44. Past Tense
~ MELEK ~
I was flying back towards the Palace from the forest beyond it when I felt the rush from Yilan—a wave of… approval. Esteem laced with want.
I smiled, wondering if she was dreaming, or still awake.
There was an ache deep in my chest—I yearned to be close to her.
But Turo had sent a messenger not long after I’d returned to the royal suite.
There was an issue with Gall not wanting to allow the guards to take Istral and Harris without him.
I had been needed to reassure Gall, and explain.
They’d intended to send me with a dozen guards, but the minute we left the Palace I’d taken off in flight.
The guards were at least experienced enough not to shout and draw attention.
But their hisses of warning and muttered curses told me I’d be returning to a furious Turo, and some ruffled feathers to soothe.
It couldn’t be avoided, though. I needed to get to Gall as quickly as possible so he didn't get overstimulated and start causing problems no one needed right now.
In the end, I’d reached the little cottage quickly, convinced Gall to shadow the guards taking Istral—pointing out that he was uniquely equipped to watch for any Nephilim attackers. And he’d settled from defensive into determination .
I’d been proud of him—instead of giving in to his fear and frustration, he’d taken the instructions and grasped the vision.
Now, somewhere far behind me, he was hovering just beyond the circle of guards escorting Istral and Harris through the night.
We would have another battle with him when they reached the Palace and Turo wanted to house them separately because he—quite rightly—recognized a vulnerability for both Yilan and I in our loved ones.
I didn’t anticipate sleeping tonight. I would return to the Palace, soothe those who were aggravated by my independence, then prepare them for the confrontation I’d need to have with Gall when they got inside.
I didn’t want him scaring anyone. They needed to leave him to me. Worst case scenario, I could wrestle him into submission. I didn’t want to have to do it though. I was praying he’d listen.
There was a little knot of irritation in Yilan—something directed at herself—but it faded almost as quickly as it appeared, then there was nothing. She must be dreaming.
I entertained the vision of going to her, slipping into her chamber, into her bed, waking her with kisses and strokes and telling her not to worry about her dreams.
But those thoughts only spurred frustration in my body that wanted desperately to be close to her at a time I knew I couldn’t.
And besides, when she learned that I dodged my guards, she’d be angry. I knew this whole strategy of keeping us separate was grating on her nerves. It would annoy her that I’d slipped away from the restrictive guards when she was still stuck.
Since I knew I wasn’t going to sleep, I decided to hurry back to my chamber where I’d told the guards to wait, and let them feel like I’d given them back their jobs.
I’d need to apologize to them, and recognize the stress I’d caused.
That way, hopefully, they’d be ready to return to service when I had to go help with Gall.
I could enter the suite through Yilan’s chamber.
Those screens still hadn’t been fixed, which was why she wasn’t allowed to return there yet.
I’d get back to my guards faster if I didn’t have to navigate the entire Palace on foot.
And before I revealed myself I could take a quick turn around the chamber and see if they’d missed any clues left by my brothers.
Two birds, one stone.
Nodding to myself, I shifted my trajectory in flight, thankful that the moon was a bare crescent offering virtually no light tonight.
It was unlikely any of my brothers would just happen to be watching the sky in the right place as I passed over, black against black.
While I was still some distance from the Palace, I pushed higher in flight so I could glide the rest of the way without flapping, then turned for that breach on Yilan’s balcony screen.
Minutes later I dropped silently into the covered verandah and remained unmoving for several moments, scanning the space, peering through the dark.
The hair on the back of my neck was up. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d subconsciously sensed an intruder, or I was only reminded how close they’d come to killing my mate.
I bared my teeth at that thought. When I found out who’d taken that shot, I would call the male out, making certain they knew, whether I was in attendance or not, that attacking her was attacking me.
With no sight or sound of another intruder, I straightened in my stance and started across the verandah and into the bedchamber, stopping dead in my tracks when I was only two steps into the room, as a black shadow separated from the corner near the door and coalesced into the tall, broad form of a Nephilim.
I growled and tensed. “You will not find a cowering victim here—”
I froze as Jann stepped far enough into the room that the very dim light from outside filtering through that hole in the screen hit his profile.
His eyes were dancing as his warm, deep voice reached me.
“The man himself,” he muttered, but I could see his teeth because he was smiling.
“Jann?! What the hell!”
