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Chapter Fifty-Two: Bahira

It was Magda. The mutilated body delivered by the rebels had been Magda—a mother just trying to survive. A female doing her best as a single parent who wasn’t quite so, and she had been murdered so viciously that my stomach churns every time the image of her hanging from the columns comes into my mind. I think of little Sione, of her other children now forced to grow up in an orphanage, and have to swallow down my rage.

Kai had been reluctant to invite the people of his kingdom into his home to air their grievances and have their voices heard after the rebel attack. I pushed back when he initially declined my idea because I thought he needed to hear what the people’s actual issues with him were if he was to make any progress on gaining their trust. After what happened with Magda, it seemed like the right thing to do. Yet, three days into hearing mostly the same accusations from the mouths of shifters who are all too eager to point their fingers and wag their tongues, I am beginning to believe that I have made a mistake.

It would be one thing if their comments held value, but the majority blamed Kai for the blight on their magic simply because they could . Or they blamed his father. And the king, for all the bite and fury I had seen leak from him in our private moments, sat there and took it. Over and over, his subjects yelled and condemned, and Kai might as well have been a statue for how little he reacted. Too few actually gave reasons for their anger, but when they did, Kai always responded with interest and a promise to fix what he could. I no longer believed him to be an apathetic ruler, and this show of restraint as he was belittled and verbally stoned was proof of that.

A persistent, aggravating voice nags at me in my head, scolding me for being so wrong about him. Another voice, less annoying and more urgent, doesn’t like that rebels had breached the palace so easily. Then there is the fact that the rebel who attacked me somehow escaped from the palace dungeons. Tua wasn’t forthcoming with any information when I met him in private, asking for a sample of his blood to study. He told me that it was being handled and that he’d make sure guards were stationed at all the palace entrances. Kai had been less reluctant to tell me that the rebel had killed one of his guards down in the cells and escaped before Tua could interrogate him. The information sat heavily on my chest. I collected a sample of Kai’s blood as well—and Jahlee’s later on, much to her morbid delight—before returning back to the experiment room to work.

The public forum was the next step on a long list of ideas I had worked up with Kai following the rebel attack, before we learned whose death would now weigh on my soul in a way I could never have anticipated.

One thing we had not talked about was how we had ravaged each other in the dining room before I used the Mirror to speak with my family. Or of how he slept in my bed. Even with our avoidance of those topics, there is no denying the cracks in our armor that have formed because of them.

“I swear to the gods, if another person blames Kai for something so obviously out of his control, I’m going to fucking lose it,” Jahlee whispers at my side, her arms crossing over her chest as she stares at the long line of shifters still waiting to say their piece.

I nod my head, my gaze going above to the wooden rafters. The light, sandy-colored beams extend the entire length of the rectangular throne room, long fabrics in the colors of the kingdom’s sigil—black, gray, and white—draping between each one. The air smells of salt and flora and the incoming rain storm, which makes the humidity mixed with the many bodies in the room feel stifling.

“Perhaps it was too much to make Kai do this for three days,” I respond with a grimace.

Jahlee snorts before baring her teeth at a male waiting in line who is glaring at her. He shakes his head in annoyance but is slow to draw his gaze away. “I’m going to fuck him later,” she whispers, elbowing me in my ribs.

I arch a brow, my eyes flicking between the male and her. “He looked like he’d rather fight with you.”

“ Those are the best males to bed. Their dumb brains can’t handle it when their anger gets mixed with lust.” I want to laugh at that, except it hits a little too close to home. “Anyway, did you find what you were looking for in our blood?”

I force my jaw to stay relaxed as I tilt my head to the side. In truth, I didn’t exactly know how to answer that. While examining Kai’s blood under the magnifier, I zoomed in as far as it would allow and watched as the cells moved within the liquid, nothing seeming out of the ordinary until I saw a glint of light. A flash—no bigger than the tip of a needle—there and gone before I realized what I was looking at. It happened one other time as I peered down the scope, the look of it like a faraway star flashing brightly for only a second. I might not have been as disturbed by the sight if I had seen that hint of light in anyone else’s blood. When I studied Tua’s, Jahlee’s, and my own, I only observed what I had expected: blood cells and plasma and platelets—though there was a distinct difference in the shape of the shifter cells versus my own. The notes I had written in my journal reminded me that I had seen that spark of light before, but it was while peering at the leaves in magic-infused water.

Jahlee elbows me again, staring at me expectantly.

“She would be so disappointed in you!” A loud female voice cuts through the room, drawing our attention while everyone else falls silent. “To see what you’ve let them turn you into is a disgrace, Kai Vaea.”

Jahlee and I glance at each other before our quick steps take us up to the front of the line, where an older female with short white hair stands at the bottom of the dais. Tua is posted on the stairs, splitting the distance between the female and Kai, his face set in a grim line as he holds his hands behind his back.

“Iolana?” Jahlee gasps, walking towards her.

The female turns, her head cocking to the side before a smile softens the edges of her face. “My Jahlee!”

