49. The Warrior’s Call
~ YILAN ~
I hadn’t appointed a Governor when I’d left last time, and the nation had been imminently safe.
As I had known it would be with Turo watching over and the rest of the Council there to help.
But my poor, ragged General needed to know that he was valued.
And I couldn’t deny that even though I was thrilled to take this on, there was a very real danger that either myself or Melek—or both—would not return.
Having someone in true authority while we were gone increased the sense of security to the people when they learned that I had once again left to be among our enemies.
I knew the decision was the right one… and possibly the last royal decree I would make for my nation. I just had to pray Melek wouldn’t argue.
I stepped back to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Below the level of the table I twined my fingers with his, sending waves of reassurance and pleading through the bond.
Please don’t question me on this. Please don’t question him!
To my relief, Melek only nodded his approval of the decision and waited, along with everyone else, to see if Turo would accept the appointment.
But Turo was still gaping at me like I’d grown a second head.
“You… are you certain?” he finally asked me hoarsely.
I nodded, smiling. “I am. ”
Turo deflated, his breath whooshing out of him, blinking his eyes as if he blinked back tears. He cleared his throat and raised his chin, then bowed, first to me, then to Melek.
“I am greatly honored by your trust, Your Majesties,” he rasped. “And I accept this with deep gratitude. I won’t fail you.”
“We know,” Melek rumbled, and I could have kissed him on the spot.
The hour that followed was a flurry of activity.
While the Council argued about details that wouldn’t ultimately shift the course of the coming days, I left them to it and went to find Istral.
I had to tell my sister that I was leaving again.
My stomach sank to my toes when I was ushered to one of the attic rooms where Turo had hidden her. Climbing the narrow, spiraling staircase to its top, I met a scattering of guards standing along the hallway… and a massive Nephilim crouching, his back pressed against the door.
“Gall!” I gasped, glad that he was there, but reminded that we’d never had a chance to intervene for him.
Given the nervous looks on some of the guards faces, I suspected that he’d demanded the position, and was guarding Istral as much from these men as any other danger.
But when he heard my voice, his head snapped up and his eyes came alive.
“Yilan!”
He pushed to his feet and grabbed me to his chest, squeezing me so hard that his body trembled.
Gasping for air, I patted his back and murmured that it was so good to see him.
He put me back on my feet, then looked at me with a frown, scanning my clothes with confusion in his eyes. “I thought you weren’t doing that anymore?” he said, indicating my fighting leathers.
I smiled. “I am still skilled, Gall. And there are many times and places that I need to be able to move easily. But for now… I need to speak with my sister. I assume she’s inside?”
He nodded and stepped away from the door, opening a hand towards it. “They didn’t want me to guard her. I had to tell them.”
I caught eyes with the Sargeant and gave my head a little shake to let him know he shouldn’t worry about it .
“Well, I think it would be good if you’d come inside with me. I have some things to tell you both, and then we can leave these men to do their jobs without interruption. What do you say?”
“They said I wasn’t allowed to go in. That I was supposed to go to a different room,” he muttered sullenly.
“I understand—that’s partly my fault, Gall. I’m sorry there was confusion. But that’s one of the nice parts about me being Queen, I can tell other people what to do and they’ll do it.”
He nodded solemnly. “I know. I was afraid you were coming to tell me that I had to leave,” he admitted.
And yet, he’d greeted me with an embrace. My heart squeezed as tightly as his hug.
I patted his arm. “Well, I’m not. In fact, I’m going to ask you to come with me and Istral when we leave here, because she’ll be moving back to her normal quarters, and I think… I think we should find a place for you close to her there.”
Gall’s face dragged towards floor. “We can’t go back to the cottage?”
“Not now,” I said as reassuringly as I could. “Come in with me, and I’ll explain to both of you at the same time.”
He followed me like a dutiful son, and my heart pinched for him as well.
Things were still a little tense between him and Melek, but I had no doubt he’d be scared when he heard what we planned to do.
I prayed he could stay calm, and that he and my sister would keep each other company while we were gone.
Leading him into the room, I found Harris and Istral both seated on either side of a small table made for two, leaning over a puzzle.
Istral’s eyes lit up when she saw who was entering—but to my surprise, though she hugged me first, she quickly leaped from me to Gall, grabbing his arm and pulling at him.
“You’re allowed in now? I’m so glad. I was worried about you. You’ll need some sleep and I think you’re hungry? I’m sorry that they wouldn’t let you in. I told them it was safe, but they were speaking about military things and—”
“Izzy,” I said quietly.
My sister went still immediately. Then she swallowed before turning to face me. She still hadn’t let go of Gall’s arm.
“What is it?” she asked nervously.
“There’s something very important that I need to tell you about what’s going to happen in the next couple of days.
But also, I want you to know that when we’re finished here you’re going to return to your normal quarters here in the Palace.
And I’m going to tell them to find rooms for Gall in your wing. ”
Harris, who’d gotten to her feet too, but not approached, clasped her hands at her chest and I saw the relief on her face as she smiled at Istral, and then Gall, before looking at me and mouthing, Thank you.
