Page 119 of The King is Dead
I was not stupid. I wouldn’t put myself in danger. But the Queen of the Shadekin would walk the shadows this night and give her assistance to finding these monsters.
If I found them I’d immediately leave and inform our strongest warriors where they were. And if I didn’t, no one would be the wiser.
43. Walking the Night
~ YILAN ~
One of the few advantages to the prudish traditions of my people was that the men were sticklers for my modesty. Once the tower room had been searched and cleared, Turo set the guards at the doors and firmly declared that unless I called for them, no one was to enter the chamber while I slept without announcing themselves first and waiting for my call to enter. After all, it wouldn’t do for hairy soldiers to stumble on the Queen in her nightclothes.
Even Turo averted his eyes as he bowed to leave the room, urging me to get rest while it was possible.
My heart sank a little at how formal he’d become, but I’d known it would happen. And it was only going to make him feel the distance more if I apologized again, or make him speak about it. So I held my tongue when he left, then didn’t wait to blow out the lantern they’d left near the small bunk that had been pulled from our travel gear.
Turo had hated the idea that I’d sleep so poorly, but I assured him that after sleeping in that cage for months I’d have no trouble. I had been quick to agree to this area as my hidden housing because I knew what else was in this room.
Namely, fighting leathers, weapons, and anything else I could want for a shadow walking mission.
I knew I couldn’t leave too quickly, so I sat on the side of the cot for a short time, praying and thinking through where the Nephilim had made their attack, what I knew of the gardens on that side of thePalace, and places they might have secreted themselves waiting for me.
I would check those areas first—shadow walking, of course—so even if I discovered them, they wouldn’t see me. And if I succeeded in finding them… well, the men in my life could just swallow their tongues. They shouldn’t have assumed I would be happy to sit on the sidelines and let the others take this task alone.
I may have found my mate, and his throne might outrank mine once he was crowned, but I remained Queen, and a fighter.
I was not going to sit back and let these fuckers kill their way through my Palace when I might help.
Forty minutes later with my robe and a couple pillows shoved under the blankets of the cot to look like my sleeping form, I stood in the dark in fighting leathers, my face shrouded, and blades sheathed at my back, thigh, and ribs. I turned to face the outer wall of the tower.
With more effort than was ideal, I walked the shadows through the exterior wall, dropping one full story to the grass outside. I stayed in the crouch where I landed for a breath and smiled.
It didn’t matter that I was tired. I wasn’t going to sit on my ass tonight and let this happen around me. I would solve this problem and return to my mate. Wewouldface the rest of this debacle together.
An hour later I stood under the trees, looking up at my covered balcony and the wide hole in the top of the iron screen that Melek had pulled open. Turo hadn’t had the blacksmith up to fix it yet and as I was scouting the area, trying to figure out where the Neph must have been to see Melek enter that way, it struck me the incredible strength he possessed to be able to bend the iron back like that. The screens themselves were thin metal that had been hammered and forged for cover rather than strength. But the frames were solid rods, and that was the part that Melek had bent wide.
A trill ran through my stomach at the mental image of my mate crouched on that roof, bending metal with his bare hands and I instinctively reached for him through the bond. The sense of himsimmered at the center of my chest, and in the back of my mind at all times. I was still learning the bond, still trying to understand it. We were getting better at sending each other sensations and emotions through that cord when we were distant. I still couldn’t speak into his mind, though. And even though IthoughtI was looking in the right direction to find him, I couldn’t be certain. The sense of his location was as foggy as the Shadows of Shade. The only thing I could be certain of was that he lived, and his emotions just now were settled. He felt nothing particularly strongly. I gathered he was either distracted, or slipping towards sleep.
I didn’t want him asking questions about why I suddenly felt surges of need for him. I knew he’d be livid if he learned I was out here tonight. So, I stifled my desire, and made myself focus on the task at hand. But I couldn’t resist sending a little wave of admiration for him. I’d explain why in the morning.
Letting my eyes scan those screens and that breach, I settled back into the darkness under the trees to rest and take a break from the shadows. I’d already checked the area and there was no sign of the Neph here now, so I’d take a breather to think and plan.
The problem with having protective men in my life was that they were so focused on keeping me safe, they didn’t always consider some of the riskier options that could pay off in situations like these.
As I looked up at that bent screen again, it occurred to me that the hole Melek had left, which Turo saw as such a vulnerability, might be useful. If we didn’t fix it properly, I had no doubt the Neph would also see it as a vulnerability.
Perhaps we could tempt them to come for me again with a weak fix on the screen and a decoy to make them believe I was back in the chamber. Draw them closer.
Melek was so certain that one of them had flown to that spot, they must be watching it to have gotten there so quickly after his breach. If we could get a few of the stronger shadow walkers rested tomorrow, then slip them invisibly into this area when it grew dark, we could taunt our infiltrators with light in my chamber and see if we couldn’t lure them to reveal themselves.
The problem, of course, was that a Shadekin couldn’t take a Nephilim one-on-one in straight combat. Melek’s ability to bend metal was only proof of that. So we needed numbers out here in case the Neph revealed themselves. But numbers made it so much more likely that the Neph would detect us…
Dart them.
Wecould dart them, fell them like trees. That wouldn’t require many of our men to be present, and would stop the Neph being an immediate threat to the shadow walkers. We could place a wider perimeter of shadow walkers around the Palace before we revealed the bait, so even if some of them got past our invisible first line of defense, we could catch them moving away when their brothers fell.
Nodding to myself, I turned back towards the deeper shadows of the forest, already mentally composing my suggestion, considering the arguments that Turo and Melek would put up, and how I’d answer them.
I was several feet from the tree where I’d stood when I heard the lightest whisper of movement—a leaf scraping on leather.
I froze, half-crouching, eyes wide and scanning the nearby shadows for the threat.
