5. Mirror Souls
~ YILAN ~
Turo caught up with me later as I was crossing the courtyard on my way to the unused barracks where the Wielders were holding Gall asleep.
To keep the royals out of sight of potential assassins, the paths between the royal gardens and various external courtyards, stables, and other buildings, were each hedged by tall, ivy-covered walls.
This path was one I especially loved to walk in the evenings, positioned as it was, due west, so the sunset was bracketed, giving the impression that I walked directly into the light.
However, it left very little room for maneuvering.
I was still trembling, but my breath had stopped hitching and my eyes were clear, thank God. Because the first thing Turo did was rush to stand in my way so that I almost ran into his chest. I was forced to stop and look up at him, because if I’d hidden my face he would have known.
He looked down at me, frowning. “Why are you wearing your spy clothes?” he asked warily.
I looked down at myself and the soft, pliable leather I wore from throat to toe, a double-breasted leather jacket with a high throat, trim black leather pants that hugged my skin but didn’t restrict movement, and the soft but sturdy black leather boots that kept my steps quiet, even on the pebbles of this path.
“It’s the closest I had to what Gall would be used to seeing me in. I don’t want to confuse him when he’s been asleep— ”
His tone shifted. “Yilan—”
“Don’t fuss about the yelling. I was speaking with Melek about Gall, who I also kidnapped, and whom I’m about to go see. He… took issue with some of the things I had to say.”
Turo stood in front of me, staring, his face tight, waiting. “That’s not what I’m worried about and you know it,” he said finally through gritted teeth.
I frowned. “Well, that’s what happened. Now, if you’ll step out of the way…
” I muttered, slipping past him and continuing down the path.
Turo muttered but fell into step marching just behind my shoulder, his disapproval a silent, heavy shadow over me.
“There is no need for your presence in this, Turo,” I said after a few steps.
“There are several guards posted already, and they will ensure that I remain safe—”
Turo huffed. “You seem obsessed with these Nephilim. I’m going along to make certain this one doesn’t also attempt to attack you.”
I closed my eyes to hide that I was rolling them. “Gall is far more likely to attack you than me. But even you’re safe unless you raise a weapon to me.”
“Possessive bastards, aren’t they?”
I stopped walking and whirled on him, then caught myself as I was about to give him a talking to.
He was doing nothing except trying to protect me.
And I was angry with him for it? So instead of flaying him with my tongue, I shook my head.
“You’re wrong. About both of them. But especially Gall. You’ll see,” I said.
I was turning to walk again when he caught my arm and tugged me back to face him.
He wasn’t angry, his face was pinched with concern.
“Yilan, please be careful. I watched Gall. I understand that he’s…
not like the others. But… but even sweet Istral has hurt people while lashing out when she’s angry or confused.
A nearly seven-foot-tall Nephilim presents a very different type of threat if he loses control. ”
Instead of yanking my arm back, I sighed and pulled slowly out of his grip. “That is good advice,” I said. “But truly, Gall won’t hurt me. He believes he has to protect me. The very best thing you can do to stop this getting messy is stay back and keep the other men back as well. ”
“But—”
“Turo, you have two options: Either you accompany me and stay well out of the way—in the doorways, or outside—or you don’t accompany me at all, and I will make it an order. Which will it be?”
He exhaled noisily, glaring at me, but finally nodded once. “Fine. I’ll stay back. But I’m inside the room,” he said through his teeth.
I agreed and smiled to ease the tension. “You’re a good man, Turo,” I said quietly.
I turned and kept walking, the hair on the back of my neck standing up, because I could feel his eyes on me for every step.
Harris was waiting for me outside the barracks. She’d left Istral grooming ponies with the maids at the stables. We had agreed that once Harris met Gall, if she thought meeting Istral quickly would help, she’d fetch her while we were still settling Gall in.
There was still a small problem. I didn’t want to cage Gall, but I knew the guards would be extremely twitchy about him being free. I hoped to convince Gall to visit one of the hunting lodges, or… something. I wasn’t quite sure. I just knew I wouldn’t put him behind bars. He didn’t need them.
Praying I wasn’t mistaken, Harris and I entered the barracks, watching to make sure Turo hung back at the wall.
We approached the Adepts—wielders of the power—standing at the end of the room where four of the narrow barracks beds had been turned and pushed together to make a single bed long enough for Gall.
