Page 39

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Bahira

The air is thick with humidity as we trudge through the forest to a village right outside of Molsi. My eyes drag over Kai’s body where he walks ahead of me, noticing his broad shoulders and back and the way his waist tapers in only slightly. Everything about him is substantial—his legs, his arms, his stupid jaw, probably another appendage that I am furious with myself for thinking about.

“I can feel your eyes on me, Princess.” His voice is smooth, coating me as easily as the mist in the air.

Godsdamn it.

“Just wondering how an oaf as big as you can move so gracefully.” He snorts, holding a low-lying branch up so that I can pass under it without ducking. “Thank you.” His eyes widen as he lets the branch go and falls into step beside me. “What?”

“I wasn’t sure you knew those words.”

I roll my eyes, adjusting my backpack as I check where my spear is tucked into its loops. “I don’t generally offer them when the bare minimum is met, but considering manners don’t seem to be your strong suit, I figured I’d reward you with acknowledgement.”

I keep my gaze on the trail ahead of us, the soil darkened from the moisture in the air which causes my boots to sink in with each step, and ignore the way I can feel Kai’s gaze on me. It burns into the side of my face, causing heat to slowly build in my core.

“Does sarcasm come easily to you, or is your sharp tongue simply another defense mechanism?”

“Anything regarding the use of my tongue is intentional, Kai, and in this kingdom? Everything I do must be a defense mechanism. I could be attacked by a wild animal.” My smile is mocking as I add, “Or a more domesticated one.”

The quirk of his lips sends a jolt of excitement through me. It isn’t quite a smile, but it’s more than he’s ever given me before. “Only you would so openly insult the king of another realm by calling his shifter form domesticated .”

I look up at him then, noting the way a few short strands of hair have broken away from the rest and hang over his forehead. The dark brown gleams against his dewy golden skin, matching the color of his eyes. Eyes that are currently watching me with mild amusement.

“I can’t decide if you are brave or just stu—”

“Don’t finish that sentence if you want to walk the remainder of the way without a limp,” I interrupt, patting the side of my spear.

Kai chuckles before we fall back into silence. He had given me a skeptical look when he saw that I had packed the spear, but I simply shrugged and said it would be foolish to travel anywhere without it. Especially after what I witnessed with Adrian and his business, a topic I still haven’t figured out how to approach Kai about.

The sky above has changed its hue from blue to gray, and white clouds puffy with the incoming rain perch around the mountains in the distance. We continue trekking through the heavy vegetation, the plants and trees closing in on us the farther we go. Something rustles over the dead leaves on the jungle floor to our right.

“It’s just a small monkey,” Kai says.

“How can you tell?”

“Its scent,” he answers, and my nose wrinkles in response.

“Does your shifter form ever coexist with your mortal form?” I question, wondering if he can call on certain abilities without having to shift fully.

“All shifters have increased strength, eyesight, and sense of smell while in their mortal forms. Those are the only things most can access until they shift fully. Then they gain the nuances that are unique to their animal.”

“Does one form feel better than the other?” He turns towards me, a brow raised in question. “I mean, is one form easier to exist in? Do you feel called to one more than the other?”

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, it’s like having an itch I can’t quite scratch until I shift. It’s underneath my skin and buried deep in my blood. I imagine that is how your magic feels as well? If you don’t use it for a while?”

My silent pause is an imaginary scream out into the jungle. It isn’t supposed to be a secret that I don’t have magic, at least within my own kingdom. Had Kai or Tua truly not heard whisperings of it on the docks when their ships dropped off supplies?

“I suppose so,” I respond, warring with myself about telling him.

Historically speaking, I’ve never been one to delay making a decision, mostly because I’ve usually picked it apart until I’ve found an answer that has more pros than cons. But lately, my decisions aren’t as easy to decipher.

“How did you learn that mages can pass through the Spell?” It’s a question that I’ve been dying to learn the answer to.

“The short answer is because my father knew.”

“And the long answer?”

Kai exhales, long and full bodied. “The long answer is a story for another day.”

