45. Make Your Choice
~ MELEK ~
I didn’t even think, but reached for the dagger at my back and had it up against his throat before he could blink.
“You have precisely one second to tell me where she is, and what state she’s in. If she’s dead—”
“She’s not dead,” he coughed. “Fuck, Mel—she’s safe. She has to be safe. She’s going to guide us back through those fucking Shadows of Shade.”
“Who is we?!”
I loosened my grip a hair so he could breathe to speak, and Jann sucked in a deep breath before meeting my gaze reluctantly.
“Drek, Kran, and Hever,” he listed quickly.
“You brought Hever here?” I hissed.
“We’d all be dead without Hever,” Jann said, his voice rough. “That fucker knows everything—including how to get through the Shadows. But he’s not taking Gall seriously. He thinks we should leave him here and I told him you’d never—”
“I should kill all of you for trying to take her out. I can’t believe you didn’t tell them she’s my mate. I told you, Jann!”
Jannus’ lips twisted. “I’m unconvinced.” When I growled he raised his hands, but didn’t drop my gaze. “I’m just saying, there are a lot of questions. But now we’ll get answers.”
“Yeah, you will. From me.”
“Mel, I know you claimed her, and I know this is real for you. But she fucking drugged you and—”
“And you don’t have the last clue what you’re talking about,” I snarled, shoving him back hard against that wall again, before letting him go and stepping back, shaking my head. “Seriously, Jann. You are ignorant.”
“So enlighten me,” he snapped. “All I know is that I came to save your ass and get you back where you belong to lead our people, and you’re acting like her fucking puppet. Were you just going to abandon us because she gave you tail?”
I snarled and stepped forward again, but my head went to war with my soul—they had her.
I needed to get her out of their grip. And they needed to understand.
So when we were chest to chest, and Jann was staring right back at me, I didn’t close my hands on his throat, even though I wanted nothing more.
I snarled at him through my teeth and pinned him with my eyes instead.
“I don’t need to be saved,” I started. “I am not a prisoner here.”
“So you are abandoning us?”
“No, you fucking meathead—she’s my mate. And she’s their Queen.”
“I know! That’s exactly my point—”
“You don’t know the point of your own prick,” I snapped.
“She’s Queen, and I’m her mate. I don’t need to be freed from these people, Jann, they’re my people.
This isn’t a fucking assault, it’s an alliance.
And if you take one more step you’re going to do nothing but bring all out war on our brothers.
Do not underestimate these ants. They’re a lot stronger than you think.
So you show me where she is, and you get her loose now. Or I’ll kill you myself.”
“What… the… fuck?”
“You heard me.”
“You’re staying here?” Jann was so incredulous his voice slipping higher.
“No!”
“Thank God.”
“But—”
“We need you, Mel. The ranks are in chaos. I wasn’t even sure I could leave to come find you, but I also knew you wouldn’t trust anyone else.
You have to come back. There’s no other Neph with enough support to bring everyone together.
We’ve got four different factions, and battles even within those—it’s a complete clusterfuck.
And you know it’s only a matter of time until the survivors of this entire campaign realize we’re a mess and turn on us again—if they pin us against the Shadows of Shade, and these fuckers come through at our backs, we’re screwed.
You have to come back and lead, make them a single army again.
Then you can take over these guys. She’s the Queen, which means she’s valuable—no one will kill her while we need her for a shield.
She gets us through the Shadows, you take the crown, and then you can do whatever the fuck you want with her—”
“Absolutely not.”
Jann gaped. “Mel, unless you’re ready to pull a miracle out of your ass, we can count the weeks that the Nephilim hold the continent on one hand.
There are already whispers in Zaryndar. The Tuskarrs are licking their wounds, but if they get even a hint that we’re weakened you know they’ll bring numbers, and if the Centaurs have healed and get wind that we’re losing and come to help, it’s over!
We need you out of here, and back to the Neph before we eat ourselves and lose everything. ”
“Take me to my mate so I know she’s safe.”
Jann’s eyes narrowed. “Did you hear anything I said?”
“Every word.”
“So, you’d place her wellbeing above ours?”
“She is my mate . I think you’re the one who’s not listening, Jann.