Running to embrace her, the crowd murmuring louder at the sight, Jahlee asks, “What are you doing here?”

Iolana growls low, her head turning to look back at Kai with narrowed eyes. “There are rumors that your brother is denying aid for his own people.” Her body shakes as she shouts.

“Come, Iolana. Let’s talk about this over some tea,” Jahlee suggests, guiding her away from the line.

Iolana grumbles something but lets Jahlee lead her to a door.

“We’re done for today,” Tua announces, walking down the steps with his hands raised over his head. “I appreciate you all coming out to speak with our king, and I promise I will make sure that your voices are heard.”

My eyes narrow in on him, watching as Tua continues to ply the crowd with words of reassurance. The words scrape like thorns beneath my skin. Those should be Kai’s promises to make to his people. I search for said king, startling backward when I see him barreling towards me after having stepped off his throne. “Godsdamn it, how do you move so fast—”

“Is this what you wanted? To have a line of people day in and day out pointing out how ill-fitted I am to be king?” He stares down at me with a cold expression, despite the hot fury of his words.

“Are you blaming me for whatever that was?” When he doesn’t answer, instead brushing past me to continue down the dais and to the door Jahlee exited through, I grind my teeth together and follow him. “Kai, stop.”

Of course, he doesn’t. The asshole moves as if he doesn’t hear me. I trail behind him down a small corridor that leads to an outdoor garden. Vibrant flowers in a variety of shapes and colors grow taller than my hip as I brush past them and down the rocky path to catch up with Kai’s long strides.

“Do you honestly think I am trying to humiliate you? Why would I do that?” My blood rushes in my ears when he ignores me again . “You know what? Fine.” Without warning, I kick the back of his knee hard, the sudden movement making him stumble and fall. His animalistic growl rumbles the ground beneath me as he looks at me from over his shoulder, his dark irises sporting two rings of gold. “Are you going to talk to me now?”

He snarls at me, his hand snapping out faster than I can react as he wraps it around my ankle and pulls hard until my back meets the ground. Kicking out at his chest with my free leg makes him grunt, but he doesn’t let go of my ankle, instead rolling us off the path and into a patch of flowers growing off to the side. He finally releases me with a growl when I stomp on his hand with my free foot, and I snap upright to straddle his hips before he has a chance to get up. My hands press into his chest as I hold him down.

“Get off of me, Bahira,” he orders.

“Why do you think I’m trying to sabotage you?” I ask, feeling his heart race beneath my hands and mirroring the pacing of my own.

“Get. Off .” He bares his teeth, canines elongating as fury ripples over his features and his eyes become lost to that bright golden color.

“I’m not afraid of you, Kai.” I stress my words while leaning in close so that my face hovers over his. “I am not afraid. So tell me what is really wrong because you know damn well that I am not trying to hurt you!”

Heated seconds pass, Kai’s jaw working as if he can chew the words he wants to say and swallow them down, but they break through anyway. “I will never be the kind of king that this island needs,” he growls between gritted teeth, his facade cracking for only a second, but the hurt there is enough to make my heart skip a beat.

“You care about your people. I know you do.”

“And that is not enough. You see what they say, how they hate me. I cannot be who they want me to be!” His eyes ignite anew with fury, and my own bounce back and forth between them as his fingers wrap tightly around my wrists.

“You are enough,” I tell him, the words hoarse as they scrape up my throat. Kai stills, his top lip still pulled back over his teeth as his eyes grow wider. “You are enough ,” I repeat with added emphasis, my nails digging into him. “And if the people you have surrounded yourself with do not reaffirm that at every opportunity, then they are the wrong people to have as your council.”

“They are the only reason I’m not already removed from the throne. Or dead.”

I swallow as I shake my head, ready to voice what I know he won’t want to hear. “I think you have a traitor in your court—”

“Be careful of what you say next,” he says with a dark edge to his voice.

My brows draw together, and I push myself off of him, stepping away from where he’s still lying amongst the flowers. “You may not want to hear this, but the way Tua behaves as your advisor is not normal. He acts as if it’s his job to personally woo the court and nobles and people when he should be helping you do that.” I swallow my anger down as I take another step back. “You’re right. You can’t be the kind of king your people need because you are letting someone else do it for you.”

Turning on my heel, I leave Kai on the ground and make my way back to the palace.

Kai avoids me the following day. And the next. I should know better than to lament over a male choosing to ignore me, but instead, I’m drowning in my thoughts about him.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I focus my attention back on the mage journal in front of me while Jahlee clicks another disc into place on the magnifier scope she is looking through. The journal is mostly mundane, detailing Queen Lucia’s days after the visit from King Kamon Ryuu and Lady Jia Ryuu of the Fae Kingdom. Apparently, they had gifted her a prized necklace as a token of friendship. I skip down the page to where I see talk of a Flame Ceremony, the descriptions of it indicating nothing wrong with the magic at that time. I nearly decide to quit reading for the day, but a capitalized word catches my attention.

