Page 76 of The King's Man
I stepped right up in her face so my spittle landed and made her blink.“You drugged your mate and stole him from his people—”I snarled.
“TO MAKE HIM KING!” she screamed back. “NOT TO BREAK HIM!”
“The only one broken here is ME!”
“Both of you need to calm the fuck down!” Melek snapped, shoving Yilan behind him so she stumbled a step before she could turn and rush for me, but by then he’d planted a hand on my chest and was forcing me backwards. “She is your Queen—andmymate,” he growled, his eyes blazing.
He caught his mate as she launched at me, keeping himself between us, but the warning in his eyes was all for me.
It wasn’t his mate he’d be punishing if this went wrong.
Of course, he wasn’t the one being accused ofrape.
“I told her you could be trusted!” Yilan hissed. “I told her you were safe! You fucking—”
“I never violated anyone!”
Yilan screeched and leaped for me. Melek caught her as her fingers reached my lapels and I almost snapped them off with my teeth.
Yilan didn’t even flinch.“Do you even know what rape looks like you fucking—?”
“Of course I do, and I would never do that to my MATE!”I roared so loudly my vision shook. I sucked in another breath, ready todisembowelher if she thought—
“What?”
The voice was tiny, breathless, shaky… and not Yilan’s.
We all froze.
I whipped around to find Diadre standing in that shadow at the back of the tent, eyes red and shining with tears, gaping at me.
She’d heard. Holy shit.
Then her eyes widened and an expression of horror came over her.
“Dee—” I pitched towards her, but she shrank from my hand, stumbling towards the door of the tent, shaking her head, her expressionterrified.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t… this isn’t… you can’t—”
Five steps from the tent flap she blinked and froze. For a moment my heart rose—was she coming back? I raced towards her, taking her hand and putting it to my chest, praying for even thehintof that crackling energy—and it did flicker between us. “See?” I whispered. “See, Dee, that sensation—”
Her eyes snapped to mine… then she disappeared like smoke on the wind.
Despair rocked me—but almost immediately her silhouette appeared on the other side of the tent wall.
“Diadre!Please!”
I tore out of the tent to find her stepping into the shadow of the next tent. As she turned, for a split second our eyes caught and hersswam in fear.
Then she disappeared—taking my heart for another dive, only for it sweep back up when she reappeared in the bright sunlight between two tents down the trail a second later, one hand to her chest, and her step wavering.
She looked over her shoulder at me with wide eyes, then she was gone again.
I sprinted after her.
28.Run
~ DIADRE ~
