Page 124 of The King is Dead
“Just a sleeping draught,” Hever said, his rasping, crumbling voice making my spine tingle. “She has a knot on the back of her skull, but no fracture. She’ll have a headache, nothing worse.”
“Give her the antidote.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t have it. It will wear off in an hour.”
I growled and Jann stepped forward. “Just, breathe, Melek,” he murmured to me, then turned to the other. “There’s more to this than we thought,” he said quickly, focusing on Hever, but glancing at the other two as well.
“You’re all plowing in like bulls to their first fuck,” I snarled. Then I glared at Hever. “Whether you see it or not, you have done everything you could to starta war.”
“We came to free you!”Hever snapped.
“I didn’t need your freedom—she’s my mate. Their Queen andmy mate.I have a crown and a throne, and the power to have you all executed, though I won’t need to. I’ll take your throats myself if you put one more finger on her without her permission.”
The two younger Neph looked at Jann, who nodded, though he looked uneasy.
“You can look atmefor answers, all of you,” I barked. “You’re talking to the King of the Shadekin—I’ll be crowned tomorrow. This is my mate, and my Queen, and her throne answers to mine. If you hadn’t stepped right into the shit you knew nothing about, if you’d just fucking talked to me,you would have known all of this.”
“I’m still unclear—” Hever started, but I snapped back at him.
“Then let me clarify: I do not need your salvation. And she does not deserve your assault. These people are not my jailors, they are my servants. She has already been our security against all-out war. You can thank her later.”
Hever blinked and Jann raked a hand through his hair.
“You’reKing?”Hever croaked.
I nodded, not looking up from where I was using a finger to push the hair back from Yilan’s pale face and silently praying Hever had been right that she’d have no injuries beyond a headache.
“But… If you’re accepting these people, you are a traitor to—”
“I am a traitor to no one,”I snarled, glaring at the man who’d served two Kings and now would either serve me as well, or lose his life to my hands.
“You cannot rule two peoples. You can’t hold two thrones—”
“Watch me,” I growled. Then pinned him with a glare, knowing my eyes were glowing when all three men started to back away. “I’ve earned one, and was divinely appointed to the other.You just fucking watch.”
46. Use It
~ YILAN ~
I woke in a fog. My head ached and it was very dark.
I blinked and saw a stone wall in front of my face. I searched back through my mind, trying to remember where I was. Something about the armory—the equipment base for our missions.
Oh. Right. I was being guarded and—
But then I smelled fire and unwashed bodies, and mildew. Nothing like the Palace.
I gasped and rolled over quickly to find Melek standing over me, his forehead pressed into deep lines, his eyes searching my face.
“Yilan, love, are you well? How is your head?”
I blinked and sank back onto the cot… except it wasn’t a cot. It was scratchy straw that poked my scalp through my hair and…
“Melek, where are we?” I breathed, closing my eyes and massaging my temples.
“We aren’t far from the Palace. But I need you to concentrate, Yilan, and tell me if your head is clear? And your body? Do you have pain? Anything that could be—”
I was wincing at first, rubbing my temples, irritated that he was speaking to me like I was an invalid, trying to remember how we’d come to be here, searching back through my mind, but my thoughts moved like molasses in cold weather.
