“Yeah, it’s great,” he said flatly. “Perfect, almost.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment, then I felt him shudder and I turned, hugging him, even though he still leaned on the ramparts. “Melek knows, and he forgave you, and you fought—we trust you, Jann. We all know—”
“No. You don’t,” he said darkly. I went still, ear pressed to his side, listening to that low rumble of his voice in his broad chest. The most comforting sound in the world, usually. A moment later, he straightened and turned to face me. His warrior’s length was tangled and caught in his collar. There were scrapes and bruises on his face, one thin slice on his cheek, and a mix of grime and blood smeared, where he’d wiped his face with his sleeve.
He looked ragged and exhausted and desperately sad.
Then I noticed— his eyes weregreen.
I sucked in a breath. “Jann—”
“I almost gave over,” he said hoarsely. “It was so close—”
“Yet you didn’t!”
“Still, I almost did, and… thank God Istral could heal Melek, but now we pay the price.”
“What price? Jann, we’refreeingthe Neph. The only ones surviving this are those who’ve turned. Valgorath will become a safe place for women and—”
“I’ll never be free of the curse, Dee,” he rasped. “That’s the choice I had to make. I had to decide that it was better to die with my soul intact, than to live under that fucker’s rule. I killed as many of those pricks that would hurt you as I could, but… when our son is born… I’ll have a very few years. Maybe only months—” His voice cracked, and his face crumpled. His eyes—his beautiful green eyes—reddened, shining with tears he fought. And his body told the story of the struggle. He trembled andstared at me with those eyes, full of pleading and grief. “I wanted to do this with you,” he whispered. “I wanted to know what it was like to have a family, andlove,and…”
He slumped.
There was nothing I could do but gather him in, and hold him, and pray.BegGod to break this curse—if it really existed—because no one else had the power to free him.
~ YILAN ~
I walked out of the royal bedchamber, where Istral and Gall were curled on the bed together, finally calm and sleeping, and closed the door softly.
“I think they’ll rest now. Did you put the guards in place to—” I cut off as I turned from the door.
Melek sat in one of the large chairs near the cold hearth. Legs spread and feet planted on the carpet. Arms falling off the sides. His head craned, neck bent over the chair back, and mouth open. Deeply asleep.
I didn’t move for a moment, just took in the sight of him—that bold, massive body, so vulnerable in sleep.
His shirt was torn and bloodied. His leathers speckled with dark stains from his kills—and his own blood.Thatmade me shudder—and quickly shut my mind to those horrendous memories of the moments when I’d felt him draining away.
Even the thought made my skin cold. Suddenly, needing the reassurance, I hurried quietly across the room to his side, and crawled into his lap. Melek startled at my touch—but even as hishead snapped up, he wrapped those thick arms around me, and pulled me into his chest.
I kissed the V of skin above where his shirt buttoned, then nestled into him, pressing my nose under his jaw and sighing when he stroked my hair with a hand big enough to span my skull.
“How are they?” he asked in a deep gravel.
“We need to stay close,” I murmured. “They’re sleeping. But if they wake up, they might need reassurance that it’s all over.”
Melek nodded. “Gall often struggles with dreams. Let’s rest while they do.” He slid deeper into the chair, holding me to him, and his breathing immediately grew slower.
“Melek, we need to bathe and—”
“We will,” he muttered. “Just resting my eyes for a minute…”
He was gone.
For a moment, I battled. We’d just waged war. We needed to get clean, check injuries and get them tended. Melek in particular should be laying in a bed that was big enough and…
I sighed.
I didn’t want to move, either. There wasnothingI needed more right now, than to lay on his chest and feel him breathe. Feel the warmth of his skin, and the flutter of his breath in my hair.
