Page 73 of The King's Man
My blood ran cold as it all came crashing down…
He’d warned me and I hadn’t listened. Andthiswas what he’d meant.
My body was his now. My will eroded.
And I had no one to blame but myself.
27.Put You Down
~ JANN ~
I marched behind her on the way to Melek’s tent, reeling.
When we’d been together I couldfeelher. All her turmoil, the fierce need and desire thrumming through her that devastating release giving way to confusion and fear.
She’d wanted me desperately—then suddenly, after that awful tearing, she grew apprehensive. Regretful.
My matefearedme.
That was a sword to my guts. I’d barely gotten my mind whole after the bond was torn, then she turned… brittle.
While I scrambled to find my way back to sanity, she slipped away from me.
Now I could barely sense her—because the bond had been torn and so was losing its power? Or because she had some kind of Fetch magic that hid her from me?
Either way, it was terrifying.
As we strode along the trails to Melek’s tent I tried to breathe, but my chest was too tight. I hadn’t anticipated that an incomplete bond wouldroarwhen other males were near.
I trembled when that other Neph saw her and his eyes flashed before he caught sight of me. He almost lost his life in that moment, and he knew it the moment our eyes locked. He shrank away covering his balls, as he should.
Diadre was suspicious, but I kept my face blank and she didn’t speak her accusations.
I kept her ahead of me until we made it to Melek’s tent so I could warn any of the others away, but my skin smarted. How the fuck was I going to be of any use to anyone if every instinct in me screamed for blood at the merest hint of another male?
Holy shit, I was in trouble. I slipped ahead of her to open the tent because I needed to see if there were any other males inside with Melek.
Thank God there weren’t. As I held the flap aside for her, despair coated my bones.
How had we even gotten here? How could a bond take and yet… tear? How was half my heart engulfed in her and the other half in freefall?
It had to be the curse.
I had to tell her, had to warn her, had to explain—see if there was a way we could mend this before I lost my mind. Perhaps she could feel it, but was denying it as I had been? Melek had said he felt it before Yilan did.
But as Diadre slipped into the tent and darted past me across the dirt to Yilan, my heart sank.
If the bond was real, we wouldn’t escape it, whether it was torn or not.
I watched her rush to her friend who stared at her with a measure of alarm, glancing a question at me. But there was no time for me to formulate any kind of answer before thetwo women tipped their heads together, whispering, and Melek walked to my side, clapping my shoulder.
“Good to see you, brother. What news?”
News?
Diadre is my mate. I’ve been denying it, but I no longer can. So I seduced her, and took her—with her consent—and yet the bond didn’t take because my bloodline is cursed, and now I’m going to be useless as a General because I’ll fly into a murderous rage if any man even looks at her.
God, what a mess.
