Page 31

Chapter Thirty: Bahira

Kai and I visited five families affected by the blight yesterday. Our walk back to the palace had been quiet while I read over the notes I had taken from each household. The king had walked beside me, his presence imposing but beginning to feel normal. Loathe as I was to admit it, I had paid attention to how he interacted with the shifters we visited. He wasn’t overly kind or amiable, but he was very respectful and attentive. Even when one older female droned on and on about how she thinks his bloodline is tainted and that these problems started with his grandfather, Kai kept eye contact with her and simply listened, absorbing her barbed words like he thought he deserved to hear them.

I didn’t want to find a single thing about the king to like that was beyond the physical, because at least my own carnal desire for him could be explained away by the part of my brain that was guided more by instinct than rationale. The part that saw a male who nearly exceeded seven feet tall and was hewn from a mountain and then carved by the gods into something that seemed exclusively made to torture me… I could deal with the repercussions of that. Yet to find myself growing a seedling of respect for him? A modicum of admiration? No, that only spelled disaster.

Kai kept his word, coming to my room this morning and taking me to what he called a “waste of space” but then amended to clarify that it was an abandoned workroom his father once used for his own experiments. When I asked what kind, he said he didn’t know.

The door Kai stops in front of is unremarkable, its wood dark in color while its handle is a worn brass. He pulls out a matching brass key, unlocking the door before handing it to me. I tuck it into the pocket of my black trousers and follow Kai into the dusty space.

The room itself is simple, unadorned and basic in its presentation. The walls are made of vertical slats of wood, each beam a slightly different shade as if the leftovers from other projects were used to construct it. Two large windows are cut into the farthest wall and look out to the jungle. The furniture in the room is simple: one large wooden table in the center with a smaller desk off in the corner. A standing rectangular mirror with an intricately detailed golden frame is pushed to the side, a canvas sheet haphazardly covering part of it. Is this where he keeps his kingdom’s Mirror?

One side of the room contains shelves built into the wall. Most of them are bare except for a few books randomly stacked together in the center, their colorful leather spines covered in a layer of dust. The other side of the room has a counter with cabinets and drawers stacked underneath and a small basin sink tucked into the corner.

“I take it no one has been in this room for a while?” I ask, turning around to find Kai studying something on the desk in the corner. He picks it up, thumbing through the pages of what must be a journal or book before laying it back down on the desk.

“No. Have you explored much outside yet?” he asks, changing the subject.

I turn from him and set my pack on the table in the center of the room, the sunlight gleaming through the windows showcasing the different scars and indents left on it from past usage. I wonder again what Kai’s father experimented on.

“Not yet. Though Kane did have a lovely note sent to me this morning offering to show me around the city. I’m thinking—”

“Stay away from Kane.” His sudden proximity behind me sends shivers down my spine as I spin to face him, leaning back against the table. He plants his hands on either side of me, lowering down so that we are nearly at eye-level. “Do you hear me?”

“Why?” When he doesn’t respond, I shake my head and lift my chin. “I will see whoever I want.”

“You would do well to remember that you know nothing of this island and its politics. You know nothing of who is friend and who is foe,” he murmurs, his gaze antagonizing me as I grip the edge of the table harshly. Unbidden thoughts of us in a similar position on the ship flash in my mind, except he was completely naked then.

“And which are you, Kai? Friend or foe?” My nipples peak under my shirt at our proximity, at the heat radiating off his body and onto mine.

Kai’s nostrils flare, and he leans in even closer until our noses are nearly touching. “To you? Neither. And stop looking at me like that.”

I can’t help but grin deviously as I tilt my head. “How am I looking at you?”

“Like you want me to fuck you,” he says as though it’s a reprimand. His head moves to the side of mine, his breath tickling my ear. “Like you know that I’m the only one who could do it properly.”

It’s a battle to keep my breathing even as I stay perfectly still. I don’t want that— can’t want that.

“But I don’t touch taken females.”

I jerk my head in surprise.

Kai backs up a few steps, plastering his well-worn mask of indifference on. “Let Tua know if you need anything else. I will see you tomorrow morning to visit another round of families.” His long legs bring him to the door quickly and out of the room before I even have a chance to reply.

