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Chapter Fifty-Four: Bahira

Unlike the morning after the rebel attacked me, Kai is still in bed when I wake. Soreness lingers between my legs and on my skin where he gripped me tightly, but all it does is make me want him again. So I wake him up with my hand on his cock, replacing it with my body until we are both panting in the early sunlight.

After showering together, Kai goes to his room to dress and I meet him down in the brightly lit foyer. The female behind the desk offers me a polite smile, the same one she gives to Kai, and then we are off to the village to speak with more families. While most of the residents dwell within view of the village center, a few we have to trek a short distance through the jungle to visit. On our way back, after meeting a rather terrifying lion shifter stuck as their animal, a painful wailing fills the air, jolting us both as Kai snaps his head to the right.

“It’s an injured animal,” he states, turning and pushing his way past the lower lying plants.

I follow behind him, keeping up with his quick pace while positioning one hand within easy reach of my spear. He sucks in a harsh breath as he kneels. A beautiful bird, with colorful feathers—green, yellow, and blue—lays with its wings sprawled out on the ground, nearly hidden by the decaying leaves it’s half buried under. Blood leaks from its long curved deep orange beak, its eyes wide and filled with terror.

“What kind of bird is this?” I ask, kneeling at Kai’s side.

“A toucan,” he replies, gently tilting the bird’s body to the side where a large gash has shredded it. The toucan lets out another keening sound.

“How can you tell that it’s purely animal and not a shifter?”

Kai’s silent for a moment, not like he’s ignoring me but trying to phrase his answer in a way that I will understand. “It’s a sensation that I feel. Around other shifters, the feeling is thick, as if there is fog in the air. When a being is just an animal, it feels more like a soft caress against my skin.” It sounded similar to how mages could detect the magical signature of other mages. He inhales again before turning to look at me. “I suppose your magic cannot help him?”

I swallow roughly, giving him a curt shake of my head. He sighs, reaching back to unsheathe the dagger from his belt. The same one he used when he sliced our palms open to bleed onto the petals. Blood . The word bounces around my mind as I watch more of it trickle from the toucan’s mouth. Blood. My blood had done nothing to the petals, had no reaction, but Kai’s—

“Wait.” I gently grip his wrist, halting his attempt to put the bird out of its misery.

Mistaking my hesitation for sympathy, Kai’s eyes soften. “Bahira, we can’t leave it to suffer.”

“I know, but I have an idea. It might not do anything, but if you’re willing to try…” I fight to keep my chin drawn up, so used to the criticism and skepticism over my experiments. But as he studies me, those dark brown eyes full of intrigue, he simply nods and pulls from my hold to sheathe his dagger. “No, we’ll need that.” Fortifying myself with a deep breath, I lay my hypothesis out for him. “Your blood had a reaction with the petals. It gave them life , making them sprout healthy stems and new flower buds. What if the same principle could be applied to this animal? What if—what if your blood could heal?”

Kai’s eyes widen in disbelief before his focus moves back to the toucan, the poor bird’s breathing growing more labored by the second. His finger delicately strokes the top of its head as he considers what I’ve told him. “Okay, let us try.” Us. I feel the invisible noose around my throat grow tighter. “What do I do?”

“Same as before, I think. Slice your palm enough for the blood to bead.” Kai sets the bird down carefully and cuts himself, bright red filling the small crevices of his palm before he brings it above the toucan. I look at the open wound that is killing the toucan and guide Kai’s hand to it. “Try dropping your blood there.”

He nods and then tips his hand, crimson dripping right into the bird. The flow of his blood begins to slow, his own healing properties closing the cut fairly quickly. Kai draws his hand back, and together, we wait in silence. The bird cries out again though it’s quieter and less panicked. Time flows slowly like trudging through quicksand, each step forward a work of glacial effort. I don’t know what to expect, but it guts me all the same when it appears as if nothing happens. Kai’s head falls between his shoulders, his exhale rough as he reaches out for the bird to prepare it for burial.

The lively squawk it gives surprises us both, Kai jolting back so harshly that he nearly knocks me over. In awe, we watch as the wound disfiguring the bird begins to sluggishly knit itself back together. There is no flash of light, like when a mage uses their magic, no dramatic or quick turnaround. But still, the bird’s pupils return to their normal size, and it looks around as if it is confused about how it ended up on the ground. Kai wastes no time gently picking it up and cradling it in his arms.

“We’ll bring it back to the village healer where she can finish mending the wound.”

I nod, my eyes wide as they bounce between his. “That worked,” I whisper, excitement prickling my scalp and making my lips lift with a smile. “That actually worked .”

“You are brilliant,” he replies, and fuck , that’s admiration in his tone. “Absolutely brilliant .”

I laugh, because I don’t know how to respond or what else to say as my mind reels with this data. This new data . We continue back to the village center, both silent as I think, Kai recognizing that I need the space to work things out. Blood. It is something in every living being, something that binds us all together. If Kai’s blood could heal a fatal wound like this on an animal, then what else could it do? What could a mage’s blood do?

