Page 148 of The King has Fallen

He exhaled heavily, then leaned back, holding my arms and scanning me. “Are you hurt? Wounded? Even a little thing, Yilan. Sometimes we don’t realize and we’ve been stabbed—”

I felt a flinch at the memory of those scars that peppered his beautiful hide, but I shook my head. “Just shaken. Bruised a little. There’s nothing, Melek. No bleeding. I promise.”

He turned me around once to check for himself, then exhaled again. “Do not move,” he ordered me before whirling away anddropping to the dirt next to Gault, lifting his head to see the wound at his throat, before sagging.

“Definitely dead,” he said.

I tried not to be irritated that he thought I might not have been sure. But either he didn’t notice my bristling, or he didn’t care, because he returned to me, taking my hand and dragging me towards the back of the tent.

“He always keeps clothing here for his bayan girls. Quickly. We need to get you dressed.”

Then he trotted to a set of drawers near that armoire where I had watched Gault’s disgusting habits, digging through three drawers, cursing at each. “…wisps ofnothingbecause he was only ever trying to paint them,fuck.”But a moment later, he lifted a pair of leggings out of the bottom one. There were cutouts on the sides of the legs, but he tested the material and obviously found it substantial enough because he gave them to me, then started unbuttoning his own shirt, hurriedly whipping it off his shoulders and wrapping it around me while I was still getting the leggings on.

“Melek, just breathe. I’m fine.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about right now,” he muttered, hurrying over to the entrance of the tent, picking up that bloodied spear on his way and using the handle to stand back from the door and push the flap just barely aside so he could peer out without sticking out his head.

“There’s no one coming that I can see. We have to pray no one heard the ruckus over the celebrations.”

I listened for a moment, nodding. The camp was full of music, shouting, and laughter.

Then he was back at my side. I’d finally buttoned that shirt and he just gathered me into his chest, breathing heavily. I knew there were things we needed to do, but I fell into his arms gratefully, realizing I was trembling too.

The moment we were still, gripping each other, that image of Gall smacking himself rolled through my head and my throat began to pinch again.

“Melek—”

“It’s good that he ran. He needs to be alone for a few minutes when it gets bad like that,” he breathed, but I could hear the hoarse doubt in his tone, and felt the flinch in the bond. “I’ll find him before you leave.”

I blinked. “Leave? I’m not leaving him—”

“You won’t. I’ll find him. I will.” I felt his head turn and looked up. He was looking at Gault’s body on the dirt. His face dragged down with tense lines appearing on his forehead and lining his cheeks. “I will find him, and then you’ll go, and you’ll take him with you,” he muttered.

I looked at him sharply, a burst of hope and unease both tightening my chest.

“I’ll take him, of course,” I said, watching his face. “But… you’re coming as well?”

Melek took a moment to turn and meet my eyes. “Yilan. I have to confess to killing the King. Neither of you can be here—”

“What?!No—you didn’t—"

“Gall would be tortured and executed—or you. No one will believe it was in your defense—you’re an enemy.”

“Of course they will, becauseyou’llbe the one to tell them,” I insisted. “Melek, I wasn’t lying to you. These men are looking for you to—”

“Yilan, stop!” he gripped my arms and snarled in my face.

“No! I won’t! You arefreenow, don’t you see?! He’s gone!” I hissed, throwing a hand towards Gault’s body. “You can step into the crown with aclearconscience.”

“No, Yilan—I can feed you and my son to the wolves, or I can own this andpossiblybe cleared in self defense.”

I gaped at him. “No intelligent, powerful Nephilim is going to clear you of killing the King—and you didn’t even do it!”

“I would have, though. It makes no difference. I intended to. I might as well have—”

“But you didn’t!”

He glared at me. “And youdid,so what do you want me to do, just let them kill you?!”

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