Page 93 of The King has Fallen
Jann couldn’t be allowed to notice.
“Let’s start again,” I said gruffly, moving across the tent to find my leathers and drawing his eyes away from the cage. “Good morning, Jann. Peace to you.”
“Peace to you as well, Mel,” he said jovially. “Late night?”
“Too late.”
“You’re getting too old for those kinds of shenanigans.”
“And you’re not?”
“You’ve got at least five years on me. I will forever be more virile than you, brother.”
I snorted, buttoning my leathers then reaching for my weapon straps before hesitating. This was supposed to be a time of recognized peace. Within the camp, I often went without my spears.
But then I remembered that moment the Shade came at me—I would have been dead if Yilan hadn’t seen him first and warned me…
After buckling my weapon straps, I slid two large daggers into the sheaths on the shoulders. That way I wouldn’t be unarmed, but also wouldn’t be obviously bristling with weapons.
“I’m hungry,” I said. “Have you had breakfast?”
“I was just coming to ask the same of you.”
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
Jann’s brows rose and he turned to look at Yilan. “Are you sure? Gall is still asleep and I thought you’d told him—”
Following his gaze, I caught eyes with Yilan who hadn’t moved from her seat, but was staring up at me with a strange intensity on her face.
The cage was unlocked.
I couldn’t lock it in front of Jann without drawing attention to that.
If I left, she’d be free—if she wished to be. She’d had a chance to escape twice now, and hadn’t taken it. But perhaps this morning she’d only woken as Jann was approaching and…
And did it matter? My thoughts of the night before came swimming back, turning my heart into a deadweight.
She could not be safe here… even with me.
I’d turned the problem over in my mind for hours, but always ended up right where I had started: She could not possibly be safe here. Even with me. The pressure around her would only increase. And the moment something happened to me, or I was taken away for other duties, she would be devoured.
My only options were to endure her inevitable death, or to help her escape. Which meant there was only one choice. I would not be party to the death of my mate, whether the bond was completed or not.
But I also hadn’t thought I’d be taking action on that this quickly. My soul shivered at the idea of losing her already. I’d only just found her! Yet, it could not be denied that I had made the decision in logic and analysis, in the dark of night. If God opened a door, it was foolish not to walk through it.
“I’m sure,” I answered Jann, who was frowning between us. “If she can release herself in the few minutes it takes me to eat, then she’s as smart as she claims, and deserves to be free,” I said, praying she heard the true meaning of my words.
Yilan’s brows popped up and I tore my eyes from her, gesturing to Jann to go first out of the tent, but hanging back, walking slowly so that he preceded me out of the tent by several paces.
The moment Jann was outside, she hissed, “What are you doing?!”
Stepping closer to the cage as I headed for the door, I whispered to her. “We’ll be twenty minutes. Use it.”
“Melek—”
“There’s no time to explain. But you’re too vulnerable here. Just go.”
Her eyes went wide, but I turned on my heel—my ribs creaking, my heart screaming, my soul twisting like a dagger in my chest.
