Page 111 of The King is Dead
40. The Time is Now
~ MELEK ~
I was uneasy from the first step outside that door, knowing she couldn’t follow me until she dressed. The guards were shocked to see me, which reminded me that they hadn’t known I was in the suite.
Four spears leveled at my chest. Turo had clearly been spreading the word.
Fuck.
I raised my hands to show I held no weapon, and tried to keep my voice calm.
“The Queen is following me. She’s just—”
“Sir, how did you enter the royal apartments?” the first guard said, his voice creeping with suspicion.
Shit. I forgot that I’d snuck in.
We stared at each other, and I knew this could change everything.
“Hear me,” I said softly. “I pose no threat—to her, or to you. I snuck in only because there was chaos and I didn't want to add to it.”
“Snuck inhow, Sir?” the guard said through his teeth. “General Arturo was searching for the Queen and she was not there.”
Shit shit shit shitshit.
I swallowed, keeping my hands up. “She is there. Only he didn't find her. On the verandah,” I said pointedly. “If you'll just wait a few moments, she will be out here and can explain to you herself.”
One of the guards peered into the room, but she must have disappeared into the closet or something because he looked back at their leader, shaking his head.
I closed my eyes so they wouldn't see me cursing them in my mind.
“I'm not lying to you. She's only changing and preparing to be seen. If you would just wait, she'll tell you I am no threat,” I said through my teeth, cursing Turo for his appearance that spurred this and got me so flustered I forgot simple details. I wanted to tell them to go looking for her, but presumably she was changing, and that would just cause more disruption.
The guards were looking at each other and not lowering their weapons. I knew they were tensing, growing more suspicious, not less. Unless we defused this, it could goverywrong. But just as I opened my mouth to reassure them further, a bloodcurdling scream rose from the apartment and we all whirled.
“ASSASSIN!”
My heart died in my chest.
I roared, rushing forward—straight into a spear point at my throat.
“Let me go, man—someone’shurting her!”I snarled.
But the leader only nudged that blade harder against my neck and snapped instructions. One guard took off down the hallway while the two furthest from me peeled off for the door, weapons ready—then drew up short just as Yilan appeared in the light, wrapped in a robe, her eyes wide on me.
“He’s no threat—let him go. There’s someone in my chamber who just tried to kill me!” she gasped. The leader blinked and I snarled at him just as Yilan snapped, “I said, release him!”
Then a horn was rising, echoing through the hallways and corridors of the Palace. Shouts rose, and new chaos began.
I grabbed for Yilan before she could disappear and pulled her to my side. “What happened?”
“An archer,” she muttered quickly. But whenI pressed, she shook her head, looking past me down the hallway, but then images bloomed in my head—her standing in the dark and an arrow cracking against the wall behind her, then the desk.
My blood ran cold and I yanked her tighter against my back, turning for the door, but she hissed at me.
“No, Melek!”
I would have turned and asked her, but there were suddenly a dozen sprinting bodies. Men in uniform, and some in simple fighting leathers. Commands shouted and feet pounding. A circle of guards surrounded us while others disappeared into the dark chamber and more men rushed down the halls towards us.