“Taken?” I mumble to myself, drawing on any memory that might give Kai the impression that I am with someone.

I go over every moment since the shifter king came to the island to pick me up, and other than my rendezvous with Kane, there’s nothing that comes to mind. Until I remember what Kai said when we were leaving the beach of the Mage Kingdom. You’ll see your boyfriend soon enough.

“Fucking Daje,” I groan. Of course. Even an ocean away, there is no escaping what awaits me the moment I return to the Mage Kingdom.

Huffing out a breath, I carefully pull my magnifier out to set on the table, as well as the bottle containing the leaves from my last experiment. My journal with notes taken from yesterday lies next to it, the spelled pen holding the page open.

“Did you know that talking to yourself is a sign of insanity?”

My attention snaps to the door where a female stands under the doorframe, her hands planted on either side as she leans in until her arms are straining. I recognize her warm brown hair and the same golden tan skin that Kai has.

“You’re Jahlee.”

She smiles wide, her full lips parting to reveal perfectly white teeth. “To you, yes.”

Snorting, I walk to the side of the room where a few chairs are stacked and take one back to the table. “You sound just like your brother.”

She straightens from the doorframe, practically waltzing into the room as she drags her fingertips over the canvas sheet covering part of the mirror, tugging it off completely. “I don’t get that a lot. I wish I did. He’s actually why I’m here. I saw him storming out looking extremely flustered , and I had to see why.”

I narrow my eyes as I take her in. She’s shorter than I am but built similarly. There’s a litheness about her that seems to be something all females from this island have in common. The top half of her hair is tied up into two tiny buns while the lower half drapes over her shoulders in subtle waves.

Mint green gauzy fabric wraps around her chest in a crisscross pattern, tying at the back of her neck. A matching long skirt with a slit that stops mid-thigh glows against her skin, and black hard-soled slippers complete her look. She has a regalness about her, unlike the roughness her brother so often exudes. She also doesn’t have a tattoo of any kind, at least not one I can see currently.

“You get under my brother’s skin,” she says, facing me as she sits atop the table and examines her nails.

“If I do such a thing, it’s only because he makes it so easy to.” She laughs wildly at that, the sound jarring and loud.

Giving her an incredulous look, I carefully uncork the bottle holding the leaves that were brought back to life and take one out, setting it on a glass slide for the magnifier. Jahlee hops off the table and walks with her arms swinging at her sides until she is standing right next to me.

“He is rather prickly at times. I try to lighten the mood whenever we are together, but he seems reluctant to experience joy of any kind.” She reaches out to touch the jar of leaves, but my hand snaps out and catches her wrist.

“Please don’t touch that. It’s important to me, and I can’t let anything happen to it.” I release her from my hold, expecting a curse or for her to threaten going to her brother, but instead, she smiles somehow even wider, the sight completely unsettling.

“You have fast reflexes for someone who doesn’t have shifter in her.”

I still, my hands falling flat on the tabletop.

“Would you like to?” she asks, leaning her hip against its edge.

“Would I like to what ?”

“Would you like to have some shifter in you? I know quite a few males who are already smitten by your arrival if the court gossip can be believed.” Her brown eyes grow serious as her lips flatten into a straight line. The tension between us grows awkward until she bursts into a fit of laughter, her hands going to her stomach while she doubles over. “You should see your face right now,” she huffs out between gasping breaths. “Oh my gods, that was funny.”

What. The. Fuck.

“I can see why my brother likes you,” she says with a sigh, nearly patting herself on the back for her perceived joke.

“Now that is funny,” I reply, clicking the first glass circle into place and peering down the magnifier’s scope. “I think your brother is only keeping me alive because of our deal. Which I assume he’s told you about?”

She hums and then grabs a chair of her own, dragging it slowly over the floor. The wood-on-wood scraping sound makes me wince the entire time she moves it, and I’m forced to look away from the magnifier and watch her until she’s back at my side. She sets the chair way too close to my own, and before she goes to sit, I push it a little farther away with my foot. Grinning, she takes a seat and leans her elbows on the table.

“So, what are you working on?”

“Do you not know why I am here?” I ask cautiously.

