Page 104 of The King has Fallen

Ahem.

I almost leaped out of my skin, whirling, reaching instinctively for one of my blades before I’d even returned to earth, every hair on my body standing straight—and every instinct shrieking alarm when I found her standing demurely behind me, her hands clasped in front of her, and her chin low, but eyes up on me.

And onlyslightlysmug.

“What… the actual…fuck?”I breathed, then I blinked as it came to me.She was making me see her.

I growled and folded my arms. “This is another of your visions. A very good trick, Yilan, and one that you’ll probably need to use to escape now, but—”

“No, Melek. This is real.”

Her face was solemn, her knuckles white where she clamped her hands together, and I realized she was stopping herself from shaking.

“Walking the shadows is… I am very adept at it. While you slept at night I walked the camp and listened and spied and…” she lifted her hands and kind of shrugged. “I’m not lying to you.”

I gaped at her, empty headed. Utterly speechless.

It was a trick. It had to be—a manipulation of my mind.

“I can tell you that Gault has his own spies. They aren’t as good as me, but they’re good. He also knows the men follow you. And he’s growing more and more jealous. All these efforts to show himself up next to you, to set you up for failure… they are not by chance. And they are not for any other purpose. He knows. And he’s working against you. I’mcertainthe Shade was his, though it is the one part I cannot prove. He is… You were right that he is not stupid. But he is made foolish by his own pride. And his gluttony for power. He is already King. He already conquered most of the continent. And now he’s coming for you. You cannot let him win. If not for yourself, then for the rest of us.”

Unable to take my eyes from her, certain she would pull another trick, and—despite myself—convinced that she spoke truth. I shook my head.

She took a step closer to me, then another, until she stood at my toes, her head craned back to meet my eyes.

“I’m telling you the truth. All of it. I vowed to you that I would not break my word, and I haven’t. I haven’t escaped. And I havenot used my knowledge against you. I… I cannot. I could not without hurting myself,” she breathed.

She was impossible. She was infuriating.

She wasincredible.

I couldn’t find words. I clawed a hand into my hair and blew out the breath that was making my ribs creak, still just staring at her, yearning to reach for her, and frightened to as well—what if it was an illusion? What if I’d fallen to her in my mind?

“I’m not lying, Melek,” she whispered, her brows pinching and eyes beginning to shine. “Everything I’ve told you is true. I… I am here. I need to know what you’re going to do.”

I shook my head. “I truly do not know,” I croaked.

Her throat bobbed. “What… what do youwant?”

I was so far beyond anything comprehendible, I just shook my head and groaned. “You.”

Her eyes went wide, and the dam broke on my tongue.

“Yilan, I cannot give you into his hands—not for a moment. He is ruthless, brutal, and utterly without conscience. And you… you are mymate.”

She sucked in a breath and took a step back, but I followed her.

“I saw it that night at the lake, and I think you see it too, but you don’t want to. You’ve been denying the inevitable and it has brought us here. Don’t you see? Can’t you feel it? Of course you can, I know you can—stop telling yourself it is anything other than—”

“Lust. Lust is not a bond—”

“This is not simplelust!”I snarled and she continued to back away from me, but I did not let her retreat. I followed her, snaking a hand around her waist and keeping her there, though she leaned back and her hands came up to my chest as if she’d push me away.

But she didn’t.

She just stared.

Terrified.

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