Page 32 of The King’s Man (The Kingdom of the Krow #3)

~ JANN ~

I marched behind her on the way to Melek’s tent, reeling.

When we’d been together I could feel her. All her turmoil, the fierce need and desire thrumming through her that devastating release giving way to confusion and fear.

She’d wanted me desperately—then suddenly, after that awful tearing, she grew apprehensive. Regretful.

My mate feared me.

That was a sword to my guts. I’d barely gotten my mind whole after the bond was torn, then she turned… brittle.

While I scrambled to find my way back to sanity, she slipped away from me.

Now I could barely sense her—because the bond had been torn and so was losing its power? Or because she had some kind of Fetch magic that hid her from me?

Either way, it was terrifying.

As we strode along the trails to Melek’s tent I tried to breathe, but my chest was too tight. I hadn’t anticipated that an incomplete bond would roar when other males were near.

I trembled when that other Neph saw her and his eyes flashed before he caught sight of me. He almost lost his life in that moment, and he knew it the moment our eyes locked. He shrank away covering his balls, as he should.

Diadre was suspicious, but I kept my face blank and she didn’t speak her accusations.

I kept her ahead of me until we made it to Melek’s tent so I could warn any of the others away, but my skin smarted. How the fuck was I going to be of any use to anyone if every instinct in me screamed for blood at the merest hint of another male?

Holy shit, I was in trouble. I slipped ahead of her to open the tent because I needed to see if there were any other males inside with Melek.

Thank God there weren’t. As I held the flap aside for her, despair coated my bones.

How had we even gotten here? How could a bond take and yet… tear? How was half my heart engulfed in her and the other half in freefall?

It had to be the curse.

I had to tell her, had to warn her, had to explain—see if there was a way we could mend this before I lost my mind. Perhaps she could feel it, but was denying it as I had been? Melek had said he felt it before Yilan did.

But as Diadre slipped into the tent and darted past me across the dirt to Yilan, my heart sank.

If the bond was real, we wouldn’t escape it, whether it was torn or not.

I watched her rush to her friend who stared at her with a measure of alarm, glancing a question at me. But there was no time for me to formulate any kind of answer before the two women tipped their heads together, whispering, and Melek walked to my side, clapping my shoulder.

“Good to see you, brother. What news?”

News?

Diadre is my mate. I’ve been denying it, but I no longer can. So I seduced her, and took her—with her consent—and yet the bond didn’t take because my bloodline is cursed, and now I’m going to be useless as a General because I’ll fly into a murderous rage if any man even looks at her.

God, what a mess.

How much time did I have?

A year? Four?

I didn’t know.

But as Melek stared at me, waiting for an answer, his expression growing more concerned, everything in me dragged towards her.

I looked at her, hunched over and whispering and my heart raced.

I couldn’t resist her, but if she couldn’t sense the bond, or wanted to deny it, what choice did I have?

My heart sank to my toes. I would have to do as much as I could to keep her safe until I either went mad, or the curse got me—

“Jann?” Melek said quietly.

I blinked. Then cleared my throat. “I need to speak with you… Alone.”

Melek’s brows rose. He looked pointedly around the empty tent, then to the women, then back to me. “By alone, you mean—”

“Alone. But I don’t want the girls at risk. Perhaps you could appoint a guard—”

“No need—we’re going to my tent to talk,” Yilan said quickly. Diadre’s back was still to me—her spine straight and stiff. Yilan’s eyes slid to meet mine for a bare second before returning to Melek.

Melek frowned. “I don’t think it’s safe for you two to be alone—”

Yilan rolled her eyes, then took two steps back towards the deeper shadows at the back of the tent, then disappeared.

My skin crawled whenever they did that. But then, without looking back at me Diadre followed, blinking out of existence a breath later.

My heart leaped and I instinctively started towards that spot where she’d disappeared, but Melek caught my arm. “Don’t worry. They’re only across the trail. We’ve agreed Yilan won’t go out of earshot, even when she’s walking the shadows. Not after what happened to Diadre.”