“Oh, I do. At least I’ve been told by Kai why he brought you here. But I want to hear what you are working on. What you think. I’m so fucking bored of having only Kai for company. He’s not much for conversation if you can imagine.”

“There’s no imagination needed for me to believe that.”

That curling smile returns, her eyes eager as she scoots her chair a little closer to me. I recall what Lana said about Jahlee, how she called her strange —a title that seems underwhelming for the reality of the female next to me. I look away from her and peer back down the scope.

“Back home, I had been experimenting on plants to help with a problem we’ve been having. I had no success until right before it was time for me to leave for your island.” Clicking another glass disk into place as I speak, I watch the hexagonal-shaped cell walls bow with the plump chloroplast, those familiar red organelles still attached to a few of them.

“Fascinating,” she says earnestly. Drawing my journal towards her, she begins to read the notes I took from visiting the families. “And do you think this research will help you figure out what is wrong with our magic? Why our people are getting stuck?”

I lean back in my chair as I think on my answer. “I believe so. Each experiment I do is like water eroding away a layer of rock. Eventually, I’ll find the layer where the truth will be revealed, and though this may not be directly related to your magical blight, I think in the end it will still help.”

“Can I help you? With your research?” she asks.

Other than sending me an oddly timed wink, her face betrays nothing more than morbid curiosity. I prefer to work alone, but having someone familiar with the island and its people, as well as the blight here, is valuable enough to give up my solitude for.

“Alright.”

“Yes!” she cheers, clapping her hands together before wiggling her fingers at me.

Gods, this is a mistake. “What can you tell me about the blight? Any idea when it started? If it’s always presented this way?”

“It’s been going on for a while but seems to be worse now,” she says, drumming her nails on the table. “Most of the time, shifters are getting stuck in their animal forms, but a few of them are also unable to shift from their mortal forms. That’s all I really know.”

“That’s helpful.” It’s at least more information than her brother deemed worthy of giving me. I’ll need to research as much on shifter history as I can since my personal knowledge on the subject is lacking. I had already explored the library on the first floor, but the books were slim and mostly fiction. “The library on this floor, are you able to take me there?”

She bolts up from her chair, hitting the table with her knee and causing the magnifier and the glass bottle of leaves to shake.

“Gods, you are a disaster waiting to happen,” I mumble, my hands reaching out to steady the items.

“That is rude,” she chastises, pointing a finger at me. “But fair. I’d rather be a disaster than boring, though. Come on, I can get you into the library.”

I stare at her, getting whiplash from the way she bounces between emotions, but when she exits the room, I hop up from my chair and follow. “Wait, I need to lock the door.” Taking out the brass key, I wait until I hear the lock click into place and then turn to follow her.

“In case no one told you, the first floor of the palace is mostly for palace staff, the kitchens, a few guest quarters, and then random rooms that honestly serve as places for people to fuck in secret during parties. Oh, and a ballroom.” The corner of my mouth twitches at her descriptions. “The second floor is only accessible to those approved by Tua. Which is mostly just nobility ,” she says with a mocking tone on the last word. “Some reside here in the palace and are relegated to the west wing. Others stay nearby.”

“Don’t you mean guests approved by Kai?” I ask.

Jahlee dances down the hallway more than she walks, her movements light and filled with the kind of bounce that I’m not sure I could ever possess.

“It should be Kai, but Tua is all too eager to take any tasks he deems unnecessary for Kai off his plate.” I arch a brow at her tone again, but before I can question her on it, she points to a door as we pass. “This door leads to the king’s bedroom.”

“I thought the king’s bedroom was back that way,” I question with a thumb over my shoulder, remembering the room Kai entered that was near my own.

Jahlee’s eyes sparkle with mischievous delight as she spins on her toes and looks at me. “How do you know which room is Kai’s?”

I level a flat stare at her. “Because I saw him enter the room while standing firmly in front of my own.”

Her laugh is bright and, once again, entirely too loud as she rotates back around. “So defensive,” she chides. “And Kai chooses to stay in the room that would be delegated for a prince, were he to have offspring. I’m assuming you are in the room meant for a princess.”

