Page 96 of The King's Man
35.A King’s Spy
~ JANN ~
I sat there, trembling, gripping Diadre’s hand. Her eyes were wide and clamped on me, but I didn’t take my eyes off of Melek.
It’s a ruse. It has to be. He warned me. Told me ahead of time.
But he also said it was better if I didn’t know… Because he needed me off-balance? Or because—
‘Yilan said don’t hurt Melek. It’s a trick and they’ll explain.’
Diadre’s voice in my head was like a cool drink of water after a long battle.
Melek sat back in his chair, ignoring my piercing gaze, watching until the others had all filed out. As the last of them slipped through the tent flat, Yilan got to her feet and started towards it.
I opened my mouth, but Melek put a hand up to stop me speaking. “Yilan is making certain we have no eavesdroppers,” he murmured quietly, watching his mate as she walked to theedge of the tent thendisappeared.
It still made my skin crawl when they did that.
I sat there at the table, still gripping Diadre’s hand, my heel tapping. Diadre rubbed her free hand up and down my forearm.
Then suddenly, Yilan was back. “There’s no one close, but keep your voices down to be safe.”
“What the fuck was that?!” I hissed at Melek.
He shot me a warning look. “I told you—”
“Tell me you aren’t splitting us up!”
“I’mnot.”He bit the word off like it was bitter on his tongue. “I wouldn’t. But I needed them to believe that I wanted to.”
“Why? They’re our allies!”
“To a point,” Melek agreed, his eyes drifting towards the tent flap. “You saw how they responded to the idea of the Shadekin being left with Theynor untouched.”
“What the fuck does that have to do with me claiming Diadre?”
Melek turned in his seat and leaned one elbow on his knee to bring our faces close together.
“I need them to believe that I have asked too much of you, so that when you both disappear, they believeyouwere the weak one,” he growled.
I bristled. But I knew Melek. He didn’t humble anyone without good reason.“Explain.”
Yilan came to stand at his side, her hand on his shoulder as he looked back and forth between Diadre and I while he spoke, his voice a low mutter that wouldn’t be heard across the tent, let alone outside.
“I want you both traveling ahead of me, sending messages back on anything you find—scoping each city before we arrive so I know what I’m walking into. But I need everyone outside of this tent to believe that you and I are at odds. That we argued, and there is bad blood in it.
“You take Diadre with you because she can hide you if it’s needed. But when we leave this tent, you make great noise about my stupidity and your pride. Let them know you were instrumental in my crowning, but now I’m overstepping and you won’t remain patient if it happens again. Then… you leave. You say nothing to no one, you just… disappear. Both of you.”
I stared at my friend, my heart racing. If I complained about his strictures, then disappeared… Suddenly it all made sense—but Diadre spoke up.
“They’ll all assume he’s betraying you.”
Melek nodded. “Let them think it.”
“But…why?”
“Because you are the only two that I trust implicitly that Gall and Istral will also trust. Whoever has taken them has to have seen that they are tools against me—in life or death. I need you to find out what happened to them and to send me the news. Whatever it might be.”
