Page 24 of The King has Fallen (The Kingdom of the Krow #1)

~ MELEK ~

An hour later, I lay in the dark, my body weary but clean, and relaxed from both the heat of the bath, and my climax. But my mind raced, replaying those moments in the vision, though I would never have admitted it.

Much of it had gone in ways I would never have created for myself—my fantasies would be far more erotic. And yet…

And yet there was something about those simple touches from those small hands that had left me shuddering harder than any tumble ever had before.

I still suspected she was toying with me.

Except, I really hadn’t felt her playing games. Not like the flirting she did with Jann. And her discomfort when I asked her why…

But if she wasn’t teasing or manipulating, then why?

Curiosity, she said. About me? Or any Nephilim?

It was true some women sought us out. Our physical size and strength—even the brutality of my brothers was an aphrodisiac for some.

The thought that perhaps Yilan wanted me left me warm… and deeply uneasy.

And if it was her in my mind, the fact that she’d chosen not to pleasure herself too was confusing and left me nervous. The memory of her words in the vision that she’d then echoed in truth came to mind.

“Thank you. For saving me. That was… thank you.”

I didn’t like how that felt.

After the first time I’d watched a woman torn apart in a Nephilim frenzy, I’d always sworn I’d never let myself lose control in that way. Restraint meant that while my sexual exploits were satisfying, they were rare. And always with a consenting adult.

Sadly, over time I had learned the hard way that some women would give themselves not out of desire, but gratitude. Seeking protection in the arms of a male they thought would keep them from others—not because they desired them.

Was that what she was doing? Drawing me closer to assure my protection?

She already had it. Did she not realize that yet?

I didn’t know. But I found, as I slipped closer and closer to sleep, that I deeply, deeply hoped it was not simple gratitude.

And if my mind had truly been open to that, I fervently prayed that it was nothing more than a moment of weakness. Because no matter what she might want, this… whatever it was that now crackled between us… it simply could not happen.

At least, that was what I told myself as I finally gave in to sleep. Because any other thought was far, far too dangerous.

~ YILAN ~

Melek was gone the next morning when I woke up.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Or rather, I didn't like that it felt like a rejection.

I’d only given him a vision. None of it had actually happened. But I found my body thrumming with pleasure as if it had.

And that made my heart shrink. If I had given myself to an enemy with such abandon, it was an offense to the crown.

And yet, I hadn’t.

But I felt like I had.

And I felt like I maybe wanted to. But I never would.

Well, never was a strong word.

And yet…

I groaned. Running circles in my head like the circles I ran in the cage to keep my body strong would get me nowhere.

As the day drew on and Melek still didn’t appear, my tension grew wondering if he was avoiding me. He'd been furious last night. Clearly off-balance.

My mind conjured the moment he stood over the cage, naked, body gleaming wet and dripping... and that fire in my belly flared alarmingly.

I hurriedly pushed the thoughts away, just like I'd told him to do the night before. But the restless simmer wouldn't leave me.

Where was he? Why leave me now?

But I would sleep that night with no answers because Melek was gone all day until the very small hours of morning. And when he returned, he did nothing but fall into bed clothed and sleep for a few hours before leaving again, instructing Gall to stay with me.

Then he walked out and he didn't even meet my eyes.

Nerves fluttered like butterflies in my stomach. I turned to Gall, hoping to find a way to reassure him without breaching Melek’s order not to tell him any secrets. But Gall was sullen and quiet.

He was very attentive to my needs though, so on one of the trips when he brought me a fresh waterskin I tried to get him talking.

But even though he was sweet—checking to find out what I needed—he also wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Gall,” I said at one point. “You don’t have to be worried for me. I’m fine.”

His jaw went tight and his golden eyes finally lifted from the dirt to meet mine, but then flicked away almost immediately. “You got hurt. And it was my fault. You don’t have to make me feel better. I’m not a child anymore. I can take it.”

“No! Gall—”

“It’s okay, Yilan. You just rest and get better. I’ll make sure you have all the things you need.”

“But, Gall, it wasn’t your fault those men—”

“Yes. It was,” he said through his teeth. “They confused me and I made a bad decision. And you got hurt. And Melek—” He bit his father’s name off with bared teeth and turned quickly away from me, shaking his head as he marched towards the tent entrance.

“Gall, don’t go! Come talk to me.”