What happened to Diadre…

My heart raced.

“Jann, what the fuck is wrong?” Melek dropped his voice, but leaned in, clearly concerned. “It’s obviously serious. What happened?”

I nodded, my eyes still on that spot where she’d disappeared. “It’s more than fucking serious,” I muttered. Then I blinked as my body jolted—if she misjudged that walk, if she appeared on the trail and one of the men was nearby—

I tensed, about to run and Melek caught my arm. “Jann, for fuck’s sake. Report.”

I shuddered, but drew myself up and made myself focus on him. On my King. “I have to ask you… about your bond—when you and Yilan mated, did the bond complete? Or was there… some resistance?”

Melek’s brows pinched in confusion. But he snorted. “The only resistance was before that,” he growled good-naturedly, his affection for his mate obvious. “By then I’d already found clarity—wait.” Melek’s eyes widened. “ Wait. Why are you asking?”

I clawed a hand through my hair and Melek’s eyes grew round. He leaned in quickly, grabbing my arm. “Holy shit, Jann. Is Diadre your—”

I hissed and flashed him a warning look, glancing back towards the tent flap to remind him of the guards outside, though our voices were low.

“Yes, is your answer. But she doesn’t know,” I said through clenched teeth. “And I’m not going to tell her.”

“What? Are you fucking insane? The torment of a resisted bond—”

“I’m not resisting. I think… I think there’s a problem.” I trembled because saying that out loud was making it all feel very real.

Melek folded his arms and his brows pinched together over his nose. “What the hell is going on?”

I swallowed hard. “I took her.”

Melek froze. “You… did… what?” he growled.

An angry Melek was death for any man. I brought my hands up to soothe him and took a step back, shaking my head.

“Not like that—god, she’s my mate. She wanted me.

It was entirely consensual. But… when the bond sucked out of me it…

tore. Only half took root or… or something.

I don’t understand. All I know is that there’s a hole in my soul and I can’t breathe and she’s fine.

She joked with me afterwards as if we’d had a roll in the hay and wasn’t that nice,” I hissed bitterly.

“My mate, Mel. My fucking mate treated me like a stallion at stud and I am lost . I need to know if anything happened between you and Yilan? Any barriers or lacks? Is this because they’re Shadekin? Is it because—”

Melek’s worried eyes were back. “No… nothing like that. We had some trouble mind-linking in a way that allowed me to talk to her, but now… no. It was never an issue of completing the bond. Only finding our way together. Trust. And connection and…”

My heart sank. “Then it’s me. My blood. The curse. Something.”

“Jann, I’m not sure that’s—”

“Of course it fucking is. What other explanation could there be? She’s stripped my soul from my bones, but she’s walking around with a smile on her face as if I gave her a present. She thanked me.”

Melek’s eyes widened. “Well… shit.”

I nodded. “Yeah, an absolute steaming pile of shit.”

Melek grimaced, lifting one hand to scratch the back of his neck. “That is… I understand how that must feel horrific, Jann. But if the bond is there, it’s not a mistake. It’s Divinely appointed. It has a purpose. Don’t forget that.”

My heart sank in my chest. Divine purpose? Yes, to kill me.

It was the fucking curse. I almost laughed.

All this time, I shouldn’t have been worried about impregnating a woman. I should have been wary of a bond. Diadre didn’t need to have a baby to kill me, she just needed to keep herself away—

Out of nowhere, a black shadow flashed at the corner of my eye barely a blink before a small but powerful fist plowed right into my belly, snapping me at the waist and dropping me to one knee because I’d been entirely unprepared.

My head spun. What the fuck—?!

Instinctively, I whipped one arm up to block another blow.

Then another. Then turned and pushed back to my feet, still hunched forward because my guts had taken a bruising—but the space was suddenly filled with black limbs, and the screeches of an angry cat.