On this final day of summer, the night before the Autumnal Ball, Queen Lucia visited the clinics of Galdr to bestow upon some the magic of Cessation. There were ten in all who waited for her arrival, clinging to life though they should not have been. They were of an age, ailing, and past the point of our healing magic being able to provide any comfort.

My brows crinkle together as I try to remember what I know of the Void Magic that queens of the past were blessed with. It is ancient magic and only given to one at a time whose soul was found worthy . Though how that was determined, no one but the gods themselves knew.

The celestial symbols of Void Magic are carved all over the place back home: doors leading into the palace, statues, tapestries, and places of business and worship. Everyone knows what those symbols mean and who they belonged to, but I can’t recall a time when it was detailed how those powers manifested . In our schooling, we had been taught about how Queen Lucia used this magic to put the Spell up and effectively end the war, but there had been no heir found through any Flame Ceremonies since. It seems that lessons on such magic have devolved until they do not include information about what a Void queen could actually do outside of normal mage magic.

Maybe that is a flaw. Over two hundred years had passed since the war, but we had slowly been shaving off more and more information until only the barest of bones were left. Was it done intentionally? Or had it been the product of a complacent kingdom with a new family of rulers at the helm and no reason to change the status quo? As I try to pry deeper into my memory for anything at all detailing Void Magic, a new question tainted with unease pushes to the forefront—what all could be lost under the illusion of impenetrable safety?

“You’re looking mighty contemplative,” Jahlee sings from across the table, her brown eyes focused on me. “What are you reading about?”

Closing the journal, I stack it off to the side of the table with a collection of others and lean back in my chair. “Are you familiar with the queens of Void Magic from the Mage Kingdom?”

Jahlee cocks her head to the side, squinting her eyes as if sunlight is shining directly into them. “A little. Most of our education, at least in the place Kai and I grew up, was localized to this kingdom. We didn’t learn much other than it was a Mage Queen who cast the Spell in retribution for the war starting.”

“What? It wasn’t in retribution. She cast it because the Mortal Kingdom, Siren Queendom, and this kingdom were warring with each other. Then the fae showed up on their dragons ready to end everything and everyone, so she made the decision to send everyone back home to stop the fighting.”

Jahlee gives a fake and hearty laugh, clapping her hands slowly as she stands from her chair. “Is that what they teach over in mage school?”

“Yes, because it is the truth,” I defend.

Jahlee drops her hands to the table on either side of the magnifier. “I suppose that from your point of view it is.”

Pointless, this conversation is pointless . Shaking my head, I stand up and take a few steps towards her before leaning my hip at the edge of the table. “Who was the woman that yelled at Kai the other day? The one you ushered out of the room.”

“Iolana is from the village we grew up in—Honna, right at the northern edge of the island. I was surprised to see her in the capital.”

“Did you find out why she was upset?”

“Well, you heard what she said in the throne room. Apparently, a few shifters with family members that are stuck reached out to the palace for aid and were denied. She thinks Kai is to blame. I told her he wouldn’t do such a thing, but she thinks he’s lost touch with his roots. That the vultures—figuratively, not literally—of Molsi have corrupted him.” Jahlee’s features are tense while she thinks about the people affected from her home. Perhaps she even knows of some who can’t shift back. She doesn’t let the serious look last long, however, and a mischievous grin grows as she says, “But she scolded Kai even worse when he met us later that day. He didn’t tell you any of this?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since—” I pinch my lips together. Spending so much time with Jahlee over the past few weeks has taught me that she is incredibly clever, and I consistently walk into her verbal traps whenever it comes to Kai.

“Yes, he was in a rather foul mood when he met with us. I figured it had something to do with you,” she teases.

I ignore her gibe and instead ask, “Did it not bother you, the way she was speaking about him?”

“Oh, it did,” she says, her eyes darting to the door as she twirls away from the table. “But that’s the thing about family; they tend to get away with things that most others don’t.”

“Family?”

“Iolana is our aunt. Our mother’s younger sister.” Before I can respond, the door to the room opens and Kai walks in. “Brother! You are looking much better today. Does it have anything to do with the female I saw leaving your room this morning?” I turn sharply at Jahlee’s words, my jaw clenched until I see the pure amusement rippling over her features. She cackles as she looks at me, bowing at the waist before giving me a wink. “It’s too fucking easy, Bahira.”

Anger and embarrassment rush through me, propelling my feet towards her. But she darts away, giggling as she pushes Kai towards me to block my path.

“Have fun, you two!” she shouts, running to the door and slamming it behind her.

“There might come a day when I murder your sister, and I just want you to know that she will have earned it,” I warn.

To my surprise, he only smirks, folding his arms over his chest as he leans a hip against the table. It’s another cloudy day on the island, the sun hidden behind their dreary shades of gray, and still, Kai’s skin glows as if he is creating sunlight himself.

And here I am, waxing poetic about it like some love-struck fool. Stuffing the thought down, I ask, “What can I do for you?”

His gaze travels over my face, flicking up to my hair before settling once more on my eyes. “We have another visit to make.”