Page 126 of The King is Dead
“Jann distracted you?” I asked Melek without looking away from the Halfling.
“I came to save him,” Jann muttered. “From you.”
“From me?! I’m his mate—”
“You removed him from our camp—I thought you’d killed him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous—”
“We aren’t going to argue this over and over,” Melek growled, straightening from his crouch and turning to face Jannus and the others. “You came for me, to claim me as King. And I’ll take yourloyalty gratefully. But now, listen: Yilan is my mate. My soulbond. Divinely chosen for me. I will not abandon her people because they are my people—and I will not abandon you or our brothers, either. Yilan and I will ruletogether,and together we will change the face of the Continent.”
Jannus stared at Melek like he wasn’t quite sure whether or not to believe him, but it was Hever who huffed and spoke.
“How can we even know if you are the man we thought you were? You’re now mated to an enemy, apparently happy to be carted away from your own people to embrace hers… perhaps your loyalties have changed?” the man said in his serpentine slither of a voice.
I wanted to shudder.
“I am exactly who I have always been,” Melek growled. “If you can’t see that—”
I shook my head. “Unless you all can stop infighting, the Nephilim are going to die, because you aren’t a people, you’re just a cluster of constantly shifting factions who choose to walk the same path at times. That’s not a nation—and definitely not a brotherhood.”
Hever sneered and the other three all went flat-faced, but Melek growled and took one step forward to assert his dominance. The others’ eyes all snapped to him.
“She is not an enemy. She offersinsight.”
“Insight to keep you close and loyal tohercause,” Jann said pointedly.
“Bullshit—she says nothing that you and I haven’t discussed in the past,” Melek snapped back.
Jann blinked like he was shocked that Melek would admit it, but Melek wasn’t letting anyone get any momentum.
“She is not a threat, she is an ally. She wants to see the Neph and Shadekin in peace as much as I do.”
“Well, that’s just pure bullshit,” Jann commented.
One of the other two younger men snorted and Melek shot him a glare. He swallowed it back quickly, but it was obvious that these men didn’t trust me in the slightest.
The others I understood, but I was surprised at the pinch of pain when I realized Jann viewed me as an adversary.
“I want nothing more than peace for all of us,” I said slowly. “If you question my motives, consider that my mate is precious to me, and without peace, we cannot rest.”
“Peace?” Jann said darkly. “You can’t seriously believe—”
“It’s our goal,” Melek said firmly. “And one I will die striving for rather than abandon. But you have complicated everything, taking her like this. If her people haven’t already discovered her absence, they will within the hour. So now we have to figure out how to stop the Shadekin walking into war for her—because they will. Whether it’s a battle they can win, or not.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I interjected before Jannus could make the joke he was about to throw out about letting my people die on their own. “I’ll admit that this isn’t ideal—but… I think I know how we can use it.”
All five men turned to look at me skeptically. Even Melek.
I folded my arms and tipped my head at him.
“Your confidence in me is so encouraging,mate,”I said dryly.
But Melek didn’t even look sheepish.
Fucking men!
I sighed and closed my eyes, rubbing my temples subtly as I pushed my hair back from my face.
