Page 89 of The King has Fallen
I needed to move.
He was not going to move away. It had to be me.
As if he’d heard the thought, he inched closer, eyes on me, his body hesitant, but firm.Takingspace to be close to me and that fright, that alarm, the part that feared him for what he could be, not what he was, pulled away.
I took one step back, and his breath caught.
Another, just beyond the reach of his long arms, and he opened his mouth.
I took the last three steps in a rush, turning to slip into the open cage door, then grabbing and pulling it closed in front of me.
He took two long strides to cover the same space, and gripped the bars of the cage over my fingers, his jaw tight. “Yilan—”
I resisted when he started to pull it open, and shook my head. “Lock it, Melek,” I whispered. “You have to lock it.”
He stared down at me, his brows pressing together, his forehead lined. “I am a man of my word, and I meant the words: I will not let them take you. You are safe—”
“I know. But that changesnothing.”
I had to draw the line. Had to make myself hard, because he was not and I couldn’t fight that.
“Lock the cage, Melek.”
“Yilan, do you… have you looked within yourself? Do you sense—”
“I sense that we are enemies, our peoples are enemies, yours are the enemy to the God I serve and you refuse to lead them into change so… I cannot choose you and your people over me and mine, Melek. I cannot.Lock. The fucking. Cage.”
He leaned back, his expression suddenly very heavy. His cheeks pulled down, shoulders slumped, and his eyes flickered with shadows—but he never broke eye contact as he reached for the lock and slammed it home, returning me to prison.
I thought he would give in to his anger and storm off, but instead he leaned in again, his nose only inches from mine.
“I will never let them have you,” he whispered and the intensity in him, the power wafting from him made me shiver.
“You are far more frightening to me than them,” I croaked.
His eyes narrowed. “Truly, Yilan?”
“Truly.”
He huffed. “I do not deserve that. I haveproventhat I will protect you.”
I didn’t reply, because he was right. But that wasexactlywhat made him so dangerous. Couldn’t he see?
I held his gaze, and he held mine and then he shook his head, drawing slowly back, his upper lip beginning to curl back from his teeth.
“Donotjudge me for defending myself against an enemy!”
“Oh, I don’t,” he muttered as he stepped back. “I just hadn’t picked you for a coward.”
Then, after landing that blow, he turned on his heel and marched to his bed, leaving me shaken and weary, begging God to remove the weight of grief that suddenly appeared on my chest.
But my prayers were not answered.
30. Dream a Dream of You
~ MELEK ~
We were in the water together. Deep in the lake. And this time there was no one coming to interrupt.
