Page 42 of The King is Dead
I couldn’t resist it. I smiled like the arrogant ass he thought I was. “I’d gamble anything you wish thatshestays your hand from cutting my throat.”
Turo hissed a curse, turned on his heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
I slumped and the smile faded. There was no satisfaction in that win. No real triumph over Turo, and definitely no win over Yilan.
I wanted to forget that the entire exchange had even happened, except to warn Yilan next time we spoke that hermost loyalman was, perhaps, not quite as loyal as she thought. But his words about her, her character, wouldn’t stop looping in my head.
…Yilan is the most loyal and honorable person—not just woman, mind you—that I have ever met. She has beentirelessin her efforts to keep us and our land safe, even putting her life on the line to go after you…you hold nothing but empty, hollow honor in comparison to her. You are a prisoner of war, an enemy, and a bane on this continent. Yet she treats you with respect while you spit curses. She put herself in your hands, accepted your deprivation and perversion despite the fact that she is a Queen…
I would have been impressed and curious if I’d heard that report of an unknown ruler—especially coming from a servant so close to the crown. One who was trusted and would have a chance to see the flaws of character that those held at a distance couldn’t… One who had reason to make me believe she was two-faced.
A niggle of unease tightened my chest.
I gave myself a moment to consider Turo’s words and how I might have reacted if his role had been mine.
Probably not with the same restraint, if I was honest.
And if he was truly disciplined, truly restrained, then he was alsodesperateif he was offering to free me against her will.
She weeps—she thinks she hides it, but she doesn’t. I hear her. Ifeelher.
I growled at the memory of Turo’s words and the proprietary tone. He had spoken of her as an intimate. He thought he could explain my mate to me? Enlighten me on her feelings?
Jealousy, fear, contempt… I wanted to snarl. I wanted to take her in front of him! He thought he’d heard me roar, did he? He hadn’t heardanythingyet, I—
I cut myself off, shaking my head. Clawing hands through my hair.Hatingmyself.
She was my mate. My Pair. MyOne.Not a conquest to be claimed and possessed…
…She is grieving. And whatever causes that grief also compels her to you. She can’t stay away even when she wishes to…
Then it struck me: What if it was true? What if her words werealltrue? What if she believed that she was saving me by bringing me here… and nothing else?
What if she truly believed I should be King, and wanted to put me there forothers’sakes, not just her own?
What if thiswasGod’s plan?
What then?
13. Unwanted Queen
~ YILAN ~
I paced my quarters, cursing myself every time I had to dash tears away, frustrated with this incessantweakness.
I was not a cryer. But since we’d left the Nephilim camp, it seemed like I constantly fought the urge to weep like a child.
I didn’t understand whyIhad been weakened by this. In the Nephilim war camp I had known what I was facing and had almost lost my life more than once, yet there I’d felt stronger and more sure of Melek than I did here in my own palace.
How was it possible? It was as if I’d crossed the border into my lands and turned into this… puddle.
Was it because the bond was stronger now? Because I had more to lose?
Or was it because he was shutting me out?
I still felt him there, within me. But my sense of him was vague. He’d closed me out of his mind entirely.
Was that what made me feel so fragile? Was he on the verge of severing our bond?
