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Chapter Forty-Five: Bahira

I shouldn’t have been surprised when Jahlee showed up at barely past sunrise, knocking at my door and asking to spar. I should have been even less surprised that when she brought me out to the training yard at the back of the palace, Kai was already there. He was shirtless and gleaming with sweat under the morning sun as he sparred with eight other males at the same time, expertly fighting them off. Jahlee had caught me staring at her brother and seemed inclined to tease me about it every ten minutes.

The sparring had been a welcome distraction after what Kai and I had done to each other, but I still found myself tightly wound at the memories. When one of the males training with Kai took it upon himself to touch my spear where it was lying in the grass near me and then proceeded to taunt me with it, I had made an example of him. He had offered to give the spear back if I got on my knees for it. In turn, I kicked him in the balls and sent my elbow into his nose. I received a thumbs up in approval from Jahlee and a look of indifference from Kai before I left the training yard to shower and come to the workroom.

Kai finds me here a few hours later, hunched over my magnifier with my brow furrowed in concentration. And confusion. I’ve been studying the leaves brought from home, and the once vibrant red organelles that were attached to them have since shriveled into husks compared to the fullness they once held. Even the leaves, though not yet showing any signs of decay, have stopped their growth. Like they’ve hit some sort of wall and cannot grow past it.

“Am I interrupting?” he asks, knowing damn well that he is.

With a sigh, I sit back in my chair and observe him. A dark green tunic, the sleeves short and cuffed at his biceps, hugs his defined chest, and black trousers tucked into boots simplify his look. He’s infuriatingly handsome, and I subconsciously trace my bottom lip with my tongue at the memory of him in my mouth.

“If you’ve come to reprimand me over what happened in the training yard, I’m afraid you’ll be sorely disappointed. I have no regrets.”

Kai smirks as he closes the door behind him and then strides to the opposite side of the table from me, his arms crossing over his chest. “Why would I reprimand you for defending yourself?”

I snort and stand from the chair so I don’t have to crane my neck as harshly to hold his eye contact. “Defending myself is probably the least of what I was doing with him.”

“I’m aware,” he replies, his voice dropping deeper. “Everyone on that field was aware that you were just toying with him.” His gaze roams over my face before moving down my body, like he’s savoring what curves he can see with my clothing on. My thighs ache to squeeze together as he openly devours me.

“It didn’t make you angry? Me toying with one of your men?”

“On the contrary. It made me eager to see how you’d get all the males on that field to kneel before you.”

“Even you?”

He watches the way my teeth work my bottom lip. “You are unlike any female I’ve ever met.”

His words linger in the space between us, and I can’t tell if they are meant to be a compliment or not. “So then, why are you here?” I question, forcing his eyes back up to mine.

He leans closer, his hands bracing on the table until he’s right over the magnifier. “I—” Tilting his head to the side, he breathes in deeply. “Are you injured?” he asks, studying me in a more assessing manner.

“No?” I watch as his head cants to the side and he takes another sniff. “What is it?”

He doesn’t answer, instead looking down at the various glass bottles of leaves I have next to the magnifier. He starts picking them up one by one, sniffing them and then setting them back down so hard that the glass rings in the air as it meets the table.

“Careful,” I hiss, my patience thin as I watch him reach for another. His fingers wrap around the last jar as he holds it to his nose longer than any of the others before he looks at me. “What?”

“There is blood in this,” he says, handing it to me.

I take the container from him as his words unlock a rush of information. Blood. My hand trembles while I stare through the glass that’s full of leaves and magic-infused water from home, the ones that sprouted new life, a chill slithering over my skin. Blood. Haylee had cut herself in my workshop back home; she must have bled into the jar before I cleaned her up. It’s blood.

“I need you to cut me,” I state, the rush of adrenaline making the words come out shaky as I move to find a clean new glass bottle.

“And why would I do that?”

New hypotheses and possible solutions roll through my mind, followed closely by a litany of questions. How did I not realize it before?

“Bahira.”

I grab a new jar and pull the container of dark purple petals Jahlee picked this morning towards me.

“ Bahira , what are you talking about?” Kai’s shadow floods the table from where he’s moved to stand behind me.

I sigh and hold up the jar containing the leaves from home. “This jar was part of an experiment I was working on before I was chosen to come here. For years , I had zero tangible results. But then, the leaves in this jar changed , and finally, I had something new to work with. I thought it had been the magic from one of my test subjects, but you—” I huff out a laugh as I turn to face him. “You just gave me a piece of the puzzle I was missing. The red organelles that I saw under the magnifier weren’t something new that had grown from the magic in the water as I had previously thought. It was blood , and the leaves… I think they fed off of it.” I smile up at Kai in excitement from this revelation.

His eyes bounce from the bottle I’m holding to my lips before reaching my gaze. “And why do you want to cut yourself?”

“I want you to cut me with a claw I’m sure you can summon because I want to test and see if my blood will make these petals—” A dark thought forces my words to a halt. Is it possible my blood won’t do anything? “I’ll need your blood too,” I tell Kai, moving out from under his shadow to grab another empty glass jar and then dropping more flower petals into it.

It isn’t ideal, trying to recreate the experiment without using magic-infused water, but I’m mostly testing to see if blood— any kind of blood—will affect the growth of these petals. Based on those results, I can alter the experiment as I need to. When I turn to look at him expectantly, my palm up and ready for him to slice into, Kai narrows his eyes slightly.

“I’m not sure that I understand why you want to do this.”