“No. It’s dangerous,” he mumbled. “I have to stand guard and not let anyone in. Except Melek,” he said bitterly.

My heart broke, but he was gone, pushing through the tent flap. I knew he’d set himself a task and wouldn’t be turned from it. It would stress him if I tried.

So, I fell back onto the cot, sighing in frustration, waiting for Melek to return. We had to figure out a way to tell Gall so he didn’t carry that.

But Melek was nowhere to be seen. And Gall remained guarding outside the tent.

There were a couple of hours when it rained that he came inside, but he spent the time marching back and forth in front of the cage door to prove his attention.

And after a gentle attempt to speak with him again clearly stressed him out, I stopped trying.

My frustration and uncertainty grew for two days. Apart from singing, I had nothing to do, and no one to speak with. I had only my own mind for company. And my mind was not an easy place to be just then.

Two days. Two days where I cursed myself for the indulgence of interfering with Melek’s mind like that, for revealing the truth of my power—and for finding him attractive enough to have done so in the first place.

By the third, it became clear that he wasn’t just busy, but intentionally staying away from me.

I had to convince Melek to relax with me again—and between us, we needed to find a way to let Gall be at ease.

On the third morning I woke and it seemed that nothing had changed. Melek’s bed was empty just as it had been late the night before when I went to sleep.

The morning sun beamed against the tent from the east, casting Gall’s shadow over the doorway and the silhouette of flickering leaves and branches across the ceiling.

It seemed it would be another boring, frustrating day.

But then a distant hum caught my attention.

My instincts alerted, like pricked ears. I sat up, but couldn’t quite place the sound. Occasionally I caught a raised voice, but it was too distant to make out the words.

When Gall came in minutes later to see if I wanted breakfast, I asked him.

“Is something going on in camp today?”

Gall’s brows rose. “Didn’t Melek tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“It’s the Covenant Days of Peace.”

It was? I had already been here for how long? Of course. Holy shit…

Traditionally, the Days are a time of recognition for blessings, and for peace negotiations. Five days—first day, to fifth day—during which every people on the Continent rested, feasted, and called truce in battle.

It is a time to remember the Covenant of God with Man and the peace treaties between peoples of the past. A time to reflect on life as it would be without conflict or competition. And intended to motivate all to seek peace.

The rest of the Continent celebrated the Days, yet I’d never been sure the Nephilim did. But the way I heard Melek roar at Jannus that morning outside the tent about how this was exactly what he’d been working to avoid indicated that, apparently, they did. And Melek was not happy that they had not taken the ravine before this.

Even though the Covenant didn’t technically begin until midnight, that hum of anticipation increased throughout the day, and the strains of music and echo of raised voices began in camp early in the afternoon.

By late afternoon, the camp was awash with the sounds of men dancing, playing music, and from the sound of their horrendous off-key singing, mostly drinking.

Even Gall’s expression was a little lighter when he came to check on me throughout the day.

But the true surprise was the moment Melek appeared, just before dinner time. And it wasn’t simply to pick up a weapon or dig through a trunk, then leave again with hurried instructions to Gall.

When he pushed through the tent flap it was with a platter of food in each hand and his head turned back to call Gall over his shoulder. “Gall! Fuck midnight. Everyone else is already resting. Come eat!”

He strode to the center of the tent where he’d left the table chairs set up and plonked the platters down.

Gall pulled back the flap to peer into the tent, his brows high and expression uncertain. “I am guarding, Papa—I mean, Sir. The others—”

“Apart from the perimeter guards who cannot leave their posts, there is not a single, sober soul in a five-mile radius—including the King, and our enemies. There is nothing more to be done. What will be will be… Please, Gall. Come sit with me, Son. These are the Covenant Days—the days to remember blessings, to seek peace, and… and to forgive sins. Please. Eat with me?”

I held my breath—and suspected Melek did too—as Gall stared at him, perplexed and obviously tempted, but a frown still pinching his brow.

He opened his mouth once, then closed it. Then stared at his father.

There was a moment that passed between them then, a pleading on Melek’s face, and a soft uncertainty in Gall’s, that made my heart squeeze.

When Gall looked at me, I nodded, then tipped my head towards the table. “Eat,” I murmured, forcing myself not to clap with relief and hope when Gall finally stepped inside, his expression still uncertain.

