40. The Time is Now
~ MELEK ~
I was uneasy from the first step outside that door, knowing she couldn’t follow me until she dressed. The guards were shocked to see me, which reminded me that they hadn’t known I was in the suite.
Four spears leveled at my chest. Turo had clearly been spreading the word.
Fuck.
I raised my hands to show I held no weapon, and tried to keep my voice calm.
“The Queen is following me. She’s just—”
“Sir, how did you enter the royal apartments?” the first guard said, his voice creeping with suspicion.
Shit. I forgot that I’d snuck in.
We stared at each other, and I knew this could change everything.
“Hear me,” I said softly. “I pose no threat—to her, or to you. I snuck in only because there was chaos and I didn't want to add to it.”
“Snuck in how , Sir?” the guard said through his teeth. “General Arturo was searching for the Queen and she was not there.”
Shit shit shit shit shit.
I swallowed, keeping my hands up. “She is there. Only he didn't find her. On the verandah,” I said pointedly. “If you'll just wait a few moments, she will be out here and can explain to you herself.”
One of the guards peered into the room, but she must have disappeared into the closet or something because he looked back at their leader, shaking his head.
I closed my eyes so they wouldn't see me cursing them in my mind.
“I'm not lying to you. She's only changing and preparing to be seen.
If you would just wait, she'll tell you I am no threat,” I said through my teeth, cursing Turo for his appearance that spurred this and got me so flustered I forgot simple details.
I wanted to tell them to go looking for her, but presumably she was changing, and that would just cause more disruption.
The guards were looking at each other and not lowering their weapons.
I knew they were tensing, growing more suspicious, not less.
Unless we defused this, it could go very wrong.
But just as I opened my mouth to reassure them further, a bloodcurdling scream rose from the apartment and we all whirled.
“ASSASSIN!”
My heart died in my chest.
I roared, rushing forward—straight into a spear point at my throat.
“Let me go, man—someone’s hurting her!” I snarled.
But the leader only nudged that blade harder against my neck and snapped instructions. One guard took off down the hallway while the two furthest from me peeled off for the door, weapons ready—then drew up short just as Yilan appeared in the light, wrapped in a robe, her eyes wide on me.
“He’s no threat—let him go. There’s someone in my chamber who just tried to kill me!” she gasped. The leader blinked and I snarled at him just as Yilan snapped, “ I said, release him!”
Then a horn was rising, echoing through the hallways and corridors of the Palace. Shouts rose, and new chaos began.
I grabbed for Yilan before she could disappear and pulled her to my side. “What happened?”
“An archer,” she muttered quickly. But whenI pressed, she shook her head, looking past me down the hallway, but then images bloomed in my head—her standing in the dark and an arrow cracking against the wall behind her, then the desk .
My blood ran cold and I yanked her tighter against my back, turning for the door, but she hissed at me.
“No, Melek!”
I would have turned and asked her, but there were suddenly a dozen sprinting bodies.
Men in uniform, and some in simple fighting leathers.
Commands shouted and feet pounding. A circle of guards surrounded us while others disappeared into the dark chamber and more men rushed down the halls towards us.
I recognized organized chaos when I saw it. These were military men, acting on orders and training. If I interfered, I’d only create confusion. So I held Yilan against me and half-crouched, keeping my eyes open for anything another might miss.
My breath was coming fast, blood pumping. I could feel Yilan trembling—that had truly shaken her. But she kept her voice low and as calm as she could and still be heard as she repeated the events and the location of the attack again and again.
Then several of the soldiers snapped to attention and Turo strode into the melee, eyes tight until they landed on Yilan, then blazing as they raked down her form—and found my hand on her arm.
“Unhand the Queen!” he snapped, drawing his sword as he trotted to us, every inch a commanding officer.
Having just had the spear removed from my throat, I growled as that gleaming blade drew closer.
Yilan called to him. “It’s fine, Turo. He’s keeping me safe.”
“You don’t have to keep protecting him, Your Majesty,” he insisted, turning back to me and leveling that sword at my chest. “Unhand our Queen. She is not your property to—”
“Turo, stand down!” Yilan barked, pulling out of my grip. I grabbed for her again, but she evaded me and stepped in front of that blade, forcing her General back a step.
“Yilan—”
But she was furious. “Put that sword away and listen!”
Turo glared at me over her shoulder, but did as she asked, sheathing his sword slowly.
Yilan growled, exasperated as she flung a hand wide to indicate all the others around us, racing into the chamber and shouting information to each other. “Melek is not the threat. He was out here with the guards when the attempt was made on my life—”
“I saw you scream in the ritual, Yilan. I saw the fear in your eyes!”
“It wasn’t fear of him! ”
“God, what has he got on you to keep you from—”
When Turo’s leash snapped and he stepped forward, snarling at her, I grabbed for her and brought her behind me.
“If you have concerns about me , bring them to me,” I growled.
