Page 163 of The King has Fallen

When everyone else had backed off and she stood closest to me again, her forehead was lined. Pinched.

Good. At least she retained enough humanity to have a conscience.

Then she raised her chin again and took a deep breath. “I understand your… anger,” she said carefully, that pleading entering her gaze again, but it didn’t touch her voice. “We will win this war with or without you,” she said with conviction. “But my preference is to fightalongsidethe honorable General. Not against him.”

And oh, thelayersin that statement.

I shook my head, huffing in disbelief at the sheer audacity of her.

Unable to resist, I stormed up to the bars, ignoring her gesture to the men to stay back, though I didn’t reach through. “I would not give an ounce of my strength to you… you deceptivebitch.”

Turo roared and Yilan whirled away from me, but I ignored the rest of them and kept my eyes on her with the kind of smile I reserved for enemies, knowing eventually she would see it.

“Out. All of you,” she commanded. “Now.”

Everyone except Turo immediately turned on their heels and started out of the anteroom, though some of the women cast worried glances back over their shoulders.

It wasn’t until Yilan had taken a deep breath and was beginning to turn back to me that she realized Turo hadn’t moved, but stood aside to let the others pass him.

“Go,” she said firmly.

“But he’s a fucking Neph!”

“And the fiercest—and most honorable of them! He is angry, but he would never hurt me!”

“You can’t seriously believe—”

“Turo, do not make me discipline you,” she said quietly. “Leave. He is weak and imprisoned. I am perfectly safe.”

Turo grumbled and made a big show of re-sheathing his sword, glaring at me over her shoulder.

She sighed like a mother losing her patience, but only folded her arms and stared at him until he reluctantly turned and stalked after the others, his boots ringing on the slate floor. At the end of the anteroom, he grasped the doors, hesitating once to look at Yilan, a strange expression on his face, before walking through, closing the doors, and leaving us alone.

The hair on my arms stood up when her shoulders slumped.

Instinctively, I wanted to reach for her, gather her in, kiss her, plead with her, demand that she tell me if she was hurt, or—

But no.

No. There would be no kissing. No holding. No relief. No reassurance.

As she turned back to me and walked right up to the bars, as ifshemight embraceme,I took two, stumbling steps back, shaking my head, my lips peeled back from my teeth.

“Melek,” she breathed, and her voice cracked. I heard the grief—felt the pang in the bond.

And I hated her in that moment.Hatedher for her lies and deception.Despisedher for how she had wrapped my heart and soul around hers. Because it hit me then, when she gripped the bars and pleaded with me to come closer and my bodyachedto give her what she asked, that I would never be free of her.

Never.

The fucking bitch had imprisoned me more perfectly than any cage ever could. Because it didn’t matter if she opened these bars this moment and let me walk.

Because the deepest part of me was tied to her. And would remain so, no matter how much distance I put between us.

57. The King has Fallen

SOUNDTRACK:Can’t Help Falling in Love – DARK, by Tommee Profitt and Brooke.

~ MELEK ~

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