32. HonorDeath
SOUNDTRACK: I Don’t Know What You Want From Me by Willyecho
~ MELEK ~
Turo sat at the opposite end of the Council table silently, his arms folded and eyes narrowing every time they landed on me. Yet, he didn’t speak.
Clearly he’d recognized that Yilan was losing her patience with his challenges, because after we left the stilted, near silent, formal dinner and the men had gathered here in Council, he’d barely spoken. Yet half the words the others hurled at me could have come from his lips.
He hadn’t walked in here unprepared. Of course he hadn’t. I wouldn’t have either. He’d spoken to the men before anyone took a seat. Now he sat back and watched them say everything he would have said.
Apparently he’d forgotten that I, too, was a man of honor who carried the loyalty of others.
I knew a set-up when I saw it. I wanted to smack the smug satisfaction out of him which I knew was bubbling behind those cold eyes, but I also knew that these challenges had to be faced.
Until these men had reason to think otherwise, I was nothing in their eyes but a spy and an interloper.
Turo had done a grand job of priming them to challenge me.
But he’d underestimated my resolve—and ability .
I hadn’t reached the peak of our military rankings before I was forty by sheer luck. There was a reason the Nephilim followed me into battle.
Soon, these Fetch would also learn that confidence in me was not misplaced.
Turo thought he’d set himself up to sit back and watch me fall, but he’d only sped up the timeline in which I could win these other men over because he had given me a forum to make them listen.
I should be thanking him. I would, after this grilling…
“…two weeks ago you led the Neph to the edge of our borders. Now you want us to listen to advice on peace talks? Do you expect us to believe you’ve simply had a change of heart?”
The man was named Hughes. Gray haired and wrinkled, he was the oldest of this bunch and the slowest spoken.
Yilan had introduced him with a strange mingling of love and concern washing through the bond.
She’d mentioned that he had served the nation loyally since her parents rule—which explained why she seemed to defer to him, even as she watched him like she was afraid he might tip over.
He was obviously a man with real experience and proven loyalties, but also a man at the end of his career. Growing frail, but prideful enough not to want to acknowledge it.
“My heart has not changed in the slightest,” I said quietly, turning to address every man at the table as I spoke in answer to his question.
“Bringing the Neph through the Shadows of Shade was always the greatest challenge we faced—and we were slowed reaching them by the swamps, and the alliance of your neighbors with the Aethereans. It was always going to be a harrowing battle. My preference from the start was to find a way to align our nations—or at least agree on a truce.”
“Bullshit.” The word was muttered with cold disdain by a man about my age—Granbull. One of the Captains, and a bit of a hothead. I’d seen Turo shoot him a quelling look more than once already when he’d allowed his emotions to drive his tongue.
I had no doubt he was a passionate fighter and a foe to be taken seriously on the battlefield. But there was a reason he remained a Captain despite being years older than me. He lacked the self-discipline to remain careful when he was angry, or offended.
I would be an example to him.
I didn’t let the heat in my chest flare, didn’t challenge his contention. But met his gaze evenly and explained patiently .
“I’m not… unsympathetic to your position.
When Yil—Her Majesty was taken in our ranks, I questioned her motives with similar cynicism.
But do not forget: The Nephilim King was killed days ago.
My society has been greatly affected. None of us anticipated that and so we must roll with the proverbial punches.
I am a man of honor whether I stand in my home, or yours.
I am a leader of men, and carry—that is, I carried the future of very real lives in my hands.
If I can find a way through this without further bloodshed, I will choose it every time. ”
“Such pretty words for such a butcher,” Granbull muttered, shaking his head.
“You have slaughtered your way from one end of this continent to the other and you expect us to believe it is as you reached here that you have a sudden heart to stem the blood flow?” he scoffed, his disbelief echoed by several of the others.
I shook my head. “I’ll admit, I was surprised by how easily the continent fell, as I’m sure you were.
I expected far more resistance. But it wasn’t until after Noctharrow Haven that our progress was hindered.
I defy any among you to suggest that if you were at war and conquering easily, you would slow of your own volition. ”
Hughes scratched at his gray beard. “So, you don’t seek peace, you fear defeat and try to save face by—”
“I am doubtless that if I were to lead my ranks into the Shadows of Shade, we would eventually win this land,” I said firmly, ignoring the flash of rage from Turo and a sharp look from Yilan and Diadre who sat next to her.
“However,” I glanced at my mate and sent a soothing rush through the bond.
“Having had an opportunity to know your Queen, I hold the deepest respect for her courage, and am equally doubtless that your people would wound us greatly before we were able to take control. Wounds like that could fester in a recently established hierarchy like ours. I see no point in gaining the land and your people if we will not then have the strength to hold what we have taken.” That should soothe their egos somewhat.
But now let these men be reminded just how successful my campaign had been.
“Given the instability among the Nephilim in recent days, and the vast lands and peoples we have conquered and now need to lead, I believe it would be unwise to plow forward without considering a more peaceful resolution.”
