10. Unknown Allies #2
I swallowed hard. “I know there was some confusion before we left the camp—but we talked to you, Melek and me. About… about what had happened. Do you remember?” I was whispering now, leaning into him, praying he’d keep his voice down if he did start ta lking about it.
“It wasn’t all bad. Not bad the way it looked, do you remember? ”
Gall nodded, but his lips were tight. “I remember everything,” he said.
“In that case, I need to ask you to be a friend and keep those details to yourself. Melek is… struggling with all the change, and I want to give him time to feel better before we tell everyone else. So, this is a secret right now, but it won’t stay that way, I hope. I just—”
“You were lying to protect him,” Gall said darkly, his chin jutting forward. “Melek told me that spies have to do that sometimes—”
“No!” I breathed. “At least… not in that way. I told you the truth in the end, Gall. He told you that we’re mates… remember?”
He nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it. “But I don’t think it’s true, because if it was, he would have told me at the beginning. I think he just used that to make it good in his mind.”
“No!” I was frantic. “Gall, I know it too—he can’t hide that from me. Or deceive me about it.”
“But you’re good and kind and you tell lies all the time to protect people.”
“I… yes, I mean, sometimes, but not here—”
“He would have told me. He always promised me if he found a mate he would tell me.”
“And he did!” I pointed out. “He didn’t tell you sooner because we were hiding it from everyone. We had to decide how to… I mean, we were enemies , Gall. You understand how that makes things difficult, right? The Nephilim would have torn us apart if they’d known. As it was, the King attempted it.”
I could have cursed myself for bringing up Gault, because Gall’s eyes went wide, then shuttered completely and he took another small step back from me.
“I know how to keep secrets,” he mumbled. “I wouldn’t tell… not on purpose.”
Oh God. I inched closer and put a gentle hand on his arm. “I know that, Gall. I do now. I’m sorry we didn’t trust you sooner. That was our mistake. And I want you to know… Gall, look at me.”
He raised his eyes from the ground to meet my eyes, looking wary.
I kept my voice low. “I want you to be confident that I will keep your secrets, too. Do you understand? ”
He nodded slowly.
“So,” I said, a little breathless. “We will keep each other’s secrets, and all is going to be well. Right?”
“I suppose.”
I sighed. “Gall… Melek is sad and tired. It would help him a lot if he could see you and know you’re safe.”
But Gall frowned and shook his head. “I don’t want to.”
I had to be so careful. “Do you not believe me that he never hurt me?”
“No. I believe you but… but he lied to me, and he said he never would.”
God, it was heartbreaking. “But that’s my fault, Gall. He was only trying to protect me.”
“That’s what he told you,” Gall said sullenly. “It might not be the real reason. He says lots of things and they aren’t all true.”
I gripped his arm, trying one more time. “Do you remember, Gall, when you had dinner, at the beginning of the Covenant… and he told you that he’d explain later? That it was like the secret orders for war? And he would tell you when it was safe?”
“Yes,” he said uneasily.
“That was real. He wanted you to know. He was waiting for the time it was safe.”
Gall’s jaw tightened. “A time when I couldn’t tell his secrets.”
“Yes. I mean, no—that’s not—”
“You don’t have to protect him, Yilan.”
“Gall, please. I don’t want to be the thing that comes between you.”
“You aren’t. He is.”
I slumped. I wanted to weep. I knew it was all new, and all scary for him. I knew the emotions were very raw and probably compounded by the strange situation he found himself in. But I wanted to cling to him and beg him to come with me. I recognized the urge as selfish.
I didn’t want Melek to blame me for his son’s anger. And that wasn’t fair on either of them.
They would work this out. With time. At least, I prayed they would.
“Gall, I won’t make you come with me if you don’t want to,” I told him reluctantly. “But… is there a message I could give him?”
“I don’t think so,” Gall said, his voice wavering a little bit. My heart went out to him, and I had to swallow a pinch in my throat .
“I’d like a hug, Gall. Would you like a hug, too?”
He nodded and leaned down, opening his arms to wrap me in them. And for the briefest second it felt like falling into Melek’s chest, being circled by his arms, and that pinch in my throat turned into an ache.
And of course, that was when the door behind me opened and Turo stepped inside.
His eyes went wide as he found me wrapped in the massive arms of a Nephilim, but to his credit, he only balked for a second.
“Your Majesty,” he said, clearing his throat roughly. “The prisoner is asking to speak with you.”
Nerves cut a jagged line through my chest. Gall didn’t know Melek was being held prisoner. I shot Turo a cautionary look as Gall released me.
“Thank you,” I said carefully, then urged Gall to go back outside and rejoin my sister who would be waiting impatiently.
Gall stared at Turo, then at me. “He doesn’t like me.”
“No, Gall—”
“I do not like any risk to my Queen, or her sister,” Turo said stiffly. “If you prove yourself trustworthy with them, I will like you a great deal.”
Gall looked at him again and I saw that flash of protectiveness in him that made my chest swell.
Unfortunately, it was also the look that made his sheer size and strength very apparent. Anyone would be unnerved catching sight of Gall assessing another male as if he was measuring how easily he could kill him.
My General, who believed I was his betrothed, and that he’d almost lost me to this man’s compatriots, caught it immediately and his hand went to his sword.
I raised my hand, about to caution him, but Gall spoke from behind me first.
“I’ve killed a man to protect her. Have you?”
Shocked, I whirled to gape up at Gall and warn him not to say anything else.
But Turo replied. “Yes, as a matter of fact I have. And if that is true, we are allies, not enemies,” he said quietly.
I was torn, wanting to tell Gall to be careful with his words, but also wanting to reassure Turo that…
God, this was a mess .
“And I’m grateful to both of you,” I said, clearing my throat as they stared at each other. “I trust both of you and look forward to the day when you’ll trust each other.”
I touched Gall to break his focus on Turo and to urge him back to the garden. But as I turned, I caught Turo staring at me with a very strange expression.
I wasn’t sure what he would say, but I knew I needed to get him away from Gall.
So, I raised a hand to silence him, walked Gall out the door, and then hurriedly ushered Turo into the grounds.
I walked so quickly I was almost jogging.
I wanted to put as much distance between them as I could before Turo spoke.