Page 135 of The King has Fallen
Then I cleared my throat and spoke to Melek. “Let him go. He can take word. We have to prepare. Nothing has changed. He can be ready to help me then. The risk will be no higher—in fact, won’t they be celebrating more tomorrow? More chances to slip out unnoticed, right?”
Melek’s eyes on me were a strange mix of thoughtfulness and wariness.
Inside, I took hold of that bond, that space within my chest that washim,and I embraced it, soothed it, let it pulse and surrounded it in my warmth in return. Hecouldn’tbelieve that I would betray him.
“Let him go, Melek,” I said softly. “He’ll be nearby. Ready to help when heisneeded.”
Melek looked at Turo then, and something fierce crackled between them.
“If it’s tomorrow anyway, you could come with me now,” Turo suggested slowly. I shot him a glare and shook my head.
“There is more here than you understand. And all of it good. I will make the call tomorrow when Melek leaves—it will cover us because their attention will be taken elsewhere. Strategically, it’s the better choice.”
There was some back and forth, but somehow the two had reached some kind of truce. Or perhaps, an alignment of purpose. Whatever it was, within a very few minutes, Turo was reluctantly agreeing to leave me—with assurances that he wouldn’t be far once he’d passed on the messages and plan to others, a veiled reassurance to me—and Melek was no longer twitching for his spear.
The worst was the moment before Turo walked the shadows.
I stood at Melek’s side, urging Turo to be easy. He prepared to farewell, but his eyes stayed on mine.
‘It seems wrong not to embrace you. I want you to be certain, Yilan, that I am not—’
‘It would only complicate things,’I sent nervously.‘Please, Turo… thank you for trusting me. We’re almost done here. We’resoclose. Please, just wait for my song.’
With a deep inhale, Turo nodded, then cut a look at Melek. “She will always be safe in my hands. But anyone who harms her will watch their back for the rest of their days,” he said bluntly.
Melek stiffened, but Turo turned and melted into the shadows at the back of the tent. I felt him go, knew he’d only passed out of the tent that way, that he wouldn’t waste his power walking the shadows in broad daylight if there were no eyes to see anyway.
When Melek took a breath like he might speak, I put a hand to his arm and waited, knowing it would take some time for Turo to be truly far enough away not to overhear anything that might be said here in the tent.
The moment I relaxed, Melek spoke.
“Is he truly gone?”
I nodded, still watching those shadows at the back of the tent, wondering when I would be forced to walk them out of here myself. Hating that idea. “He is,” I said quietly.
I turned to Melek, wanting to lean into his warm strength. But the moment I moved, he took a step back.
I looked up, surprised—then remembering why I shouldn’t be as I caught the deep tension and sudden cold on his features.
“Bond-vowed?” was all he said. But the word dripped with rage and suspicion.
47. Hold My Soul Safe
~ YILAN ~
“I had no time to tell him. You appeared bare minutes after he did!”
“And he just stumbled on your location?” he growled suspiciously. “Is ithimyou’ve been meeting while I slept?”
“No! He knew… they send patrols—my singing in the angel tongue… it’s how I’ve been telling them to leave me here—and he knew that wasn’t the plan.”
His stony expression didn’t change.
I blew out a breath. “He thought you were trapping me. Coercing me somehow. I told him you weren’t, but I couldn’t tell him about the mating.” I gripped his shirt in both hands and didn’t break eye contact. “Melek, he has to get in and out of this camp safely. He has to function out there without beingtaken. And you want him to help me get out… I can’t have him…preoccupied.”
“You didn’t tell him at all.”
“No, but I will speak with him as soon as we’re safe and alone.”