Fine. That’s fine. I’ve got weeks and weeks here to get it out of him.

He continues ahead, pushing the thick leaves of overgrown bushes out of the way until we step out of the jungle completely and right into the village. The homes are larger than those in the heart of the capital and more spread out, the style the same round shape made of dried palms, stone, and light wood. It’s busy, people meandering around as they carry long planks of wood on their shoulders or baskets of food against their hips.

“What is this place called?” I ask quietly, leaning closer to Kai, my hair accidentally brushing against his arm. The muscles there tense, rippling under the skin adorned with the lines of inked black.

“Leeta,” he answers while adjusting his body so that he is no longer touching any part of me. “The capital may be the center of the island, but places like Leeta are its heart.”

Kai’s reception here is vastly different from that in Molsi. Everyone who passes gives him a respectful acknowledgement, and even Kai himself looks more at ease, the tension normally riding his shoulders mostly gone.

He leads us between a row of homes—the scent of flora, tilled soil, and fired meats thick in the air—to a door where a small monkey and an eagle are carved into the wood. Kai knocks three times, and the door is swung open by a female dressed in an oversized long blue dress, the material ragged at the ends.

“Your Majesty,” she blurts out, eyes wide as she attempts to form a curtsy while the baby on her hip pulls at her hair.

I offer my hand out to her. “Hello. I’m Bahira. The king and I are here to speak with you about the blight.”

The female’s shoulders relax as she exhales, her hand folding over my own. “That’s right, I almost forgot. I’m Magda. Come in.” Magda’s house is cluttered, each corner filled with piles of trinkets and random collections of trash and torn-up leaves. “I’m sorry about the mess. He can’t help it, and with working as much as possible to earn enough coin in his absence, I don’t have much energy left to clean.”

“It’s alright,” I assure her, turning away from the largest pile of odds and ends. I take my backpack off and set it down, grabbing my journal and spelled pen from the biggest zipper. “Is it your husband who has shifted?”

She nods, a frown drawing her thin lips down. Exhaustion lines her forehead and colors the skin darker under her eyes. “He shifted about three weeks ago, and—” Her sentence is stopped abruptly when her baby yanks a chunk of hair harshly. She struggles to get his little hand free of the now tangled mess while her eyes begin to water.

“Go offer to hold her baby,” I say to Kai under my breath.

As if startled by my suggestion, his head snaps towards me, his brows drawn high. “Excuse me?”

“Go. Offer. To. Hold. Her. Baby,” I enunciate slowly. When his features remain stupefied, I grumble a plea to the gods above while laying my journal and pen down on the floor and walk over to Magda. “Let me help you.”

I work to remove the last remaining strands from the baby’s little chubby hand, his amber eyes wide on me as he decides whether or not he is going to cry in my presence. Once his mother’s hair is free, I look to her for permission to hold him. She nods gratefully, handing him over in a smooth motion. Returning to Kai, I bounce the little one on my hip, his toothless smile bringing out a grin of my own.

“What is his name?”

“Sione,” Magda says as she braids her long hair back.

“Hello, Sione. Let’s see if you can make the grumpy shifter king smile.” I hold him out to Kai, his little feet kicking in the air between us, but the king doesn’t move. “This is the part where you take the baby from my hands, Your Majesty.”

“I have never held a baby. They are too small—too fragile. I don’t want to hurt it.”

“Him. You don’t want to hurt him. And you won’t. Come on, take him.” When Kai still doesn’t move, I let loose a laugh. “Don’t tell me that you are afraid of a being a tenth of your size?” I let my eyes drag down his body deliberately, knowing he can tell when I linger on some parts longer than others. “No, more like a fifteenth of your size.” The small smirk he gives me leaves me feeling oddly victorious.

“You will not hurt him, Your Majesty. Babies are far more durable than most think,” Magda adds.

“See? You’ll be fine. Hold him.”

This time, Kai acts, lifting his hands—albeit slowly —to take Sione from me. He keeps his arms straight out in front of him, his large grip taking up Sione’s entire torso on both sides.

