Page 149 of The King has Fallen
“NO!I want you to lay claim to his throne, inspire them, take control of this war, andchange the world!This is obviously what God intended all along—”
“Get your fucking hands off of her,” a voice growled.
We both whirled to find Turo standing in the back of the tent, stepping out of the shadows of the armoire, glaring at Melek, reaching back for his sword.
“Turo, don’t you fuckingdare!”I hissed. “We killed the king and we’ve already done this once, so just stay back and fucking listen!” I barked.
Turo’s head jerked back and his brows rose. I felt a surge of amusement in the bond, but it was overshadowed by the alarm. I grabbed Melek’s arm as he started to turn to face Turo.
“Don’t you start, either,” I snapped. “We’re all on the same side here.”
“I’m sorry,what?!”Turo spluttered, gaping at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner, but there were crowds and I wasn’t expecting you at this side of camp… what the fuck did I miss?”
I glared at him. “You missed that we need you to dispose of a body,” I said, opening my hand towards Gault. Because of his position on this side of the large bed, Turo was forced to creep closer—keeping eyes warily on Melek—until he could see Gault’s body.
Then he visibly paled.
Despite the growing area of dark dirt under Gault’s body, Turo advanced slowly, wary as a cat on a hot roof. He creptforward, poised for battle, his sword at the ready, until he was able to pick up Gault’s head and, just like Melek had, checked both the wound, and his eyes.
“Holy shit,” he whispered.
I folded my arms. “Honestly, your confidence in me isheartwarming,”I snapped. Melek gave a little huff until I glared at him too, “You didn’t believe in me either.”
Melek opened his mouth, looking like he’d try to soothe me, but Turo dropped Gault’s head and pushed to his feet, marching towards me. “This is done. The mission isdone.We need to get you out of here.NOW.”
52. Never the Crown
~ MELEK ~
It was fucking annoying when the bossy Fetch agreed with me, because that meant I couldn’t argue with him.
Yilan held no such compunctions. “I will go when Melek agrees to lead and take this opportunity he’s been handed,” she said stubbornly.
I wanted to throttle her. “We arenotdiscussing this in company,” I growled.
“Fine,” she replied, then turned to Turo. “Take the body and dispose of it. Make certain no one’s going to stumble on it. The longer we can make it uncertain what’s happened to him, the better.”
The Fetch hesitated, but then nodded.
“Gault is already more than twice his weight! He can’t do that alone,” I hissed.
“He’s not alone,” Yilan answered reluctantly.
And in unison, Turo muttered, “I’m not.”
I blinked, but Yilan sighed as Turo gave a low whistle. A moment later, the shadows at the back of the tent began to move and first one, then a second, then a third Fetch appeared, all of them tense and watching me warily, but drawing closer as soon as they stopped being vapor, or whatever it was that they did to walk the shadows like that.
I grabbed Yilan’s arm and pulled her behind me, but she just muttered something under her breath and put her hand to my back where they couldn’t see as she spoke to them like they’d been there the whole time.
Had they?
“Take the body. Walk the shadows—I know it’s risky, but we can’t let anyone catch sight of him. Then wait for me at our meeting point. Keep one of the runners close to hear the song.”
I looked at her sharply. She’d told me that they weren’t close enough to hear her!
She returned my gaze, and I felt a thrust of reassurance through the bond, but she didn’t answer the question, just continued softly but firmly giving orders.
And the men didn’t question her.