Turo’s eyes narrowed. But before he could speak Yilan stepped in.
“Both of you, just stop! The real threat is in there somewhere, and I need both of you to focus on that!”
Turo gathered himself, but he kept glowering at me as he snapped a bow and muttered to her that he would go see what the men had found. But as he turned, he paused and met my eyes again.
“If you have any hand in this, I will find it,” he spat.
I growled, but Yilan put a hand on my arm and I swallowed it back as Turo marched into the room. I turned my attention to the chaos around us, shifting myself to stand between Yilan and any of these fuckers—who knew who’d been involved in that attack?
Moments later, Turo appeared again, his face pale and eyes accusing. “We need to move you to a much safer space,” he said to Yilan through gritted teeth, ignoring me completely.
“I’ll go wherever you wish.”
Turo reached for her hand, but I shoved it back at him and stepped between them.
“You don’t touch her.”
“You expect me to leave her in your hands?”
“I expect you to listen to the Queen and—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Both of you are being idiots!
Both of you are convinced the other is the danger when I’m telling you both that the danger is out there!
” she snapped. “Turo, please lead the way. I will follow. Melek, keep your hands to yourself. Stay at my back if you want to watch. Let’s not make anyone’s job harder right now. ”
I had to swallow back a pinch of pain that she put me in lockstep with this fucker when it came to inconveniencing her—or anyone.
But she was right that we needed to get away from this place until they’d figured out the threat.
So I nodded once, then glared at Turo who narrowed his eyes at me before turning on his heel, storming down the corridor, calling for soldiers to surround us.
And so we made our way through the Palace like that, the three of us cushioned from any other hands or eyes by three rows of guards in a complete circle around us.
Turo led us to a chamber I hadn’t seen before.
Some kind of sanctum—the ceiling was well over twenty feet which helped me feel like I didn’t need to stoop.
There was a single, large rectangular table at its center, and three mostly blank walls with a massive fireplace on the fourth.
A large bookshelf and a sidebar complete with wine and liquor made up the rest of the room.
There was only one set of double-doors leading into it, and no windows.
Not even in the ceiling. I could see why Turo had chosen it. The room was a fortress.
I breathed a little easier at first—it would be much simpler to make sure no one gained access to her here. But then the rest of the Council began to arrive, along with an increasing number of guards and messengers and I ground my teeth.
“The more people who know where we’re cloistered, the greater the risk,” I snapped as Turo opened the door to yet another of the Council.
“Stop it,” Yilan muttered under her breath.
But Turo turned on me. “She and the Council can be guarded here easily until my trackers learn who attacked and how. Then we will determine the best strategy,” he ground out.
I would have been pacing, but Yilan had calmly taken a seat at the table, so I stood at her back, glaring at anyone who drew close.
One by one, the Council arrived, along with the Diadre woman who greeted Yilan grimly. Something passed between the two women, then Diadre took the seat to Yilan’s left and watched the door.
Turo paced endlessly, but his instructions were delivered quickly and efficiently. Despite the crowd outside, he didn’t allow anyone through the doors who hadn’t been part of Council meetings before.
Then finally, Hughes arrived—the oldest, he’d obviously been called from his bed.
He was wrapped in a long robe, his gray hair sticking in five different directions.
He muttered his greeting as he stomped into the room and took the seat at the opposite end of the table from Yilan.
Only then did Turo lean out of the door to give instructions as the rest of them settled into their chairs.
Captain Jhonas, the smiling blonde who reminded me of Jannus, sat next to Diadre on the long side of the table.
The other younger man named Granbull, dark and brooding, whose hot-headed insistence had gotten him in trouble earlier in the week sat across from Jhonas.
But then Turo ushered in another man who looked younger than me and pointed at the seat next to Jhonas.
I glowered. “Who is he? ”
Ignoring me, Turo addressed Yilan. “I had already planned to bring Shen along for mentoring—he was with me in the Nephilim camp and showed great calm and poise under pressure.”
Yilan nodded, but I growled.
“This is not the time for risking trust with anyone unproven!”
“You have no voice in this, Neph,” Turo barked. “Sit the fuck down and—”
“Keep flapping that tongue, Turo. I’d be happy to show you how easy it is to remove—”
“Both of you, stop!” Yilan spat. She glared at me first, then at Turo, then back to me. “You fight against each other for the same goal. This is not the time!”
Turo spluttered like he might stop breathing. “Forgive me, Majesty, but this creature is only in this room out of respect for you. He has no reason to even be present, and yet—”
“He has every reason, Turo!” Yilan hissed, slamming both hands down on the table. “He is my mate!”
I froze as that word echoed in the high chamber and the room went utterly quiet and still. Everyone sat, stunned, gaping at her.
Including Turo, whose mouth opened and closed, opened and closed like a suffocating fish. Then he looked at me and took one staggering step back.
“What?” he breathed.