“You suspect you’ve bitten off more than you can chew,” Turo said with an eager gleam in his eyes.
I ignored the dig and shrugged. “I’m certain we can hold and lead the entire Continent,” I said smoothly.
“But as I said, I am not stupid or arrogant enough to think we can take everything without challenge—or that we will not face further battles. It seems only wise to try and stabilize our people and what we have, rather than pushing forward when there is an opportunity here to build some kind of truce.”
“So, you hide a loss of nerve behind discussions of peace?”
The dry, cracked voice came from the other elder in the room, a man named Wellhurst, whom Yilan had mentioned only in passing, and who seemed on the outer fringes of this circle. I hadn’t seen any of the others meet his gaze or communicate silently the way brothers-in-arms did.
Gray, and growing frail like Hughes, this man was sullen and quiet. When this was done, I’d intended to ask Yilan why he was there since even she seemed slightly uneasy around him. But this was the first that he’d spoken.
I bristled and had to take hold of myself before I responded.
Letting the tightness of my jaw tell anyone watching how unimpressed I was with the accusation, I turned my head slowly to meet his narrowed gaze.
“No,” I said simply, though my tone was more growl than I’d intended.
But the man had found his voice, and he huffed to make it clear how little he trusted my word.
“You admit that you fear the struggle of holding the land and peoples you’ve already taken. Perhaps the Continent was not as easily won as you want us to think? Perhaps your appearance here is less to do with our Queen’s initiative, and more a reflection of your subterfuge.”
I wanted to roar—he didn’t just question me, he dared to imply Yilan was a liar?!
Leaning towards the man, I fixed him with a furious gaze. “I am not a coward, nor a liar—and neither is your Queen.”
Diadre’s expression screamed that she wanted to speak up, but Yilan’s hand on her arm stayed her tongue.
I shot a look at Turo—he should be standing for Yilan’s honor, even if he didn’t stand for mine.
But the Fetch General only rolled his jaw. “It is awfully convenient that this heart for peace comes here and now—when you are already behind our defenses, and your people are in chaos.”
“My people are fearless and require physical strength of our leaders. What you call chaos, my men call just another Secondday.” It wasn’t entirely true, but I knew that while the Neph hierarchy was in flux, their behavior would appear to be anarchy to these uptight motherfuckers.
Neph responded to strength, so until they knew who outranked them, they’d fight anyone and anything to increase their own position.
But that apparent bedlam would settle immediately when the right leader took the throne and the ranks beneath him became clear.
An echo of Yilan’s remembered voice rose in the back of my head, insisting that that leader should be me. But I pushed it away. Even if it were true, a thought I was still struggling to accept, I couldn’t give my energy to winning the Nephilim. Not while I stood in the sanctum of an enemy.
But not an enemy, I reminded myself. They were Yilan’s people. Yet, they were also mine. And I needed to bring them together with the Nephilim to keep everyone safe and…
Shit.
There wasn’t enough space in my head for it all. So I turned back to the problem I could solve now. I opened my mouth to remind the men at this table that we were here for peace talks, when Wellhurst shook his head and turned on Yilan.
“Have you truly fallen for this deception?” he barked, throwing an open hand towards me.
“I am not lying to you or to her,” I snarled, but the man ignored me, his eyes blazing with judgement.
“I know you faced real danger at the hands of these brutes, but forgive me, Majesty, one animal showing a modicum of sense among a ruthless herd does not mean he holds honor—only that he is intelligent enough to know how to play to your emotions.”
Yilan blinked and drew herself up, her chin rising in offense. “Wellhurst, you would do well to reconsider your words,” she hissed.
“We are here to advise, let us advise,” he insisted.
“This man has used the trauma of your experience to blind you to the truth. He has successfully manipulated you to bring him and his comrade through the Shadows of Shade, and now you ask us to respect a man who has personally held every nation on the continent in a death grip! This is not a leader for peace!”
“How many times must I say it—” I snarled, but the man groaned.
“Words, words, words! You are a Nephilim. The Nephilim if reports are to be believed. The very male who carried your people through bloody murder and mayhem, devastating every nation in your wake. Our Queen is young and has a pure heart, so I don’t blame her for not seeing through your machinations, but I am a grown man.
For fuck’s sake, men, are we all just going to stand here and entertain this? !”
There was a murmur around the table, a shifting as the gathered men heard their own thoughts reflected, albeit in anger. They began shifting in their seats and eyeing each other as Wellhurst continued in his tirade, pointing at me.
“This male is a spy and a warrior who keeps his murderous intent hidden while he knows himself to be surrounded by those of us strong enough to overcome him. But the moment we fall for this shit, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when he carves his way through this Palace, takes our Queen—again, by all accounts—and then leads his people to conquer our lands!”
The warning growl began in my toes, but Yilan shot me a look as she pushed to her feet.