Page 190 of The King is Dead
“It only pains me to think of being separated from you, Love,” I muttered. “Don’t worry. Like Jann said… it’s a problem for tomorrow, not today.”
But her eyes were wide. She still had her hand pressed to her chest between her beautiful breasts. And the bond was throbbing.
I shook my head to discourage her focusing on the point. But as yet another runner begged entry to the tent with a message forthe new king,and Jann muttered about males not able to take initiative and make their own fucking decisions, both of us leaned closer.
Minutes later the guard at the tent announced the scouts had returned, Gall had been found and was making his way to us, and everyone’s attention turned from us. Swelling with relief that my son was safe, I slipped a hand up Yilan’s spine, letting my fingers slide into the hair at the nape of her neck, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
“My people, my son, myQueen,”I breathed. Her lower lip dropped slightly open because her breathing picked up. “We still have battles to fight, Love. But no matter what we face, you’remine,Yilan.”
She nodded. She’d been biting her lip, waiting for Jann to confirm that Istral was also safe, but we both knew Gall wouldn’t be coming here if there was any chance Istral was in danger. After a deep breath, she turned her head to smile up at me. “Yes,” she breathed, then her smile broadened. “But you aren’t the only one who gets to lay claim.”
Her grip on my arm turned sharp, her nails clawing, pinching into my skin.
But I didn’t flinch.
‘That’s it, Beautiful. Hold on tight. We’re in this together,’I thought with a smile.
But then my mate startled and her head jerked back, her eyes widening.
“What?” I asked quickly. “What is it?”
‘I heard you, Melek. It happened on the battlefield once, but I wasn’t sure… but… You just told me to hold on tight. We’re in this together… I heard you!’
We stared at each other for a long moment, but she smiled up at me with such joy, I couldn’t resist. Despite the audience, despite the murmur of servants and soldiers and messengers, I took her face in my hands and kissed her.
If we’d been alone, I would have taken her on the spot.
My beautiful, perfect, courageous mate.
Mine.
71. Life Debt
~ JANN ~
As the dawn glow broke, I stood on the outcropping where Melek had delivered his speeches, watching that golden orb, guided by the hand of God Himself, slowly rise to bathe this broken world in light.
But that radiance, so beautiful in the heavens, revealed little but darkness and pain below.
While the Shadows of Shade rolled and seeped through the mountains overlooking us, in the dark of the valley bodies littered the ground like leaves in autumn. Large bodies, most crumpled and caked in their own blood and dirt, some in pieces. Many unrecognizable, bloated and purple.
Later today, even the sun’s thin autumn heat would bring with it a cloying stench of death.
I sighed watching healers, trackers, and the lowest ranking soldiers move among the crumpled bodies, identifying the dead, stripping their valuables as spoils of war, and calling healers for any loyal who yet lived.
It was a dirty, harrowing job, and one that was easy to shirk, but left nations at risk if it wasn’t done properly. Needing fresh air, I’d told Melek I’d watch over the process and make certain each and every warrior’s body was checked for life, or valuables.
Every muscle in my body ached. I bled in several places, though nothing life threatening thanks to a well-timed warning from the least likely source during that battle.
Fucking Diadre…
As if thinking her name conjured her, my eyes dragged left towards the spot where I’d almost died the night before, to find her bending over one of those putrid bodies, her hair half out of its braid as she dug through the pockets of a Nephilim who dwarfed her in size, yet it was he who lay dead.
I couldn’t tell from here, but I would have gambled my home that the little she-devil was taking her spoils. That if I were at her side, I’d find her burrowing in the pockets of the handful of males who’d come for me. Particularly the one with the leather breastplate that strapped over his shoulders and around his waist.
He was a cunning, silent fucker who’d managed to get behind me when I was forced to shift positions during battle. If she hadn’t screamed her warning right when she did—and thrown her knife when my first strike didn’t make it through that breastplate, to slice him right between the ribs—I wouldn’t be watching her now.
I wasn’t aware of moving, but suddenly I was in that hollow, stepping over dead bodies, wrinkling my nose against the stench of blood that would soon begin to turn under the sun’s warmth.
