Page 184 of The King is Dead
“How do you fight an enemy who cannot be killed?” I had asked my mate.
“You can’t. Not in the normal way. Deal with them when they’re in front of you, otherwise forget about them because there’s nothing you can do anyway. When they appear, don’t listen. Don’t agree. Andresistwhatever they give—including the fight. There is nothing else…”
What if it wasn’t a question of redemption, but ofallegiance?
“Resist,” I breathed.
“What?” Melek gasped in front of me, spearing another attacker who screamed like a banshee as his guts spilled from his stomach and he tumbled down the low slope, taking two others in his path.
I put the image in Melek’s mind.
Lucifer, eyes of gold. Crouched in that window of the tower, glowering at Melek.“Green-eyed fuck…”
Melek, who resisted every part of the darkness the Fallen represented… and who had eyes of green.
But as my mate grunted and fought and I felt his heart despair, I knew he didn’t understand. I needed to speak into his head! Why had God placed this barrier between us when I would have givenanythingto reach him so deeply? To share my heart and mind and have him share his. Why? Why were we held apart?
Because you resist.
I gasped as my mind filled with images—all the moments when I spat at Melek, bristling unwilling to be led, yet angry when Iwasn’t followed. All the moments he’d snarled at me for choosing my own plan when he’d rejected it…
Resist and remain untouched: Resist the enemy and thrive.
Resist your mate and destroy yourself.
I sucked in a breath, my ribs expanding as the vision of it all came together.
I had been so angry with Melek for resisting his God-given role as King, but I had also resisted the role given to him as my mate and protector… The male God had given me as King, but also as my strength. And I’d held him off until he agreed with me, then fought his choicesfor mewhen I’d known he was chosen by God as King of my people.
Resist the enemy.
Submit to your Love.
The same action, but very different results.
Gall and Istral giving their hearts freely. Holding nothing back. Choosing each other over themselves. Choosing right over safety while I fought my mate every time he sought to protect me—doingexactlyas I’d hoped he would do for others.
Something in the bond shivered and thrummed, like hands on a doorknob, shaking it from the other side.
I sucked in a breath.
My mate was here, throwing himself into the battle to keep me safe, tomaybesave some of us from death. He would give himself freely, over and over, on the chance he might save another, weaker than him.
I would not resist him anymore. I would not put my control over his.
I would trust him. Even when we disagreed.
That last, thin barrier between my heart and Melek’s burst open and the bondsang.I knew… I knew what would happen when I spoke to him—
Then the voice of the most dangerous creature in creation echoed in my mind, that image of Lucifer crouched in the window, spitting at my mate.
“Green-eyed fuck…”
Lucifer hadn’t come to Melek. Hadn’t tried to tempt him.Because he already knew Melek would resist. No. He’d come tome.
“The eyes,” I breathed. As the light and life of truth rang through my bones, I opened my heart and reached for my mate.
‘Melek,’I sobbed into the link. I saw him jolt, but he’d just rolled away from yet another snarling Neph.‘Melek, it’s in the eyes. Look for the light in them. Those who are determined to resist the true enemy have life in their eyes. It shows up in their eyes as the color of new life: Green. Those that listen to him have nothing but cold wealth: Gold.So… look forlife.’
