“Where is she?!”
“He lies! If she had conceived, the Fallen would be here to celebrate!”
“Display the queen!”
My heart broke anew, watching Gall’s panic grow—and my fury right along with it as the Advisors, who were supposed to be his help and counsel, stood back and let him receive the accusations and complaints without any show of support.
“What the fuck is Janndoing?!”
“He’s playing the game he’s been told to play,” Melek muttered under the level of the shouting below. But I could feel his increasing tension and anger too. Gall was fumbling. And the Neph below him were beginning to boil.
“No, stop! Just—just listen! The queen is pregnant! That’s not a lie—I wouldn’t lie about that. I just didn’t want her to get scared. She can be pregnant even if you don’t see her—”
“Display the queen!”
“Prove it!”
“He lies—the king lies!”
Finally, as the crowd began to shift and boil, as Gall backed away from the long arms reaching to the stage, and the threat that he might soon be overwhelmed, finally the Advisors circled up around him—but their faces were grim masks, and they did nothing to soothe the crowd.
Melek scanned the Coliseum, his brow furrowed with concern, his jaw set in anger. “If someone doesn’t intercede quickly, they’re going to frenzy,” he whispered. I felt his body tense, and grabbed his hand tighter.
“No! Melek—you wouldn’t stand a chance. Your allies aren’t here. You can’t—”
“They’ll kill him without a second thought. They have no mercy, Yilan. He’s breaking the traditions, and Lucifer isn’t here to remind them of the power behind him.”
Gall, shaking his head, kept his hands open and palms out, as if asking for mercy, had backed all the way to the toes of his Advisors—who tightened their ranks, and didn’t allow him to push through where he might have disappeared from sight.
Melek and I were both on our feet in the shadows. He leaned forward, teeth bared, a growl rising in his throat. I leaned back, gripping his arm, shoving a plea through the bond,begginghim not to put himself in the growing melee.
Then the crowdchurned.Like waves in a bath, bodies shifted and surged. A massive Neph in the front row clamped an arm on the stage and pulled himself up onto the dais. A handful of others tumbled onto the stairs at either side. The shouts becameroars and Melek strained, screaming for Jann to help. But his plea was swallowed by the noise of the crowd.
Gall, who stood at the back of the stage, eyes round as plates, looking back and forth over his shoulder, then to the seething crowd below. His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what he said over the furious roar of the Nephilim on the brink of frenzy.
More and more Nephilim pushed to the stage, and the audience bubbled and simmered as the Advisors finally sprang to life—attempting to place themselves as a line of protection between Gall and the Nephilim climbing the stage. Jann stood, holding his spear—the others, tightening ranks on either side of him, in front of Gall—but they hadn’t even tried to address the crowd. They shouted and gestured at the males who’d climbed up from the audience and were descending on them, attempting to reach Gall.
The tensions in the Coliseum ratcheted up with every passing breath. Panic screamed inmyhead, as I saw how these events would tumble out of control and I might lose both GallandMelek.
“Please, Melek!” I screamed, then switched to the bond when he didn’t even register my voice.‘Please, don’t—you can’t be seen—’
‘They’re going to kill him!’Melek rounded on me, where I gripped his arm, dragging my heels, attempting to stop him from throwing himself off the wall and flying to the stage.‘He doesn’t have a clue—’
A terrifying, gut-wrenching scream cut through the roar of the crowd.
We both whirled, looking for the source, but unable to identify it at first—until I felt Melek jerk back a step. His lips made the shape“No, please!”and his eyes were so wide I could see the whites all the way around.
Following his gaze, still gripping Melek’s hand, I scanned the stage for—
I sucked in a breath, and went cold as if I’d been doused by a winter river.
At the center of the stage, behind the line of Advisors who’d now turned to put their backs to us, sprawled a massive Nephilim with golden hair and thick shoulders swathed in a royal cape.
Gall.
As those closest to him hunched, then sprang backwards with shocked cries, he rolled over and gave another tortured scream, and a piece of my heart died.
A wicked, Nephilim bolt stuck out of his eye socket.
