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Chapter Eighteen: Bahira

With my stomach ceasing its revolt from being at sea and the shock of the siren attack pushed to the back of my mind, I had decided to spend the morning doing my daily physical and mental exercises, a practiced routine since childhood, before grabbing a plate of food and taking a seat in the dining hall.

Part of the education a mage goes through is learning how to meditate. They say it’s because of how our magic works—how magic flows where intention goes. Being without magic, I found meditation to be a way of quieting my mind so that I wasn’t constantly overwhelmed by it.

For as much as I appreciate the mental aspect of meditation, my favorite expression of it has always been the physical exercises. The head training instructor, Dilan, is a hard-ass, but he has never treated me any differently for being magicless. If anything, he pushed me harder than the other children. When they would rest and work on manipulating their magic, he would have me running laps or doing extra sparring. For years, I practiced not only at the designated class times but after hours as well. I had to be the best: the fastest, the strongest, and the most agile.

Yet, as my peers liked to remind me, it didn’t matter how I excelled at fighting if the person I was up against had magic. At the end of the day, magic would always come out on top. I loathed that fact. So much so that the need to find my own magic was a constant itch upon my skin; one that wouldn’t be ignored.

A chair screeching across the wooden floor brings my attention back to my plate, risotto and vegetables, and Councilman Godric’s journal laid out on the table in front of me. Based on what I’ve read so far, I’m led to believe that magic was acting normally at this point in our history—a few years before the war. He writes about the queen of Void Magic at the time, Lucia Vasiris, in such a fond way that I’ve abandoned all pretense of note-taking simply to read his description of her.

Today, Queen Lucia visited the orphanage in Galdr. Though she always glows brightly, being with the children truly made her luminescent. Wrapped on her chest was the newest princess, Aurora, who is only three months old. The princess slept the entire time, allowing the queen to stay quite a while. She showed them her celestial magic, much to their delight.

Afterwards, she met with the council to discuss plans on hosting the rulers of the Fae Kingdom—King Kamon Ryuu and his consort, Lady Jia Ryuu—for their visit to the Mage Kingdom.

A throat clears, and when I lift my head, I find the vigilant eyes of the king’s advisor looking down at me.

“Sorry,” he says with a chuckle, holding his hands out in front of himself. “May I join you?”

I nod and gesture to the chair across the table from me. While Tua’s face is relaxed, there is a noticeable underlying tension in his body. His posture is slightly too stiff, his hands clasped together a little too tightly.

“Is there something you would like to say?” I ask quietly. Though after a quick glance around, I can see that no one else remains in the dining room.

“Am I that easy to read?”

I close the mage journal and place it in my lap—Tua eyeing each movement. “I’m afraid so. Let me guess, it is about what happened this morning.”

He sighs, resignation heavily laced within it. “I’m afraid so. I have to ask, what possessed you and the king to openly combat one another in front of the crew?”

I shrug, ignoring the slight prickle of annoyance that flares. Why does it matter that they saw if it was the king himself that engaged with me? “Seemed like a fun idea at the time.”

I was in the middle of my practice this morning when the shifter king approached me and challenged me to “let off some steam.” We sparred—me with my spear and him with nothing but his fists—and after some back and forth, it had ended with him kneeling before me. I was under no illusion that the shifter king was going easy on me, but when he stood, he whispered only loudly enough for me to hear, “I knew you would be able to handle that spear.” His smirk had made me narrow my eyes at him, but then with a jerk of his head towards the watching crew off to the side, he added, “And now they know it too.”

I didn’t think too deeply about why the shifter king would want to show the others on the ship that I could fight.

“Do you remember what I told you about the unrest on our island?” I nod my head, holding his gaze. “Rumors of our king engaging in these kinds of extracurriculars will not boost his image in the way that is needed to ensure our people’s trust. They already find him lacking , and if you learn one thing about the people of the Shifter Kingdom, Bahira, let it be that maintaining their loyalty is easy. It’s gaining it that is the hard part.”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “You should know that it was your king who baited me into a fight. If he cannot control even that base impulse, what hope should you have that he can lead an entire realm?”

“That is precisely my point, Your Highness,” he says. My shoulders tense at the use of my title. “King Kai is strong and a servant to the crown upon his head, but he lacks refinement. While some like that wild edge when war or conflict arises, the rest of the time someone level-headed is necessary to ensure peace is kept. I will not lie, King Kai struggles with that and, as a result, often has me stepping in to do things for him.”

My brow arches in question. “Is it normal for you to divulge so much about your king?”

Tua smiles, his dark eyes squinting. “Nothing about this arrangement is normal, wouldn’t you agree?”

I huff out a breath at that. I suppose that is true enough. “What would you like me to do? Ignore him when he tries to engage with me?”

“As someone with royal experience, surely, you understand the fine line one must walk in order to appear a certain way to the masses. The Mage Kingdom may be a peaceful, more relaxed one, but I doubt you are without your own issues.” He lingers on that statement, long enough to make sure it is heavy in the air between us. “Just as we are not without ours. I simply ask that you keep that in mind should King Kai do something less than savory in your presence again.” Shadows cast by the flame gems lay across Tua’s face as he looks at me, disquiet simmering beneath my skin. Yet I was here to help with the magic problem and nothing more.

“Fair enough, Tua. I will make sure to keep things pleasant and less aggressive on my end.”

Tua sits back again in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he nods his head. “Thank you, Bahira. How are you feeling by the way?”

“Much better, thank you. I had no idea I would be so sick on the water.” My fingers tap on the table idly as I debate asking Tua why he didn’t tell King Kai about how sick I was, but the door to the dining hall opens and said king appears. I mimic Tua’s posture as I watch King Kai grab a plate of food and make his way to us. The way his body moves is one of pure power. Though his tactics during our sparring had lacked the delicate balance that mine possessed, there is no denying that the male knows how to fight.

“See something you like, Princess?” he asks, lifting a brow.

The memory of the naked expanse of his skin when he shifted forces its way into my memory before I can stop it. A retort balances on the tip of my tongue, but one glance at Tua has me swallowing it back down. I wait until he’s taken a seat next to his advisor before I gather up the mage journal and my plate. “I think I’ll finish this off in my bedroom. Good night, Tua. Your Majes—”

“Kai. Just Kai. I hate the title.”

I wince at his word choice, as does Tua, before simply nodding my head. “Kai, then.”

Our eyes lock, something heated passing between us before I turn on my heel and leave.