Page 119 of The King's Man
Once the food and drinks arrived, I dug in, watching the comings and goings through narrowed eyes. Numbers were thin at this time of day, but increased with every hour. Diadre played her part, picking at her food slowly, but surely. Appearing to drink a great deal, when actually she mostly downed the water. I pawed her when anyone let their eyes linger.
The man in the black hood sat side on to us, his eyes sliding in our direction more than once, but I pretended I didn’t notice.
Come on, come on. Don’t be coy.
But we sat there for a couple hours without incident, and without the man in the hood approaching, which made my teeth grind. I was sleepy, tired, had a full belly, and had to warn too many men with my eyes to keep theirs from my mate. My self-control was frayed.
Where the fuck were my brothers?
At one point, Diadre slumped against my shoulder and I wasn’t certain if she actually slept, or pretended to.
Sometime close to the lunch hour, as the traffic in the Den increased, there was a murmur and the massive form of another Neph eased into the dimly lit cavern.
Finally.
I sat back in my seat, but tightened my grip on Diadre’s thigh to warn her, because Vaysh was even bigger than me, though younger. I could take him in combat, but he was imposing to the eye.
When he strode up to the table, I chose that moment to take a drink.
“Jannus,” he said in that low, deep voice that defied his youth.
“Vaysh.” I looked at him slowly, growling to find his eyes on Diadre, who shrank against my side, but her expression was defiant.
I prayed the shrinking was a choice, not an instinct. Shefeltstrong. But the thread of unease was there. My people frightened her, which made me grieve.
“They told me it was you and I didn’t believe them,” Vaysh offered.
“Just another example of your foolishness, then. Perhaps you’ll learn this time?” I said coldly.
I could feel the uncertainty in Diadre—I’d told her I had friends here, but wasn’t treating this man like one. There were reasons for that. We had an audience.
“So… why are you here?” he said darkly. “And why not warn us of your coming? We would havewelcomedyou the way the General of our people deserves.”
Interesting choice to mark my rank aloud. I snorted when he saidwelcomed.
“I suppose I wanted to see how long it would take you to come to your senses.” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “Almost three hours.I don’t think that’s an improvement. I expected you to have grown by now.”
‘What is going on?’Diadre sent.‘Is he a friend or not?’
‘He is, but one I don’t want to be publicly aligned with. We’re keeping up appearances. Don’t worry about this. I’ll handle Vaysh, you keep watch on the room.’
The server hurried over, eyeing me in case I wasn’t pleased with who had been informed of my whereabouts. But as Vaysh ordered food and a drink, though I made my indifference clear, I didn’t protest.
When the server hurried away, Vaysh settled onto the bench across the table. It creaked under his weight. We remained silent until his drink was delivered, then after a long draw on the ale, Vaysh met my gaze with his yellow eyes.
“You sent word. Our brothers sent me. Now… what are you doing?” His eyes slid to Diadre, then back to me, and a fizz of thrill rose in my chest.
He’d heard. Thank God.
“What have you heard about events in the west?” I asked as if I was merely curious and making conversation.
“I have heard we have a new King, and he is… making changes.”
“We have,” I affirmed. “Melek has taken the Fetch. Their women are strong. He claimed them for the crown. But I liked this one, so I took her.”
Vaysh’s façade broke. He almost choked on the mouthful of his ale and had to clear his throat twice, and wipe his face before staring at me wide-eyed.
“She was the King’s?”
