Page 80 of The King is Dead
“Is there anywhere here that we might talk out of sight? Anywhere… unrestricted?” I said, eyeing that small cottage and imagining how easy it would be to accidentally damage such a contained space.
“Yes.” Harris relayed instructions on how to find the side-gate and which trail to follow around the cottage. “…if you don’t mind me saying, Melek… I enjoy Gall a great deal. You’ve done very well with him,” she said kindly.
I blinked. “Well, thank you,” I said, surprised.
She nodded, then stepped aside, gesturing towards the path. “I’ll go speak with him and tell him you’re here. Just give us a few minutes. If you find the pond, there’s a large tree shading it. He seems to like that spot. And you’ll have, er, space there.”
I nodded and turned to do as she’d suggested. But when Turo and the others started after me, I shot him a look over my shoulder.
“Spread out to watch from a distance if you must, but donotinterfere. Our ways are not your ways. My son has had a difficult time, and may need to… engage with me for a time.Iwill make certain he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
Turo frowned, but after a hesitation, he jerked his chin to the others, and they spread out and disappeared into the trees.
29. Warrior’s Length
~ MELEK ~
The house was quickly hidden from view as the trail I followed curved away from the manicured gardens to drop behind large trees and the natural roll of the land.
I soon found the pond and tree Harris had mentioned, and immediately knew it was the right place. Gall loved spots like this.
You couldn’t see the house from here. But there was a small, circular building that was little more than a roof and pillars—no walls—with a bench nestled in its shade. The pond made a figure eight between it and the roots of the tree right before the land fell off in a gentle roll to dip low enough that the canopy of the forest below stayed below eyeline for a time, giving the impression that you stood above the forest.
The sun was dipping to the horizon beyond the trees, so everything was beginning to glow with that particular warm haze that came only as sunset neared. Lanterns flickered to life under the eaves of the small structure, and among the trees, making stars of light between the leaves along the trail.
I took a deep breath, enjoying the calm. But I didn’t know what to do with myself.
Gall had been angry with me before, though rarely. He’d never refused to speak with me. Nerves fluttered in my stomach, bothapprehension, and anticipation. I had missed him. Yet, Harris’s words worried me.
If Gall was suffering because of his role in Gault’s death, I wanted to help soothe him. Particularly if he was to stay here in Theynor permanently, as Yilan insisted. We couldn’t risk him alienating these people out of sheer angst.
I paced the soft grass under the tree considering and discarding strategies for how to ease his mind… until I heard boots crunching on scattered twigs. Frustrated, because I was still uncertain how to approach this with him, I turned to face the trail, my heart swelling as I waited for him to appear from behind some of the smaller trees that lined it.
Gall appeared, head down, hands shoved into the pockets of his dark trousers that looked like work trousers, rather than fighting leathers. His golden hair gleamed in the scattered patches of low light under the branches.
He had either seen me before I’d seen him, or he knew this area well enough to know where I would be, because he didn’t lift his head as he stepped into the grassy area alongside the pond. His head, still low, turned slightly as if he were checking to see if there was anyone else nearby, but he still hadn’t let me see his eyes by the time he came to a stop a few feet away from me.
I just stood there, washed in relief and love and not a little fear.
“Son, I—”
“I only came out here because Harris said it was rude not to. That… that I don’t have to be your friend, but I do have to be a gentleman.”
I blinked. “Gall, I know it’s been hard—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I know right from wrong.”
The words were so dark, so steeped in conviction, they tied my tongue.
He stood in front of me, half his body alight with the golden sunlight dropping behind me, half shrouded in shadow. His chin was low, and his shoulders hunched.
And hestillhadn’t shown me his eyes.
“Gall, please.” I stepped forward, my chest constricting when he flinched. “Son, I know it’s been a terrible time, and I wasn’t here. I know things were confusing, but—”
“I amnotconfused,” he snarled. And finally, finally lifted his chin, just high enough to look at me out from under his heavy brows, his golden eyes glinting.
I blinked and Iknew.
