Page 52 of The King is Dead
He grunted. “Is that what you want?”
I looked at him in shock. “Of course not!”
“Then why even—”
“Because I also do not want a mate who believes he was tricked into the bond and has been caged there. I know the feeling of being trapped, Melek. Doomed to a match you would not choose, forced to find the best way through it. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone—least of all you. You are mysoul.If you fought the bond, if you didn’t want it, it wouldkill me.But at least I could grieve in peace. Not having to watch you despise me—”
“I donotdespise you,” he growled.
“Don’t you?”
We stared at each other. He’d gone very still. I clenched my fists tighter and made myself give him the out. “The deepest question isn’t whether you would be King,” I breathed. “The point on which all of this hinges is… do you wantme?Because if you don’t, the rest becomes… irrelevant.”
He still didn’t move, but I saw his breathing pick up. Then he rolled his jaw. He looked away, muttering—then his eyes came back to mine with a strange, feral light.
Fear was a block of ice in my chest, freezing my lungs.
I gripped at the bond, dug nails into it, internally shrieking that I was on the cusp of losing him, pleading with God to keep my heart beating when he tore half of it away.
Then he moved in that way he had—liquid quiksilver, one moment standing halfway across the room, the next looming over me, standing toe-to-toe, eyes afire and upper lip beginning to pull back from his teeth.
“You’re telling me,” he seethed, “that you wouldn’t fight? That you’d let me walk away—sever the bond, turn my back, and return to my peoplefree?”
I nodded quickly because sayingyeswould carve out my tongue. “If that was what you chose, I wouldn’t stop you. And I would… arrange it so you could flee safely.”
He leaned down over me, fierce, his hands fisted at his sides. “You want me to believe you wouldn’t have me killed if I turned my back on you?”
I nodded again. “I don’t deny the bond, Melek. Killing you would… destroy me.”
“Then what,” he snarled, “on God’s green earth makes you thinkIwould just walk away fromyou?!”
I blinked. Confused because his words didn’t match the rage burning in his eyes. But before I could ask, his hands snapped to my face, and he puttered a fierce growl as he pulled me up to my toes and kissed me.
17. Make Your Choice
~ YILAN ~
I sucked in a sharp breath, grabbing for his wrists, the bond singing in my chest. But as quickly and fiercely as he'd taken my mouth, he broke the kiss and raised his head to meet my eyes, his shoulders rising and falling with his breath.
“There is no choice, Yilan. Do not pretend we haveanychoice in a bond.”
“Yes, you do!” I insisted, just as fiercely as he ever had. “I’m giving you that choice.”
He eyed me warily and I knew... it was now or never.
“This is the moment, Melek,” I rasped. “I will not hold you against your will. I will not place a crown on your head for you. I won't. I give you my word.”
He stiffened then, but I dug my nails into his wrists.
“I never broke my word. I chose them carefully and—”
“Precisely,” he growled. “You led me to believe—”
“And I won't do it again. You were right. I… I should have trusted you with what I knew. I won’t make that mistake again. But you must see... with Gall, youmustsee that an omission can be intended in love? That you can keep things from someone with good intent?”
He exhaled heavily, the turmoil in his eyes making me tremble.
“Melek, I’m not your enemy. I am the furthest thing from it.”
