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Chapter Seventeen: Bahira

It’s jarring to see animals moving about the ship and working as if they were mortals. A shiver works down my body when their heads slowly turn towards me as I walk past them to go to the dining hall. I have no idea what animal form King Kai has, and I suppose that I have no way of telling either. Unless the shifters can talk in their animal forms? Gods, I hope not.

The dining hall is empty when I enter, and food has been left out under silver-domed trays on a counter in the back. Lifting each one up, I finally settle on what looks to be a veggie salad with a side of herbed rice and take a seat at one of the many tables that line the room in a grid-like pattern. Sitting in silence has never bothered me before, but there is something about knowing that the only other beings on this ship are currently stalking around as animals that leaves me feeling on edge.

As I eat, I thumb through one of the journals I brought with me. Embroidered on the front is the name Godric, and when I turn to the first page, I see the date is roughly two years before The War Of Five Kingdoms took place. The cursive script of Councilman Godric is elegant, and I easily get lost in the way he describes the historical events that were happening at that time. One particular entry grabs my attention; it details a flame ceremony for a young girl. He talks of how her flame grew to be five feet tall, the glowing show of her magical strength undeniable. The last time a flame was many feet tall was when Nox dropped his blood into the Cauldron of Vires. So, was this Flame Ceremony before the magic started to decline? Turning the page, I read about another ceremony for a boy, his flame shooting to four feet. Each of the following entries are much of the same, with no mention at all about magic acting strangely or lessening in any way.

I’m lost in the research, jotting down notes in my own journal with a spelled pen, when a noise from behind startles me. Turning around, I bite back the scream that lodges itself in my throat. Prowling into the dining hall, the dark wooden door swinging behind it, is the most massive wolf I have ever seen. Its steps are slow and methodical, its thick body covered in dark brown fur while its eyes blaze a deep golden color. It continues its leisurely pace in my direction, its massive head tilting as if in observation.

I swallow, setting the journal down as I steel my spine. My fingers curl in on themselves, and a million different scenarios run through my head, all of them ending in me getting ripped to shreds by this massive beast.

The wolf huffs, the noise nearly sarcastic in its delivery. It walks past me as if this entire exchange was some sort of test, one I have no idea if I passed or not, when music outside begins to play. I watch the wolf’s ears twitch while the hackles on its back rise and its tail goes stiff. The wolf halts and turns to glare back at me.

I’m intent to stare right back when something begins to feel off. I stand as the blending of notes—no, a voice —resonates in my ears. It is so beautiful and enticing that I want to find the owner of such a lovely sound. I brush past the wolf, walking towards the door that will lead out onto the deck. The eerie melody washes over me, getting louder and louder and forcing out every other thought. It begs me to keep moving forward, and I want to answer its call. I push through the swinging wooden door, the bright sunlight briefly blinding me as I walk out.

The scent of the ocean—so calming and alluring—is in every breath I take as I step closer and closer to the railing at the edge of the deck. Just a few more steps, and I can sink into the cool waters—I can return home. The single voice guiding me is feminine and light, and gods, do I want to be smothered by it. I want it wrapped around me and in me so deeply, so thoroughly, that it’s all I can think about. I’ve never needed something this much.

My hands find the railing, and I peer down into the crystal-blue ocean waters. I see her then—the exquisite creature who calls to me. Her hair, glowing like a ruby, cascades in intricate braids down her head and into the water, floating around her as she swims next to the ship.

My feet step onto the first rung, then the second, as I move to get past this last barrier keeping me from her. Her song stops before I’m yanked back, my heels dragging along the deck as a growl rumbles over me. I twist and turn, my head drowning on the lingering sound of her voice as I’m hauled farther away from the railing until I’m back in the dining hall and deposited onto the floor.

Like the tide drawing back, my mind slowly clears of the film I had felt over it. My hands tremble as I push them into the wooden planks, grounding myself while my temples throb. What the fuck was that?