In school, we were taught that incorporating magic and blood was forbidden. Historians said that it was attempted in the past with catastrophic results. It’s why I never had blood at the forefront of my mind when I discovered the red cells under the magnifier. Could it be that what we were told was wrong ? Could the answer to the problems that plague me be found in the veins of those with magic?

I tell Kai my idea after we drop the toucan off at a healer’s quarters. His face is a mask of calm, but I can tell that he is working out the details of the data I’m giving him, weighing the risk of trying such a thing on his people. To his credit, I can’t guarantee what will happen, good or bad. He’d have to trust me blindly, something I wouldn’t fault him for not doing—even if that annoying fluttering sensation in my stomach says otherwise.

“Kai, it’s alright if—”

“We’ll try it,” he interjects, folding his arms over his chest. My mouth hangs agape, the processing of his faith in me slow. He snorts as he tilts his head to the side. “You did not think I would agree to it?”

“I… No .” I endure the way Kai’s stare seems to see right through me. He takes a step towards me until the space between us is gone and his fingers are playing with a loosened curl from my ponytail.

“Tell me what you need me to do.”

Everything happens fairly quickly. Kai and I meet a handful of families, and I explain to them what I’d like to do, giving them a condensed briefing of the blood and magic hypothesis. The first few decline to participate, but the fourth family—one with a shifter stuck as a small mountain cat—agrees to let us try.

“There is no guarantee this will work,” Kai says solemnly from where he is sitting next to me on a small couch in the family’s living room.

An older male, his black hair peppered with streaks of gray, nods as he looks over at who I assume to be his adult daughter. Her gaze is focused on the animal lying at her feet, its fluffy gray and brown streaked tail lazily swaying back and forth. “It is worth it to try,” he says.

“We will need to create a cut, to drip the king’s blood in,” I say, noting the female’s frown at that. “Just a small one, but you will likely have to hold…” I pause, my cheeks reddening at not having asked for this shifter’s name. Not even knowing if they are male or female.

“Eliza,” the female says, her dark brown eyes glassy as she finally looks at me. “Her name is Eliza.”

I nod and stand with Kai as the female and her father kneel on the ground next to Eliza. Two years . That is how long it’s been since they’ve heard Eliza’s voice. Since she’s walked on mortal legs or sang a song or enjoyed a meal with her family.

“I will cut her—”

“Let me,” the female interrupts, holding her hand out for the dagger. “I can do it.”

Kai looks unsure, his eyes darting to mine in a silent plea, to which I answer with a small nod. He flips the blade so that the hilt is facing out and hands it to the female before unsheathing a second blade from his belt behind him.

“It doesn’t need to be large, but it does need to be deep enough that the two bloods will be able to mix,” I say.

Kai squats down and holds his hands directly over Eliza, the small beast now stirring as it looks around with curious eyes. She doesn’t move when the female shifter rests a hand on her hip, nor does she seem concerned when the older male’s fingers curl into her fur at her shoulders. It isn’t until I kneel down on the ground too that Eliza’s nostrils flare and panic creeps into her gaze.

“Now.”

The female doesn’t hesitate, taking the dagger and plunging the tip in at a fleshy part of Eliza’s hip. Kai drags the other blade over his palm, blood beginning to pool as Eliza lets out a snarl. “I’m sorry,” the female says, dropping the dagger to hold Eliza down. Kai tips his hand over, most of the droplets making it into the wound, while a few dot Eliza’s fur.

“How much longer?” the older male asks.

I don’t know how to answer him, having only ever tested this theory on the toucan. It seemed to happen more quickly then, but this isn’t the healing of an outer wound. This is healing something that can’t be seen. Not really. The inability to shift back into a mortal form is the consequence of the blight, and I have to hope that Kai’s blood can fix that without knowing what is causing it in the first place.

Kai looks to me with expectant eyes. “Just a little bit longer,” I plead. Please . He hears the unspoken word and flexes his hand to draw out more blood, though his magic is already beginning to heal his wound. As the dripping blood slows, my heart races faster. There is a relentless chant in my head, one that is begging for this to work. One that refuses to let me accept defeat, even when it has become painfully clear to everyone else. Kai sighs, sitting back on his heels and giving a nod to the two shifters holding Eliza down. They let go, and she immediately bolts out of the room and through the open front door. The female collapses into her father’s arms, her chest heaving as she cries. The sound quietly screams of resignation and heartbreak and a sadness so devastating that I can feel it in my bones.

I don’t fully register that I’m moving, my feet taking me outside in disjointed steps. My fingers curl into my palms, the sting of my nails not clearing the fog of melancholy and disappointment.

“Bahira.”

I hear Kai call my name, but I don’t stop. It’s hypocritical of me, knowing how angry I got when he did the same, but I can’t stop. I might fall apart completely if I do. My mind is in chaos, and there is no choice but to sit in this failure. In the missteps of my past and the uncertainty of my future.