I groan in frustration, trying to slow my thoughts down enough to explain. “Imagine spending nearly your whole life dedicated to discovering something, only to be met with disappointment. It’s like you’re standing at the shoreline letting the waves batter you until you’re soaked and nearly drowning, hoping the next one will stop short of pummeling you. Think of this revelation with the blood as finding reprieve from the water. A shield cast over you so that you can breathe. ” That’s what this felt like—a lifeline. If the answer to our magic lies in our blood, then it would crack open a new door of possibilities. “Please, Kai.” I would beg for nothing else. But for a chance to gain my magic, to fix both of our kingdoms’ magic, I would beg for that knowledge. I would fall to my knees for it.

Perhaps it’s the combination of the plea and his name, but his nostrils flare as he blows out a breath. Reaching back, Kai draws a small dagger that must have been sheathed on his belt.

“No claws?” I ask, smiling at the way his lips twitch.

“Unfortunately, we either shift everything or nothing. There is no in-between.”

The scrape of his calloused hand tenderly cradling mine draws my attention down, freezing my inhale. Kai’s motion is quick, digging the tip of the dagger into my palm and dragging for half an inch before he releases me. I squeeze my hand over one of the glass jars until blood, thick and crimson, drips onto the petals. Counting ten drops, I move my hand up and then gesture for Kai to do the same in the other jar.

He repeats the motion on his own palm, letting his blood drip into the second jar until I count to ten. Reaching over, I cup my hand under his, guiding us both to the basin to wash. His gaze is hot on the side of my face as I gently massage the blood off of his skin, watching it trickle down the drain.

“Can your magic heal?” I ask.

“Small cuts like this, yes. Larger wounds take much more time and will still scar.”

I let my fingers drag over the back of his hand and up higher until they trace over one of the black lines of his tattoo. “What does it mean?”

His chest rises and falls steadily as I continue my perusal of his warm skin. Up close, I can see that the intricate lines vary in thickness. Some are straight while others curve, lines and swirls moving in alternate directions all the way up his arm.

“Solve the problem with our magic, and I’ll tell you.”

I let go of his hand immediately, earning a smirk from him, when screaming erupts from somewhere in the palace. My eyes widen as they meet his, both of us drying our hands quickly. The shrieking becomes layered, more and more voices blending into the cacophony.

I add some water to the petals before corking the jars and then bolting towards the door, Kai throwing it open as I follow behind him. It’s pandemonium as nobles rush across the foyer and down hallways. Two males halt at Kai’s approach, both bowing quickly before straightening.

“What’s going on?” Kai shouts.

“A body was found near the palace entrance,” one of the males answers, sweat gleaming at his temples. “A message in blood was left for you.”

My stomach churns as Kai curses and moves down the stairs. I stay in step with him until we reach the first floor and find ourselves at the edge of a large gathering of people. An eerie sense of dread—as well as the scent of blood—sits heavily in the air, one that only grows as Kai begins to wade through the crowd.

He stops in front of me, and I place my hand on his back as the object of everyone’s attention comes into view.

Strung between two stone columns, their white coloring so pristine in contrast to the now crimson-splattered floor, is a female body. Ropes are tied around her wrists, forcing her arms open wide as the rest of her hangs limply. She’s disturbingly mutilated, deep cuts stretching from shoulder to shoulder and down the middle have shredded her skin. Blood continues to drip from her toes and onto the floor below, right over a message scrawled out on the tile: Bastards are not kings.

“Fucking gods above,” I whisper, feeling Kai grow tense beneath my hand.

He walks out of the crowd to two males standing at the side and begins to give orders. The palace staff stare at the body, some crying while others curse out in anger. How did the rebels have the opportunity to string up an entire body on the first floor with no one noticing?

I search for Kai as the guards begin to disperse the crowd, calling more in to help with the body, and find him leaving the palace, his tall frame moving down the stairs quickly.

“He’s going to his brooding place before he tears the palace down,” Jahlee says as she comes to stand beside me, sadness and shock heavy in her voice.

I take notice of the way she grips the fabric of her skirt in her hands, her normally golden tan skin looking wan. “Are you alright?” I ask, casting a wary glance around us.

“I’m fine. I worry about him though.”

“Me, too.” I swallow my surprise at those words, at how true they are.

“He does not deserve this,” she says softly.

I nod my head in response, and for reasons I cannot explain, I decide to follow him.

The summer sun burns above in a cloudless sky, the light making me squint as I keep a sensible distance between the shifter king and myself. He must know I’m following him—if his heightened sense of smell hasn’t given me away, then I assume his hearing has. However, he doesn’t order me to leave.

We walk for a while, following a faintly worn path in the thick of the jungle before Kai slows his steps, the plants thinning out as he comes to the edge of a cliff.

Looming in front of us is a large waterfall. The light blue water is stunning as it cascades down from an even higher cliff. Surrounding the water, dark rock and bright green foliage taint the air with the distinct scent of the vegetation and earth.

Kai sits, his elbow propped on one bent knee, the other leg dangling over the ledge. “You should go,” he snaps angrily, his head hanging between his shoulders. “I’m in no mood to hear of all the ways I am failing.”

Taking a seat a few feet away, I look out over the beautiful scenery, listening to the sounds of the water and the birds chirping overhead in the trees. “I do not think you are failing, Kai, and I have no intention of doing anything but sitting with you. But if you’d still like me to leave, then I will.”

Kai doesn’t respond. I observe the way his tumultuous energy is swirling within him, but I don’t try to speak again. There are no words of encouragement that could help anyway. Regardless of who that shifter is, she died in order for a message to be sent to Kai. The rebels murdered an innocent female to punish this male at my side. Rage and sadness writhe together, my fingers twitching with the urge to do something . I may have come to the Shifter Kingdom with the intention of helping with their blight, but that mission has turned into so much more. Taking down the rebels and helping Kai in his role as king feels just as important as fixing the magic.

But for now, I’ll be for him what I wish I had for myself—someone to sit in the silence with.