The wolf from earlier gives me a sharp look, the command for me not to move conveyed in its eyes. I’m not inclined to at the moment anyway. I’m too shocked at what just happened, at how my body and mind were not my own. The wolf walks back to the door of the deck, poking its head through and staying still as if waiting for something.

I am standing up on shaky legs, needing to lean on one of the tables for support, when golden light flashes out of the corner of my eye, and then King Kai is striding towards me. A very naked King Kai. I stumble backwards at the sight.

“Where the hell did you come from?” I gasp, my hip fully leaning into the edge of the table. My eyes seem to move on their own, drawing a searing line down his broad chest and extremely toned torso. Defined muscle flexes and gleams under his golden-tan skin as he walks, but I force my gaze to move back up before I see too much. It’s much harder to do than it should be.

“And why are you naked?” I glance towards the door where the wolf was previously standing, the space now empty. “Fuck,” I whisper, as the heat from his body invades my space. Blaming my sudden breathlessness on the fact that I think I was somehow lured by a siren’s song seems like the most rational thing to do at the moment.

“Why did it look like you were about to jump off of the boat?” he growls, the wolfish cadence evident now that I know what animal he can shift into. The silence is pressurized—an overfull dam waiting to burst open and drown us both. “Answer. Me,” he seethes, taking another very exposed step towards me. His anger is so distinct and sharp that it lures my own out to defend myself.

“I don’t answer to you, Your Majesty. ”

“Yes, I am a king. So I can, in fact, command you to answer me.”

My eyes narrow into spiteful daggers as I glare back at him. “I would have to respect you enough to give a shit about your title, and I don’t .”

The truth, however, is that I’m not sure enough about what happened to give him any sort of answer anyway. One moment, I was staring at a wolf—at him—and the next, I was sitting on my butt in the dining hall, the memory of in between hazy like trying to see through murky waters. I know that something happened with a siren, but I can’t remember exactly what . That terrifying understanding mixes anxiousness into the already-full pot of anger and confusion I’m operating under.

The king shakes his head, a dark look molding his features into something predatory. “That foul mouth of yours is going to get you killed one day. You are not in the Mage Kingdom anymore, Princess. You’re entering a world of beasts and animals. They will bite back if provoked, and their teeth are much sharper than yours.”

I go to cut him down and remind him that I’m not someone who has to bend to his will, but I stop myself before the words can make it past my lips. Unfortunately, I want answers as much as he does, and that means that I at least have to try to work with him.

“I don’t know what happened,” I grit out. “I wasn’t in control of my body. Even my recollection is cloudy.”

“Siren songs don’t work on females,” he states, and I throw my hands up in exasperation. His gaze turns from indignant interrogation to one of pure confusion as his eyes drag down my body, lingering on my chest.

I scoff and cross my arms over myself. “I’m not a fucking male, you idiot .”

He shrugs though his eyes are slow to move back to mine as the air imperceptibly thickens. “You certainly act like one.”

“Why? Because I’m not some simpering fawn falling over myself in your presence?”

“No, because you are brash and don’t think before you speak,” he snaps, and I do a shit job of hiding my surprise. The shifter king’s wide jaw clenches, but it seems he’s made his point. “Not going to deny it, then?”

My breaths are quick as I gawk at him, trying to pull words from my brain and into my mouth, but none will come.

“Everything alright here?” Tua asks as he enters the dining hall, his chest bare and a pair of trousers in his hands.

King Kai catches the pair of trousers Tua tosses at him, his eyes boring into mine as he pulls them on, challenging me to look away. Or maybe daring me not to. I might as well be swallowing rocks for as hard as my throat works.

“Everything is perfect, Tua,” I respond, turning to grab the journals and pen from the table and then heading towards the door.

Outwardly, my steps are steady and even, but inside my chest, my heart beats furiously. Three months. I have three months of this hell to look forward to.