Page 130 of The King has Fallen
I could hear Yilan’s voice in my head.
Until now. Until a man showed him up and won a war he couldn’t?
I wanted to argue with her. Surely he wouldn’t throw away what we had achieved just to undermine me? Would he?
My head spun and my heart clenched. I looked back towards the tent. I needed Yilan’s eyes on this—not for her drive to revolution, but because she always saw details, manipulations, implications that I missed.
“Melek—” Jann said quietly.
“This changes nothing,” I growled.
Jann went still. “How can you say that?”
I turned on him, glaring my disapproval for his deception, even though I understood it. He was uneasy with Yilan, still not entirely convinced that she hadn’t magiked me.
“I say that because it’s true. I still have to go to the front. I have to be there to show them that I fight with honor—and to win, if it can still be done.” It was true, and I meant it. But God… it made all of it real.
Jann’s eyes widened. “But if you’re being set up—”
“There’s no way to know that until we make the advance,” I growled. “And I can still win. Winning this is theonlyway to remove those questions.”
My brother swallowed. “But… if—”
“The only thing this makes me think is that I need to take Gall with me,” I said quietly, as I surveyed the landscape of this shitshow. “I didn’t want to put him in the fighting, but the truth is, he’s probably inmoredanger here. If Gault—or anyone else in power—is truly trying to take me down, they’ll go for Gall the moment my back is turned. Use him as leverage. I should have seen it.”
“You’ve been… a bit preoccupied,” Jann said dryly.
I huffed, but I was still watching him, still angry that he’d forced me to break the tie with Yilan. Though I knew he didn’t understand that.
“Do you believe in me, Jann?”
His brows snapped up. “Of course! I warned you because I know it’s not true!” Then he looked left and right and dropped his voice again. “I admit I am… uncertain abouther.Which was why I wanted to tell you alone. But I know you Melek. I know you wouldn’t do this. Not intentionally.”
I arched one brow. “You think I wouldunintentionally betray the people I led to conquer the entire fucking continent?”
He gave me a flat look. “I think she has you by the balls, and I don’t know what effect that has on your judgment.”
When I started to growl, he leaned in. “You can get pissy if you want to, but we both know that if it was me, you’d have agreat dealof concern.”
I hesitated, because I knew he was right. In truth, I likely would have interfered a lot more than he had, if the roles were reversed.
“She is true,” I snapped, but kept myself from bristling at him. “And now I need to speak with her. And figure this out. Will you help me?”
Jann sighed. “You know I will, Melek.”
“I need to find Gall.”
He nodded. “I figured.”
“I can help search soon, but… could you see if you can find out which direction he left in?”
Jann nodded, raking a hand through his hair. “Sure.”
“I need an hour,” I muttered. “Then meet me at the fire outside my tent unless I find you first.”
We clasped arms, both of us already turning our minds to the next task. And even though I wasfuriousthat he’d forced me to unbind, I was also grateful for the heads up. When I turned my steps to march back up the trail towards the tent, I turned my focus too. I needed to come up with a plan for keeping Yilan focused on fighting to win, instead of her incessant call to revolution.
These rumors werenottrue. And I would not give any man a reason to believe that they had been.
