Page 15 of The King is Dead
A massive, warrior of a child.
I sighed.
Harris’s brows rose when she saw the size of him.
“I know he’s intimidating to look at,” I told her quietly. “But I assure you, his heart is as soft as Istral’s. In some ways, softer. He’s more aware of his effect on others than she is, I think.”
“She might surprise you,” Harris muttered back. “She often surprises me with her extremely astute observations of others. What is the saying… from the mouth of babes?”
Harris and I met eyes and smiled.
I loved that this woman loved my sister as much as I did. And I had a feeling she’d be just as smitten with Gall.
But first we had to get him awake and moving under his own steam—hopefully without him growing so confused that he became agitated.
“Turo, take the guards to the door—all of them. Once the Wielders remove the sleep, I want everyone outside, or just in the doorway. Give him space.”
Turo’s lips went tight, but he quietly did as I ordered, ushering the others out the door, positioning them ready to enter again, and standing in the doorway himself.
The first Wielder, a male in the full-black suit of an Adept with the sigil of the flame on the breast, looked at me. “Are you ready, Your Majesty?”
I nodded. He turned to clasp hands with his partner, a woman wearing the same dark suit as him, with burnished brown hair that fell in lovely waves around her shoulders.
I couldn’t see what they did, I didn’t have the gift. But I knew there was some kind of weaving, or perhapsunraveling,occurring between them as they lifted the power from Gall that had kept him in a form of hibernation since we’d left the Nephilim camp.
Almost immediately, his cheeks flushed. Then his eyelids fluttered.
I stood right in front of him so the first thing he’d see when he opened his eyes was me.
Sure enough, his eyes flickered, blinked, and eventually stayed open, though glazed. He blinked again and our gazes caught.
“Hi, Gall,” I said as softly as I could. “How are you feeling?”
He blinked again, then smiled. “Yilan!” He immediately pushed up to sit but his entire body swayed as soon as he was upright. He almost tumbled off the bed. I gasped and grabbed his shoulder as he caught himself. But in the process, he’d almost bumped Harris with his head so he noticed her too.
“Hello!” he said brightly, and I had to bite my lip. He seemed a little vacant. Perhaps the magik hadn’t worn off completely.
“Hello, Gall,” Harris said, smiling warmly. “I’m Harris.”
“Are you a man or a woman?” Gall asked loudly.
“Gall!” I hushed, but Harris only chuckled.
“I’m a woman,” she said. “And I know you’re a man. Look at you—you’re very big.”
Gall nodded, and then his eyes rolled slightly. I grabbed for him again worried he’d fall over again, but he shook his head a couple times, blinking, then frowned.
“I feel funny.”
“You’ve been asleep for a long time,” I told him gently. “But it should pass in a few minutes. Just sit here and breathe slowly and deeply. And have a drink of water if you feel thirsty.”
I handed him a waterskin that the Wielders had brought. They’d been dribbling water into his mouth every hour.
He took the waterskin from me and drank from it greedily, his swallows loud and easily audible throughout the room. When he brought the waterskin down he wiped his mouth with his arm, then smiled at me.
“Hey, you’re bringing me water! Why—” He cut off, his eyes going wide as he turned his head from me and Harris and took in the barracks.
It was a sparse room with tall ceilings and bare rafters. Most of the beds were bunk style, but these few in the middle were just singles, sized for the Shadekin warriors who were half his size.
