Page 30 of The King has Fallen

Melek’s expression was one of frustration and disgust and weary resignation. “I am his father in… in heart,” he said reluctantly. “Not by blood.” Then his eyes snapped back to mine. “But he ismine.”

Stunned by yet another layer of this man, I made myself plant a hand on my hip and just stare to cover for the whirlwind of thoughts in my head. I blinked more than once, trying to—

“What?!” he snapped. “If you must spew your vitriol, do it to me, not to him! I will not have you—”

“His eyes are gold,” I blurted.

“So? Mine were also when I was born. That proves nothing—”

“No,” I said through my teeth. “Don’t start lying to me now. Your eyes are the bright green of a new leaf—on a kind day!”

“They are now. But when I was born, and even as a youth—”

“Bullshit! The yellow eyes are the sign of the irredeemable. If you were born irredeemable, you cannot change that—it is impossible!”

Melek frowned. “Who is spouting that drivel?” he said, though I saw the flicker in his eyes. He had to force himself to hold my gaze.

I let my lower jaw jut forward and pointed with the spear. “You said you were a man of honor—of course I should not have believed—”

“I am not the criminal here,” he snapped, that vein at his temple that Jannus had mentioned, standing proud.

“No, just a liar,” I scoffed.

“I am not lying!”

“The eyes are the window to the soul, Melek. Yoursonhas the eyes of fallen angels. He issoulless—”

“YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!”he roared, his face turning beet red, and the vein on his temple pulsing visibly. His body swelled and he took two storming steps towards me with such ferocity that I stumbled back and whipped the spear back up, holding it in both hands, prepared to defend myself if he tore into the cage.

But he drew up short of the door, teeth bared and eyes ablaze, chest heaving with his panting breath.

“You speakone wordagainst my son, and I will show no more mercy.”

“This ismercy?!”

“SILENCE, BITCH.”

My mouth snapped closed and I took an even firmer grip on the spear as my shoulder blades came up against the back of the cage, even though I hadn’t been aware that I was moving. I drew up short, watching him warily as his chest heaved with his breath.

“Just… be silent,” he rasped, then turned and stormed out of the tent.

I watched him go, my heart pattering far too fast in my chest, and my mind spinning with the implications of it all.

The General had a son who was not his son.

Someone in this camp that the General needed to keep happy was truly the boy’s father.

And… whether that father refused to see it, or Melek tried to hide it, apparently the other male did not know or perhaps believe his own son’s limitations.

But why would a man care about a son he did not claim, who was claimed by—

And then it all clicked into place.

Golden yellow eyes.

Melek’s fierce protection.

An absent father, yet one that needed to be pleased…

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