And even though it meant that I had to wait for my meal, I sat there in the cage happily for over an hour, watching the two eat. At first it was just two warriors diving into food like pigs at a trough. Melek ate with gusto, but watched Gall the whole time, who also ate heartily, but kept his attention on his plate and avoided eye-contact with both his father and me.

But as their plates began to clear, Melek sat back in his seat and stared right at Gall, whose shoulders hunched higher and tighter towards his ears with every passing moment, until he finally took his last mouthful and pushed the plate away.

“Thank you for the meal father, I’ll—”

“You’ll stay here and talk to me, Gall. It’s time.”

Gall stilled, hands on the edge of the table like he’d been about to push out of the seat. He swallowed. “I don’t want to talk.”

“We need to. Remember? Bad feelings don’t go away until you say them out loud. Plus, it’s the Days of Peace. I want to be at peace with you, Gall. Can we do that?”

Gall’s shoulders hunched higher. But he didn’t speak.

Melek sighed. “Gall, I’m sorry that you had a difficult day when I was gone. I didn’t mean for you to have to handle her on your own. I was irresponsible in not sending someone else when Jann had to come with us. As your leader, I put you in a place that was too tricky for anyone in your position, and I’m sorry.”

Gall lips twisted. He kept his head down like he was trying to keep his eyes off of Melek. “I’m sorry I listened to them when they said they were friends,” he mumbled quietly. “I’m sorry you had to stop them…” but then he trailed off.

Melek sighed again. “Gall, I’m sorry you saw things that upset you. Do you remember the conversation we had about war? About how sometimes bad things are necessary to stop worse things from happening?”

Gall’s head snapped up and his eyes met Melek’s. His father just stared at him calmly, waiting.

I bit my lip, inwardly cursing that he didn’t just tell Gall the truth. But I understood. My sister thought in similar ways to Gall. And even though she understood secrets, and attempted to keep them, she was very poor at hiding facial expressions. Words she thought were veiled were often far clearer than she realized. And if she was frightened, or angry, she might blurt things out without thought.

So, I knew why Melek thought it was too risky for Gall to be told the truth. But I desperately wished it wasn’t so.

“That wasn’t just bad,” Gall insisted, dragging me back to their conversation. “You always taught me—”

“And I taught you true, Gall. Everything I said was true. I’m asking you to trust me that in this instance only, what you saw was necessary.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand,” Gall said through his teeth, his hands gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles turned white.

I wanted to weep. It was obvious that Gall hated admitting that.

Melek’s face softened as well and he leaned forward, elbows on the table. “I know, Son. I do. But this is like… like when I receive battle plans and I can’t share them, even with the soldiers. Not until the time is right. This is just like that. I cannot explain right now. But I will. When the time is right. I promise.”

Gall blinked. “You promise?”

“I promise. You have my word that when I can, I will explain all of this.”

Gall’s Adam’s apple jumped. He stared at Melek with a mixture of fear and hope, then finally he nodded. “Okay.”

I felt my body relax at the same time Melek slumped and muttered something under his breath that I thought was Thank God.

He pushed out of his chair and stepped up to Gall’s seat, pulling his son out of the chair and into an embrace so tight that it brought tears to my eyes—and Gall’s.

It was easy to see when they broke apart that Gall was still uneasy, but in the childlike way his precious heart had, it was also clear he’d decided to forgive and trust.

I was suddenly washed in a deep longing for my sister. For her intense hugs. Her bright smile. Her hilarious observations about life that she had no idea were funny. And… for home.

The Covenant Days of Peace…

Thoughts of everything that should have been happening in my life came crowding in, but I pushed them away. Because there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. But as the two men stepped apart and gathered themselves, settled back into their chairs and began to talk, I allowed myself the feelings.

I allowed myself to feel the loss. I allowed myself to miss my loved ones, and be grateful that events had spun out of our control. And I allowed myself to feel the relief—and the self-disgust for it. And then, a very, very tentative hope for the future.

A future that was now very foggy. In part because of the man who sat in front of me, now eagerly asking his son the questions they hadn’t discussed for the past ten days.

In the spirit of the Days of Peace, I made a resolution that no matter what happened when I was finally free, I would not forget this moment. I would honor these two men in my mind for their kindness and strength. And no matter what happened in future, one day I would tell Gall the truth about his very honorable father.