Did you hear me? The Queen of the Shadekin is my soul-bonded mate.
Divinely appointed. In their books, that makes me King.
I already have a crown and a throne. This isn’t the time to steal the Queen away.
Salvation doesn’t come in subterfuge. It’s time to start building an alliance that’s too strong for the other nations to even think about challenging us, and the first step to that is you bring me to my fucking mate. ”
Jann stared at me, stunned. “You’re truly King?”
“Not just in name,” I said through my teeth.
“I lead. And if you aren’t submitted, I’ll kill you first, then take out the rest of them to get her out of their grip.
So, the choice is yours, brother. Either you take me to her, or I’ll show you why I outrank you, right here, right now.
” I let my voice trail off into a low growl.
Jann’s entire body tensed as his eyes flickered with fear… and with rage. But Jann had never been a stupid man. And now his eyes also gleamed with that intelligence that I prayed would save his life.
Because I didn’t make empty threats.
And he knew it.
Half an hour later, I marched into the old, rundown barn buried in the forest a few miles from the Palace that Jann had identified as their hideout.
The others hadn’t heard us coming, so they scrambled to their feet when I threw the old, creaking door back and strode in.
The two younger Neph, Drek and Kran, both males I’d had planned to mentor as future Officers, leaped back, drawing their spears.
But Hever, the old asshole, floated to his feet in that creepy way he had, his gray hair sticking out in several directions as he backed away from me, eyes glowing in the dark.
Despite his age, he still moved smoothly, if slower than the younger men.
But I ignored all three of them, striding straight to where Yilan was crumpled on the floor next to the small fire they’d built under a hole in the roof—small enough that the barn walls would hide the light, and the smoke would be invisible in the black night.
She was pale and limp. Her head tipped back in a sickening parody of death when I lifted her from the ground. My heart flipped in a knee-weakening fear until I put my ear to her chest and heard her pulse, slow, but strong.
I hefted Yilan higher against my chest, then turned to face them, glaring.
“What did you give her?”
“Just a sleeping draught,” Hever said, his rasping, crumbling voice making my spine tingle. “She has a knot on the back of her skull, but no fracture. She’ll have a headache, nothing worse.”
“Give her the antidote.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t have it. It will wear off in an hour.”
I growled and Jann stepped forward. “Just, breathe, Melek,” he murmured to me, then turned to the other. “There’s more to this than we thought,” he said quickly, focusing on Hever, but glancing at the other two as well.
“You’re all plowing in like bulls to their first fuck,” I snarled. Then I glared at Hever. “Whether you see it or not, you have done everything you could to start a war.”
“We came to free you!” Hever snapped .
“I didn’t need your freedom—she’s my mate. Their Queen and my mate. I have a crown and a throne, and the power to have you all executed, though I won’t need to. I’ll take your throats myself if you put one more finger on her without her permission.”
The two younger Neph looked at Jann, who nodded, though he looked uneasy.
“You can look at me for answers, all of you,” I barked.
“You’re talking to the King of the Shadekin—I’ll be crowned tomorrow.
This is my mate, and my Queen, and her throne answers to mine.
If you hadn’t stepped right into the shit you knew nothing about, if you’d just fucking talked to me, you would have known all of this. ”
“I’m still unclear—” Hever started, but I snapped back at him.
“Then let me clarify: I do not need your salvation. And she does not deserve your assault. These people are not my jailors, they are my servants. She has already been our security against all-out war. You can thank her later.”
Hever blinked and Jann raked a hand through his hair.
“You’re King?” Hever croaked.
I nodded, not looking up from where I was using a finger to push the hair back from Yilan’s pale face and silently praying Hever had been right that she’d have no injuries beyond a headache.
“But… If you’re accepting these people, you are a traitor to—”
“I am a traitor to no one,” I snarled, glaring at the man who’d served two Kings and now would either serve me as well, or lose his life to my hands.
“You cannot rule two peoples. You can’t hold two thrones—”
“Watch me,” I growled. Then pinned him with a glare, knowing my eyes were glowing when all three men started to back away. “I’ve earned one, and was divinely appointed to the other. You just fucking watch.”