My heart pinched when I saw him lying on his side, hands under his cheek, his hair falling over his eyes but still short at the back.
He looked like a child.
A massive, warrior of a child.
I sighed.
Harris’s brows rose when she saw the size of him.
“I know he’s intimidating to look at,” I told her quietly. “But I assure you, his heart is as soft as Istral’s. In some ways, softer. He’s more aware of his effect on others than she is, I think.”
“She might surprise you,” Harris muttered back. “She often surprises me with her extremely astute observations of others. What is the saying… from the mouth of babes?”
Harris and I met eyes and smiled .
I loved that this woman loved my sister as much as I did. And I had a feeling she’d be just as smitten with Gall.
But first we had to get him awake and moving under his own steam—hopefully without him growing so confused that he became agitated.
“Turo, take the guards to the door—all of them. Once the Wielders remove the sleep, I want everyone outside, or just in the doorway. Give him space.”
Turo’s lips went tight, but he quietly did as I ordered, ushering the others out the door, positioning them ready to enter again, and standing in the doorway himself.
The first Wielder, a male in the full-black suit of an Adept with the sigil of the flame on the breast, looked at me. “Are you ready, Your Majesty?”
I nodded. He turned to clasp hands with his partner, a woman wearing the same dark suit as him, with burnished brown hair that fell in lovely waves around her shoulders.
I couldn’t see what they did, I didn’t have the gift. But I knew there was some kind of weaving, or perhaps unraveling, occurring between them as they lifted the power from Gall that had kept him in a form of hibernation since we’d left the Nephilim camp.
Almost immediately, his cheeks flushed. Then his eyelids fluttered.
I stood right in front of him so the first thing he’d see when he opened his eyes was me.
Sure enough, his eyes flickered, blinked, and eventually stayed open, though glazed. He blinked again and our gazes caught.
“Hi, Gall,” I said as softly as I could. “How are you feeling?”
He blinked again, then smiled. “Yilan!” He immediately pushed up to sit but his entire body swayed as soon as he was upright. He almost tumbled off the bed. I gasped and grabbed his shoulder as he caught himself. But in the process, he’d almost bumped Harris with his head so he noticed her too.
“Hello!” he said brightly, and I had to bite my lip. He seemed a little vacant. Perhaps the magik hadn’t worn off completely.
“Hello, Gall,” Harris said, smiling warmly. “I’m Harris.”
“Are you a man or a woman?” Gall asked loudly.
“Gall!” I hushed, but Harris only chuckled.
“I’m a woman,” she said. “And I know you’re a man. Look at you—you’re very big. ”
Gall nodded, and then his eyes rolled slightly. I grabbed for him again worried he’d fall over again, but he shook his head a couple times, blinking, then frowned.
“I feel funny.”
“You’ve been asleep for a long time,” I told him gently. “But it should pass in a few minutes. Just sit here and breathe slowly and deeply. And have a drink of water if you feel thirsty.”
I handed him a waterskin that the Wielders had brought. They’d been dribbling water into his mouth every hour.
He took the waterskin from me and drank from it greedily, his swallows loud and easily audible throughout the room. When he brought the waterskin down he wiped his mouth with his arm, then smiled at me.
“Hey, you’re bringing me water! Why—” He cut off, his eyes going wide as he turned his head from me and Harris and took in the barracks.
It was a sparse room with tall ceilings and bare rafters. Most of the beds were bunk style, but these few in the middle were just singles, sized for the Shadekin warriors who were half his size.
He looked down, then around the room, his frown deepening.
“Don’t worry, Gall,” I said, putting a hand to his shoulder. “I know it’s a bit of a shock but just breathe.”
“Where am I?”
“You’re at my… house,” I said, stumbling. “I mean, my estate. I brought you here while you were sleeping so you could be safe.”
“Safe? Why? I’m supposed to be keeping you sa—”
And then his eyes bulged, and he dropped the waterskin.
It sloshed to the floor splashing the female Wielder who yelped, but he didn’t even notice.
He stood up and immediately wobbled. I caught him around his waist and braced, but he was so heavy.
Harris grabbed his shoulder and arm, and together we got him upright.
“Gall. You need to sit down until you’re—”
“Yilan, we have to go,” he said, his head darting left and right. He caught sight of my soldiers at the door and his eyes widened. “Oh no, oh shit. Yilan, they know. They came. They heard that I—”
“No! Gall! That’s not—you’re here at my home. Listen!”