I bite down on my tongue to avoid responding to that. Not many shifters seem to be bustling about as we walk, and the ones that are make sure to glare at us as we pass. Much like how I felt when Kai and I were in the heart of Molsi, it makes me curious to know the reasons why everyone seems to dislike this family so much. Do they really blame them for the magical blight? Or is it something more? My initial opinions of Kai aside, he doesn’t appear to be a cruel ruler. More aloof than anything else. And for all her quirkiness, Jahlee doesn’t seem to be deserving of the glances she’s getting either.

Rugs of dark blue quiet our steps on the hardwood floors as I glance over the art decorating the wall. Most are depictions of scenery—beaches and jungles. As if seeing such sights outside wasn’t enough, they had to bring the vision inside as well. We pass arched windows and balcony doors that line one side of the hall, the sunlight so abundant that the golden-framed pictures on the walls flare brightly. The jungle outside the palace is vibrantly green—tall trees and large plants in varying heights ripple in the wind like their very own ocean. We reach the end of the hallway where the library is, its door made of glass and framed by dark wood that stretches up nearly to the ceiling.

My curiosity gets the best of me, and I ask, “Wouldn’t that have been his room? As he was the prince?”

Jahlee hums as she guides us past the guards and through the library entrance. “Kai didn’t grow up in the palace.”

“What?” My voice carries loudly, garnering a few looks from the people that are dispersed throughout. I roll my lips together, my interest in Kai unfortunately renewed once more.

The library is airy and whimsical, its composition one more likely to be found in the Mage Kingdom than this one. A large twisting tree grows in the center of the space, its white and black wood swirling together and going up its massive trunk. Shelves have been carved into the tree, books stacked deeply into it. The top of it fans out over the ceiling, each branch reaching for the edges of the room like there might be more sunlight just beyond it.

While the perimeter of the library holds traditional-looking bookcases and shelves mounted to the walls, dug into the center of the floor is a long rectangular pool of crystal blue water filled with lily pads, orange fish, and tiny floating flowers.

“Odd to have water inside of a room filled with books, don’t you think?” I ask Jahlee under my breath. She lets out a laugh, quieter than her previous ones at least, as she rounds the long pool and takes us to a section titled History in the Shifter Realm. When we are hidden between rows of books, I ask her to explain more on Kai. “So, if you didn’t live in the palace, where did you grow up? Wouldn’t your father have wanted his heirs—”

“The king wasn’t my father,” she interjects. The expression on her face is cool, a talent she shares with her brother, but her hands curl into fists at her sides, giving away her unease.

“You don’t share the same father?” If Kai’s father was the king, then Jahlee not being of his bloodline would mean that she isn’t technically royal. The stares I’ve observed her receive make marginally more sense. She reaches for a random book on the shelf, the red leather crinkling softly when she opens it and pretends to sift through it.

“No. Kai and I had the same mother.”

“ Had the same mother?”

Jahlee’s demeanor changes. It’s nothing more than the quick rounding of her shoulders, but the air is heavy around her for a fraction of a second before she moves to another aisle, seemingly unable to stay still. “Yes. She died after she gave birth to me,” she answers quietly. “When Kai’s father murdered her and my birth father.”

My eyes widen as I watch her. Admittedly, there wasn’t much information to be gleaned back home about the former shifter king. The Spell had already separated the kingdoms by the time he took his rule, making most of our history books with information on the shifter island obsolete within a few decades. Particularly as Kai’s father, according to my own, had never reached out to talk other than trade deals and schedules for boats to arrive at the docks in the Mage Kingdom.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

Jahlee clasps her hands behind her as she nods her head and moves on light feet to the next aisle. “It was a long time ago, and Kai’s father is dead now, so all is right with the world. Well,” she pauses, turning to face me, “except the whole magic thing.”

I huff out a laugh, meeting her gaze. “And the fact that your people don’t exactly seem very happy that Kai is their king.”

“That’s because they are all idiots. These people don’t have any idea how lucky they are to have Kai as a ruler. Especially considering who they almost got as the alternative.”

“Who?” I ask, watching as she drags her fingers along the spines of the books packed tightly together.

“Kane. He was supposed to be next in line for the throne.”