“Now,” I said after nodding at the lovely woman. “Why don’t we all sit down and I’ll fill you in on what’s happened.”
Half an hour later, Istral was crying, sitting next to me on the lounge, hugging my arm.
“But why must it be you again?!”
“Because I’m the most skilled, Izzy. We talked about this last time, do you remember? But also, Melek is my mate and I can’t… I can’t let him go without me.”
She sat up, staring at me with her beautiful eyes welling with tears. “Is that what it means to be mates? That you can’t be without each other?”
I nodded slowly. “We are one, Izzy. I still love you as much as I ever did. But I can’t leave him.”
Her face crumpled, but to my surprise, instead of burying her head in my chest and sobbing as she would have done before, she pushed off of the couch and hurried to Gall who stood at the door, guarding it for us so we wouldn’t be interrupted.
I blinked at her abrupt departure, but then watched her stand at Gall’s toes, looking up at him. And the sadness on his face mirrored hers—but not only because he was sad himself. It was very clear that Gall felt deeply. And seeing my sister cry made him miserable.
I was stunned as he touched her face and murmured to her in a deep rumble I couldn’t quite make out. But she nodded, then leaned forward to lean into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and… held her.
“I stopped trying to make him leave. He’d just wait until we weren’t moving around in here and come back and threaten to fight the guards again,” Harris whispered in my ear. “And she never settled until she heard him thumping on the other side of the door. ”
I turned to look at her, shocked. “Are they…?”
“They are… attuned to each other,” she said carefully, watching my sister and Gall as she whispered to me. “If we’re to stay here in the Palace I think you should consider allowing him to take the adjoining suite? I could watch them—”
I gasped, truly stunned. “You’re suggesting I let them—”
“No! No! I don’t think… at least, as far as I know, they are both still very…
innocent in the way they love each other.
But they do love, Your Majesty. And there is something between them that defies simple attraction.
I’m not certain how deep it runs. But for who they are and how they work…
they’re connected in some way,” she said pointedly.
My whole body tensed in resistance to what she implied.
I’d never imagined Istral even thinking about a male that way.
Not after the way she’d been abused by her peers when she was younger.
But watching the way she clung to his waist and he stroked her hair, if I hadn’t known them both, I would have seen lovers in an embrace.
“But… but they're children!” I hissed.
“Not truly. They are… simple,” Harris said carefully. “But they know themselves deeply. I know you’ve been busy, but you need to see them and listen to them. They help each other. He makes her braver, and she makes him calmer.”
I looked at them again, swallowing back a pinch because I was watching my sister turn to someone else for comfort—the thing she’d always found in me.
Gall looked over her head and his eyes met mine. His worry and grief were palpable. “Must you go, Yilan?” he asked. “Surely Melek could take another female and they’d still believe the story?”
I didn’t want to tell him how sick that proposal made me, so I just shook my head. “I’m the best shadow walker. It has to be me,” I said, my head still spinning after Harris’s words.
Gall looked down at Istral and his sadness ran so deep I worried he’d misunderstood.
“Gall, you won’t have to leave Izzy,” I said. “In fact, I came to ask you to stay close to her,” I said with a glance at Harris. “To watch over her until I come back.”
“But… I can’t,” he breathed.
Istral gasped and snapped straight, her head coming up. “What do you mean?”
“I’m a warrior now,” he said miserably. “If Papa is going to fight… I have to go too. ”
Istral wailed and buried her face in Gall’s chest, even more upset than she was for me. I tried not to feel jealous as Gall shushed her and stroked her hair.
“That’s not… you don’t have to, Gall. I can order it that you stay—”
The door behind him creaked open and Gall whirled, putting Istral behind him—but then he shrank almost at once, dropping his chin and his shoulders rolling as Melek stepped inside, patting his shoulder before slipping past Gall and my sister, to come join me.
“He’s not wrong,” he said quietly, frowning. “His place as a Warrior is among the ranks. And if I’m successfully crowned, he’s my Heir. He has to be acknowledged as well—holding that position will keep him safer.”
I hadn’t thought of that. My heart sank for both Gall and Istral.
No matter what I might think of Harris’s proposal, I knew they cared deeply about each other, and I didn’t doubt Harris’s assessment that they were good at balancing each other.
I didn’t want Istral to lose both of us on the same day… but what could I say?
But then, in a very humbling moment, Gall looked up at me and sighed. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll soothe her. You just do what you have to do. Tell me when it’s time to leave. I’ll make sure I have my things ready.”
I looked up at Melek, but he was nodding solemnly. Then he took my arm and drew me out of the room so we could leave them to calm together.
I knew it was the right thing to do. We left instructions with Harris to move them back to Istral’s quarters when they were less emotional. But I hated walking away from my sister. And not just because I wasn’t going to see her much before I left. Also because a part of me was suddenly frantic.
Did she not need me anymore?