I laugh as I pat his arm. “There you go.”

“What do I do now?” he asks, but I’m already picking up my supplies.

I meet Magda in the small kitchen on the other side of a half wall made of wood and covered with potted plants that divides the home. I take a seat at the small four-person table in the middle of the room, dwindling sunlight streaming in from the window on the farthest wall.

“Can I make you some tea?” Magda asks, already rushing to a cupboard above the counter.

“Yes, please.”

She gathers our mugs and fills a kettle with water. “Rangi, my husband, is normally the one who makes the tea, so I apologize if my brew is weak.” Her voice quavers as she speaks, her sadness over her husband undeniable.

“What can you tell me about the day he shifted?” I pull my journal closer to me and open it up to a blank page, my pen hovering over it.

“It was a normal day. We’ve been wary about shifting, as we have seen the blight spreading to more and more homes. But, as you know, we cannot control the call of it.”

I nod my head at her back. I may not be a shifter, but I can at least understand in theory what it is to be unable to deny yourself something that feels so intrinsic. It is how I feel when it comes to finding my magic.

“Anyway, he shifted and was gone for a few hours after I put our offspring to bed. I knew something was wrong when he came in through this window still in his animal form. Normally, he shifts outside the front door and walks in.”

She continues as I take notes, writing down questions I have to ask Kai about later on. Like if shifters of different species can communicate with each other in their animal forms.

“The longer he stays as he is, the more, well, animal he seems to become. I’m afraid that by the time we end this blight and figure out a way for him to return back to normal, it will be too late. He won’t be able to be saved.”

The kettle whistles, the noise hiding some of the woman’s quiet weeping. I study my notes, my resolve to fix the blight deepening the longer Magda speaks. When she sits down across from me and goes on to talk about her struggles operating as essentially a single parent, I ask her if anyone in the village helps her.

“They do as much as they can,” she answers, taking a small sip of tea. “But it would be easier if the Crown hadn’t denied my plea for aid.”

My brows pinch together as I stop writing and lift my gaze to hers. “What do you mean?”

Her eyes nervously dart behind me, where I know she is watching Kai hold Sione.

I drop my voice low and lean in closer. “You needn’t worry about him. I merely ask for my own understanding.”

Magda blows out a steady breath. “A few weeks after Rangi became stuck, I wrote a letter to the palace asking for help. With my offspring still so young, I cannot work enough to cover all of our expenses. But last week, I received a letter back claiming that they could do nothing.” She sighs as she takes another sip of tea and winces. “This really is weak.”

I grip the pen more harshly before grinning at her and closing my journal. “Thank you for your time. I promise—” Surprise at my own words temporarily halts any more from coming. I can’t promise anything. At least, I certainly shouldn’t . “I will do everything I can to try to solve this as soon as possible.”

For the first time since I entered her home, Magda’s eyes gleam a little brighter, something like hope seeping into them. We join Kai back out in the living room, the king now surrounded by a gaggle of small shifters climbing all over him like the mountain of a male he is. Despite everything I just learned, I have to swallow down a laugh when his eyes meet mine in desperation.

The next four homes we visit go much like Magda’s did, though no one else mentions being denied aid from the Crown.

It’s nearly sunset by the time we begin our journey back to the palace. The clouds are fully gray above us, the scent of rain and the feeling of an impending storm thick in the air. I pull my hair up into a ponytail, the curly ends tickling my shoulders as we walk. My thoughts run rampant, mostly on why Kai would deny help for his people. The farther we walk in the jungle, the more my irritation with Kai over this revelation grows.

I thought he genuinely cared about his people, but this ? It is not what a good king does. They are the actions of one that is malevolent. I could take dealing with an asshole brute who just didn’t know how to communicate. I was not, however, willing to work for one that only wanted to heal his people to make them suffer in other ways.

When my anger crests within me, I step abruptly in front of Kai on the trail and stop his advancing step with a hand to his chest. “Why are you denying aid to families of those stuck in their shifter forms?” I ask, working—and failing—to keep the ire out of my voice.

