Page 157 of The King is Dead
Gall glanced at me and I nodded. He sighed. “I’ll take Harris. She won’t get mad,” he said, pushing to his feet and starting off into the forest.
Yilan clawed at me, trying to pry my arm from around her middle, but I hissed at her not to move. “Let him take Harris. She’ll bring her to us.”
“But… Melek, she’s so timid. And she’s been traveling alone? Fortwo days?”
Harris heard us as she passed on her way to follow Gall. She was pale and clearly worried, but she whispered, “She’s much braver with Gall near.” Then she hurried after him as he stepped into the trees.
Yilan was trembling, but she stopped fighting and soon I set her on her feet holding her until a few minutes later the fog swirled again, and Istral appeared in the shadow of Gall, Harris walking alongside her, one arm around her back, the other hand clamped on her arm like she was afraid Istral might disappear.
She was wearing a fur lined cloak and there were tears on her face, but her expression spoke more of frustration than fear.
“Istral!” Yilan tore out of my arms and ran to her sister, throwing her arms around her and hugging her desperately.
Istral hugged her back, dropping her head to her sister’s shoulder and squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
But when Yilan eventually broke the embrace and started examining Istral, babbling about how scared she must have been, and how tired, reassuring her that Harris would take her back to the Palace, Istral shook her head and took two steps back, straight into Gall, who stood tall, his jaw set, and his eyes darting between me and Yilan.
Yilan went still, gaping, as her sister shook her head again. “I’m not going back.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, and she looked pale. But her chin was high, and she reached back to grasp for Gall’s hand.
I was stunned.
Yilan wasfloored.“Izzy—”
“Gall is my mate and I’m not leaving him. You didn’t leave yours. I’m not leaving mine,” she said in a cracked, thin voice.
Yilan blinked. “The fuck you aren’t—”
“Mate,” I said quietly.
Yilan’s head snapped towards me. “Don’t tell me you had something to do with this?”
“Of course not,” I growled. “But if they are mates, you canunderstand—”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Yilan hissed. “They’re… they’re… this isn’tthat!”
My heart squeezed for her. She’d been so disturbed when Harris suggested that the two might have some kind of connection. She just couldn’t see her sister as anything more than a child. And if I thought she truly was a child, I wouldn’t have pushed. But I knew if the bond existed, it was chosen by God. A divine right. And that meant it wasgood.
“I’m not going back,” Istral said, her voice a little bit stronger this time. “I’m not leaving him.”
“And I’m not leaving her,” Gall added quickly, then looked at me with his lower jaw jutting out.
Harris looked back and forth between them, horrified, but she was calming.
Yilan however…
“This isnota matebond! You are young, and you don’t understand—you don’t have a clue what is involved in a true bond. Either of you. It’s… it’s…”
“You never believed I was a real woman,” Istral said, her lips trembling.
“What? That is not true! I’m only saying—”
“He’s my mate. He keeps me safe. I’m staying.”
“But—”
I slipped up behind Yilan and wrapped an arm around her, hugging her from behind, dropping my chin to her shoulder. “Love, I think… I think maybe we should just calm down and think this through.”
“Surely you can’t think that they’re—”