I blocked and spun and bellowed, until Melek got hands on the creature and pulled her away… because it was Yilan.

Yilan in fighting leathers, eyes flashing like blades, her lips spewing rage. At me.

“You fucking rapist, you took her and fooled her—she is not a toy for your pleasure!”

Melek sighed. “Love, he’s not—”

But there was no way I was leaving that spoken. I stormed forward to where Melek struggled with her, raising a finger to her nose. “I did no such thing!” I whisper-screamed, my voice hoarse with horror and rage.

“Bullshit! You fucking asshole!”

“I asked her—more than once! I told her to tell me—”

“Then why is she in my tent weeping, and bleeding Jann? You did that! You fucking prick. I am your Queen, yes? I will put you down like a dog—”

“Love,” Melek grunted as one of Yilan’s elbows landed in his ribs, “You need to listen—”

She hissed and suddenly he struggled to keep hands on her because she was so small and quick and she twisted like a cat.

“I did not—she wanted—” I rasped.

“None of you fucking pricks has a clue what a woman wants!” Yilan shrieked. “You steal from her and you call yourself a leader? A General—”

Rage ripped through me as surely as the bond ever had. “You shut your fucking mouth, Yilan, I am not the liar here—” I snarled.

“Jann!” Melek glared at me over her shoulder.

Yilan looked like she’d claw my eyes out if she could get her arms free. “Don’t you dare compare what I did with this—I never violated any—”

I stepped right up in her face so my spittle landed and made her blink. “You drugged your mate and stole him from his people—” I snarled.

“TO MAKE HIM KING!” she screamed back. “NOT TO brEAK HIM!”

“The only one broken here is ME!”

“Both of you need to calm the fuck down!” Melek snapped, shoving Yilan behind him so she stumbled a step before she could turn and rush for me, but by then he’d planted a hand on my chest and was forcing me backwards. “She is your Queen—and my mate,” he growled, his eyes blazing.

He caught his mate as she launched at me, keeping himself between us, but the warning in his eyes was all for me.

It wasn’t his mate he’d be punishing if this went wrong.

Of course, he wasn’t the one being accused of rape.

“I told her you could be trusted!” Yilan hissed. “I told her you were safe! You fucking—”

“I never violated anyone!”

Yilan screeched and leaped for me. Melek caught her as her fingers reached my lapels and I almost snapped them off with my teeth.

Yilan didn’t even flinch. “Do you even know what rape looks like you fucking—?”

“Of course I do, and I would never do that to my MATE!” I roared so loudly my vision shook. I sucked in another breath, ready to disembowel her if she thought—

“What?”

The voice was tiny, breathless, shaky… and not Yilan’s.

We all froze.

I whipped around to find Diadre standing in that shadow at the back of the tent, eyes red and shining with tears, gaping at me.

She’d heard. Holy shit.

Then her eyes widened and an expression of horror came over her.

“Dee—” I pitched towards her, but she shrank from my hand, stumbling towards the door of the tent, shaking her head, her expression terrified .

“Don’t touch me. Don’t… this isn’t… you can’t—”

Five steps from the tent flap she blinked and froze. For a moment my heart rose—was she coming back? I raced towards her, taking her hand and putting it to my chest, praying for even the hint of that crackling energy—and it did flicker between us. “See?” I whispered. “See, Dee, that sensation—”

Her eyes snapped to mine… then she disappeared like smoke on the wind.

Despair rocked me—but almost immediately her silhouette appeared on the other side of the tent wall.

“Diadre! Please!”

I tore out of the tent to find her stepping into the shadow of the next tent. As she turned, for a split second our eyes caught and hers swam in fear.

Then she disappeared—taking my heart for another dive, only for it sweep back up when she reappeared in the bright sunlight between two tents down the trail a second later, one hand to her chest, and her step wavering.

She looked over her shoulder at me with wide eyes, then she was gone again.

I sprinted after her.