Page 12 of The King has Fallen

I caught the plump little square and stared at it, stunned. Why would he—

“Step back. All the way back, I want your ass eating the bars and your shoulders pinned against them.”

I blinked and looked up at him where he stood just outside the door of the cage, glaring.

For a moment I was struck by the sheer size of him.

I could stand up in the cage easily. Would barely be able to reach the overhead bars when I stretched. He would have had toduck to get inside and could have rested his hand atop the cage and gripped it without stretching at all.

I swallowed as his chest swelled, and my eyes followed the planes of his pecs up to his shoulders—round as a bull’s and just as heavy—the tendons that supported his thick neck, and that jawline, sharp enough to cut glass.

He raised one brow in a wry arch, and it hit me that I’d been standing there, staring at him. I quickly shuttered my expression and backed up against the opposite side of the cage. He waited until my ass and shoulders were, indeed, hard against the steel bars, before he unlocked the door once more and leaned in to place a bucket just inside, before closing and locking it again.

I looked at the bucket, realized that it was intended for my toilet, and had to swallow bile. “Such hospitality,” I sneered, then locked eyes with him, wondering if he was expecting me to still stay silent.

When he turned away from the cage, I picked up the towel and started rubbing it against my wet clothing and hair, watching him warily.

“It isn’t hospitality. You now have something to lose. And trust me, Fetch, I’ll make certain you loseeverythingunless you cooperate.”

“I was already cooperating before you tossed me in the horse trough,” I pointed out.

He stopped at the base of the monstrous bed at the center of this otherwise almost bare space and started unstrapping and unbuckling. Leather and steel fell to the dirt, to the fur on the bed, all around him, as the man seemed to produce weapons from nowhere… including my favorite throwing knife which I had thought was still sheathed at my ankle under my trousers. But as he slipped it from somewhere in his waistband, he held it up, smiling at me before tossing it onto the bed.

I scowled. He must have got it when I was distracted with thebath.

“You can glare all you like. But you’re going to discover that I am a male of discipline and honor. And if you carry yourself similarly, you’ll remain safe—and somewhat comfortable,” he added, nodding at the towel and pillow. “But if you work against me, or make things difficult—if I find out you’re lying—I will apply my intelligence and discipline to tormenting you as assiduously as a bee seeking pollen.”

“That’s an awfully big word, General,” I said dryly.

“If you need an explanation to understand anything, let me know, because I want to be clear: If you bring truth willingly, I will keep you fed, clothed, and unviolated. But only if your words prove true. Either yousingfor me, answering every question I ask and half the ones I don’t. Or you spend the remainder of your very short life screaming at the hands of the males outside this tent who do not have my attendance to honor.”

“No attendance to honor? Surely youjest,” I muttered, my blood chilling as my mind conjured just a handful of the things I’d seen in this camp since I arrived. “Your comrades are not simply lacking honor, General. In most cases, they seem to lack simplereason.”

He gave me a dark look. “Since you’re so astute, no doubt you have gathered that many of my comrades don’t have the foresight to consider that you might bite their cocks off… And since you are blessed withreason,I’m sure you can understand that even if you were successful in separating them from their members, it would not remove what they may have done toyoubefore you got your teeth into them.”

I watched him, rage bubbling in my chest when he smiled. But I stuffed it down.

“I take your point. I will answer whatever you wish—if I know it. I cannot be honest if I am expected to create answers I do not have.”

His eyes narrowed. “Just like that, ay? Any answers I please?”

“I told your King the same.”

He huffed and turned away, muttering so low I almost couldn’t hear him. “I would not trust a Fetch anyway… but even less so now. You are far too quick to comply.”

“Or I am far toointelligentto deny when I have been bested,” I said carefully. “And I want to stay alive. Very little in this life is worth dying for.”

He arched one brow. “I notice you do not saynothingis worth dying for.”

“No, I didn’t.”

He held my gaze for a long moment then, and the roof of my mouth went dry.

5. Lesson Learned

~ YILAN ~

As if he’d made a decision suddenly, Melek tossed the last of his straps onto the bed, then strode back towards the cage, towardsme.When he reached the bars, he hesitated, then clamped a hand on the top of the cage and leaned down so our eyes were at the same level.

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