Page 99 of The King has Fallen
That left only one possible conclusion: He knew we were connected and was going to use her against me.
Either I had somehow, unwittingly, given away the bond. Or he’d heard the rumors that I claimed her and wanted to take her from me.
Nothing else made sense.
Shit…Shit.
“Melek!”
I turned on her, scowling and her head snapped back when she saw my eyes.
“You should have gone when I gave you the chance.”
“There is no point discussing what should have been. We are here now. You have to—”
“I have to take you to him, is what I have to do. The question is, how to do so with even a chance for both of us to live through it.”
She blinked and her eyes went wide. Then I turned away, looking at my trunks, mentally cataloging the resources I had, considering what this could be. How Gault might approach it. And what options were open to me.
I wouldnotsurrender her.
Icouldnotchallenge my King.
Which meant there was only one option left.
I started towards the trunk in the corner, flipping the lid and digging through it until I found the scarves I’d been searching for. Then I stalked over to my weapons and flipped through my blades until I found the smallest, thinnest of them.
When I returned to the cage she was watching me warily. And when I flipped the short dagger, catching it carefully by its blade to offer the hilt to her, her eyes widened.
“Take it. Hide it,” I growled. “If you need a belt, I can offer you one, but it would likely be too bulky—”
“I don’t need a belt,” she said faintly. “But do you have a sheath?”
I nodded and trotted back to find the smallest sheath I owned, then gave that to her as well.
She slipped the blade into the sheath, then reached around her own back, pulling up the back of her shirt—my shirt. She was still wearing my old sleep shirt with the sleeves rolled up. ThankGod it was thicker cotton and long. Then she tucked the sheath into the hollow of her back and pulled the back of the shirt down over it.
I growled. It wasn’t a fantastic placement—the shirt was long and would take precious seconds to raise if she had to go for it.
“Which is your dominant weapon arm?” I asked her quickly.
“I don’t have one.”
I raised one brow skeptically.
She raised one back. “I’m not lying.”
I tilted my head and pressed my lips thin so she’d know I was suspicious. “Which hand do youpreferto use?”
“My right.”
I nodded once, then opened the cage, ignoring the surprise in her eyes. “Then give me your left,” I muttered. “You’re coming with me, bound to me.”
Her head jerked back. “Bound? Why? You could hold me—”
“Because I have to stop you escaping,obviously,” I said dryly. “Next time I tell you to run, Yilan, you do it. If you’d listened earlier, I’d be the only one in danger right now.”
She didn’t respond, but she did take a deep breath, then stepped forward and offered me her left wrist.