My dearest friend rushed forward, grasping my hand and pulling me into an embrace, our hands clasped at our chests as he softly clapped my back, then stood back, still grinning.
“How the hell did you get loose?” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder towards the door. “These fuckers crawl over this place like ants on sugar.”
“What the hell are you doing in here?” I hissed, ignoring his question. “If they catch you they’re going to kill you before you can blink!”
Jannus gave a little huff and a one-shouldered shrug. “They’ve barricaded this room so no one can get in. They don’t understand how our wings work. As long as we stay out of eyeline, they’re ignorant that we’re even near.”
But that vein on his temple was pulsing, which meant that he wasn’t quite as relaxed as he was trying to pretend.
I let go of his hand and looked over his shoulder. A thin thread of light shone below the door into the corridor, and shadows shifted over it. The guards were there making sure no one entered without permission.
My chambers adjoined this one. I should have been stalking through, going to meet my guards and reassuring them that I’d returned. But fuck!
“Jann—”
“There’s no time, Mel. We haven’t found Gall yet, but we’re working on it. You need to come with me. If we don’t get you back to the Neph soon, the whole hierarchy’s going to crumble,” Jannus said grimly.
I growled. “I was already working on it—you should have known that. What the fuck were you thinking coming here in the first place?! How did you get through the Shadows of Shade?”
“Ask Hever. He got us through. Barely. Look, Melek, I’ll explain everything.
But this is urgent. We need you back. I’m glad you’re alive.
I know you were imprisoned. We were working to get you out of there.
I don’t know how you convinced them to give you this freedom, but the time for subtle strategy is done. You are needed at home.”
He grasped my upper arm and started pulling me back towards that verandah and the breach there, but I yanked out of his grip.
“Wait… wait.”
I felt my entire body tense as everything that had happened in the past few days—few hours—came home to me.
When Jann turned on me, eyes flashing because he wanted to argue with me, he found me already glaring and pointing at his chest.
“You?” I hissed. “You tried to kill her?!”
Jann’s lips thinned. “Of course not,” he said sullenly. “Denk was excited when he found her alone. I warned him that would piss you off—”
“Piss me off?! Jann, she’s my mate!”
His jaw went tight and he glanced over his shoulder towards that breach, then turned back to me. “Are you sure?”
I gaped. “Am I sure? For fuck’s sake— ”
“Don’t look at me like I’m the fool here—there’s been a whole fucking lot of things that don’t add up, Melek. Including the way she dragged you out of our camp. We thought you were dead! Imagine my surprise when we find out you’re not only still alive, but here, fucking the woman who abducted you!”
I didn’t even think. My hand snaked out of its own accord, clamping on his throat as I marched him backwards into the wall and pinned him there.
Jannus gripped my wrist, clawing at my fingers to keep them from cutting off his air entirely, but he didn’t struggle, just met me, glare for glare, teeth bared as I hissed in his face.
“There is no fucking, you bastard. She’s my mate.”
“Then God’s laughing, because that witch has dug her claws into you and you’re calling it a stroke—do you know she can make herself invisible?”
“Of course I do, you think mates don’t…”
I blinked.
“How the fuck do you know that, Jann?” I growled, tightening my grip on his neck until his breath started to wheeze.
But for the first time, my friend didn’t have a lot of words. He continued to struggle against my grip, but he was locking eyes and baring his teeth.
“Jann? You better speak right now, or so help me God, I’m going to start making some assumptions that end with you dead, and me on a fucking rampage to avenge my mate,” I snarled.
Jann coughed, grimacing and still trying to pry my fingers off his neck as his face turned a deep red.
“We’ve been watching,” he rasped, his voice thin and hoarse.
“Watching doesn’t show you someone’s invisible,” I pointed out. Jann huffed, but his breath was stuttering as fear and rage twisted together in my chest. “Were those your arrows, Jann?”
“No!”
“Did they fly at your order?”
“No! I told the others to grab her if they had the chance, not kill her. I had questions.”
“Had? Past tense?”
Jann nodded quickly as much as he was able with my fist clamped under his chin.
“What the fuck, Jann?” I growled, pulling him off the wall a couple inches and slamming him back against it so his skull bounced and he squeezed his eyes closed against the pain. “What the fuck have you done?”
“I promise this is for your own good—and the good of all our people,” he croaked.
“What is?!”
Jann’s eyes opened and locked with mine. “We got her,” he wheezed. “We got her, and they don’t know.”