“What?”

“You heard what I asked,” I seethe, pushing harder against his chest.

“I did, and I’m still fucking confused. What are you talking about?” His hands flex at his sides, but he doesn’t try to remove my own.

“Magda told me that she wrote to the palace asking for help and her plea was denied. So, I ask again, Your Majesty , why?” I expect him to bark back a response, to try to justify himself or perhaps even blame others for what is happening. But there is no denying the genuinely confused look on Kai’s face as his dark brows draw together.

“I have never heard of this happening.”

My hand leaves his chest as I step back, rolling thunder sounding above us as rain begins to sprinkle. “Who is in charge of bringing those things to your attention?”

His eyes narrow as he folds his arms over his chest. “Tua handles most everything of this nature at my request. But I don’t see why he would deny something like that.”

I huff out a sarcastic laugh and mirror his stance. “You can’t just give him the responsibilities you don’t want.”

Kai tilts his head to the side, the air fraught with tension that I’m not sure can be blamed on the storm. “Why not? He’s a better fit to handle those things than I am. I’d say it makes me a conscientious ruler to acknowledge that.”

My eyes roam over his face, his confession of feeling inadequate tugging at me but not enough to stop my next words. “No. It makes you a blind one.”

He goes to respond when his head whips to the right, his eyes narrowing on the darkness gathering between the thick vegetation. “Get your spear out.” His tone leaves no room for argument as I reach over my shoulder and slide the spear from its loops in my pack.

“What is it?”

Kai growls as he scans the area to our right, my mouth parting as I watch his irises turn golden. I wipe the gathering rain off the skin of my brow and grip my spear with both hands in front of me.

“I need—” He hisses, his hand shooting up to his neck and yanking something out of it. “Fuck!” he grits out, dropping to one knee.

“What’s wrong?” I stand in front of him as the rustling of leaves reverberates out into the quickly coming night. “Kai!”

On his hands and knees, his breathing is labored as his head hangs between his shoulders. “Rebels. Poisoned,” he huffs out slowly, holding what looks like a tiny vial attached to a dart.

Ice invades my veins as steps sound, and I look over my shoulder to watch three figures emerge from the jungle and onto the path ahead of us. It’s what covers their faces, however, that halts my next inhale. Skulls. They are wearing fucking animal skulls for masks. My training overrides the fear winding through me, and I change my stance to put myself between Kai and the rebels.

“Ten minutes,” Kai grunts.

“I’ve got you,” I say back before he fully collapses onto the ground.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” the shifter in the middle shouts, his voice deep and booming over the rain. “We just want the king. Move aside, and we’ll leave you alone.” He steps forward, the sound of metal sliding from a sheath cleaving between us as he swings the short sword in front of him.

“How kind of you,” I yell back, my grip tightening on my spear. “But you’re not going to touch him.”

Each of the rebels takes another step towards me, the two on the ends fanning out to form a crescent shape as they box me in.

“He is as inept as his father was before him. We deserve better; the Shifter Kingdom deserves someone with the capability to lead them. Not some feral, half-breed bastard that stole the throne right under our noses,” the largest of them snarls.

Of all the things to fucking feel right now as I’m being surrounded by three shifters intent on taking the passed-out king behind me, guilt certainly isn’t one I expected. There’s culpability that takes root at the fact that I’ve called Kai a bastard multiple times in my head, and as it turns out, he actually is one.

“Last chance. Don’t get yourself killed over someone who wouldn’t do the same for you,” the shorter male shouts.

I swing my spear out, the metal leaf-shaped tip pointed directly at the largest male in the center. Lightning cracks overhead, and the brief flash of light makes their skull masks glow. I can’t quite make out what animal they are, the space between us blanketed in rain, but I think I catch a glimpse of twisted horns and elongated eye sockets.

With the newly fallen night now cloaking the rebels’ movements, I brace myself for the incoming attack. Let them fucking try to hurt me or the idiot on the ground behind me.