” Althea’s tone was commanding. “They are what?”
It was Gyah who answered, her voice a simmering growl.
“Children.” Gyah’s palm became a fist as she punched the wall. Bone cracked against stone and her knuckles came back torn and bloodied. “They have children.”
I’d been unable to put it into words, as though the cuff around my neck had tightened to a point that speaking was impossible. I was choking on the reality of what I witnessed. Three children, no more than seven years of age, were being carted towards a camp of crazed, hateful cultists.
“We have to do something,” Althea growled, half from anger and the rest from pain as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She sat on the edge, wild red hair hanging on either side of her shoulders as she fought to calm her breathing. “I refuse to sit in this room and listen to whatever end awaits them within this hellscape. Robin, help me up.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Moving to Althea’s side, I allowed her arm to wrap around my shoulders so I could hoist her up. She trembled at my side yet held firm. Her strength was fuelled by the growing volume of the young feys’ haunting cries as their cart grew closer. “Let me see them.”
“I don’t know what we can do, Althea,” I petitioned, voice shaking as violently as my body.
“Take me to the window, Robin.” Althea glowered.
Gyah was practically leaning out of it when we got to her side, face pressed between the narrow slit as she began screaming. “Touch them and I will bathe in your blood, you pathetic bastards.”
Not a single Hunter turned to look at Gyah as they ran through the courtyard towards Finstock’s entrance.
Althea’s hand rested upon Gyah’s shoulder. Her touch seemed to snap Gyah back out of the throes of anger that’d overwhelmed her. As if shocked, she turned to face Althea, eyes red and cheeks wet from the flow of persistent tears. “Children, Althea. They are going to hurt them.”
“Not if they have magic.” Althea closed her eyes, lips pulling into a thin line. Gyah hung her head, chin to chest, as her own quiet cries became sobs.
