“Because one of my inner court was gravely injured!” Malachi cried, not believing what he was hearing. “Surely those whose Cassius’s speech reaches the ears of will reflect on that. It is no secret where I am. And I am taking care of the rest of my people too. I’ve tasked Trystin, our grand duke, to act in my stead and do whatever needs to be done.”
Kiyun laid a hand on his shoulder. “The fact still remains, friend, that Zayvier is one person, and you are the Apollyon Court’s sovereign. The people, and the lord primes, expectyou, their monarch, to place the needs of the whole above the needs of one and they expect to see you doing it. You know this.”
Fuck the lord primes!Malachi bit his tongue so as not to bellow it and create more talk for people to pass around. A black haze overlaid his vision. Kiyun’s touch was the only thing that kept him grounded, thinking rationally, and from descendingfully into the rage. However, it was a hard-won effort. “Cassius is a snake,” Malachi hissed. “I wouldn’t put it past him to have had knowledge of or been directly involved in the blast to weaken me prior to the challenge, and now he stands before the court pretending otherwise. Acting as if he gives a damn about anything other than his little power grab.”
“Cassius is the lowest form of scum,” Kiyun agreed. “But he is charming and has a silver tongue and excels at presenting himself as savior, not serpent. You will kill him during the challenge and be rid of him. But prior to that, you need to play Cassius’s game. Rather, you need to best him at his own game,” Kiyun impressed upon Malachi. “Which means you must force yourself to step away from Zayvier’s bedside and show yourself to our people. You must let them behold you, this court’s king, leading efforts to render aid to those affected by the blast and to restore the palace wall. Do not let Cassius be the sole face that offers support and empathy and shows up for our people after catastrophe has struck.”
As much as Malachi loathed havinghisstrings pulled by the tiresome games of court instead of just tending to what needed to be done, Kiyun was right.
“Come here,” he instructed a healer who was passing by. The woman approached Zayvier’s bedside and bowed. Once she’d straightened, he pointed to Zayvier and told her, “This man is essential to me. I want him cared for during every moment of every day. I also want updates at sunrise, high noon, and sunset about his state.”
The woman bowed again and replied, “Of course, Your Grace.”
Before departing he looked over at Kadeesha seated beside Samira and added, “That same order goes for the Aether womanwho is being cared for by healers in this infirmary. Work to get her awake and fully restored to health as speedily as you do with Zayvier.” He issued the command because there was no question that he owed Kadeesha a debt—two, actually—following the blast. He’d seen Kadeesha fling herself atop Theo, the defenseless green stripling, and provide him safety when the palace wall had been blown apart. She wasn’t an Apollyon fae, and she held no allegiances to Malachi or any member of his court. She didn’t have to help the boy, and perhaps, if she’d ignored his peril and aided her own people first, Samira wouldn’t have ended up buried under stone. Then, there was the needling matter that while he knew he hadn’t directly violated his oath that no harm would befall her people while in his court, one of them had been injured. He’d expected Kadeesha to express both points when she’d approached him. He was a mighty fae king, and most others wouldn’t have passed up the golden opportunity to remind him that he owed them fresh boons. But she’d offeredheraid to him instead. He shook his head because it was a mystery as to why she chose one route and not the other. He didn’t have the time to press her about it, though. Making himself content with having repaid one of his debts to Kadeesha, he made a mental note to gain answers about everything later and then prowled toward the exit to play his cousin’s infuriating games.
Chapter Twenty
SHE’D WANTED TO HOLD VIGIL AT SAMIRA’S BEDSIDE,stay there until her sister woke up. But the more she heard talk of the ruin at the palace’s gates from those venturing in and out of the infirmary, the more impossible it became for Kadeesha not to help clear away the wreckage. She shouldn’t have cared; this was neither her kingdom nor her people. But then she’d looked at all of the injured folk in the infirmary and she’d felt completely useless. Had been feeling that way since she’d arrived with Samira, trying her best to stay out of the healers’ ways. So, she’d kissed her sister’s forehead and ordered her to wake up soon, and then she’d gone to the destroyed section of the palace wall. There was so much rubble to clear away, so many bodies to still dig out. Magic-less fae cleared what they could with bare hands, hauling the slabs, boulders, and smaller rocks into wheelbarrows. Those who possessed void magic used it to eat away at and break up the largest of stone and onyx pieces that were too enormous to be lifted. Kadeesha set about helping the Apollyon fae with the arduous work. Witnessing the utter carnage made her gut viciously wrench, and though thesewere not her people, she mourned for each of the dead that were unearthed.
At some point, she found herself toiling away beside Malachi. As she used her aether to burn chunks of rock to fine ash, Malachi used his shadows in a similar fashion. He engulfed large areas in pools of blackness that left only fine silt behind when the blackness vanished. They worked silently, well after the waning moon appeared in the sky and night spilled across the land. When the cleanup crews were starting to thin out, Malachi breached the silence that had lingered between them.
“Why did you provide cover for the boy before doing that for your own people?” he muttered from a few feet away. The question was abrupt enough that it startled Kadeesha. She gazed at him for a time, speechless.
Finally, she shrugged. The answer wasn’t that complicated. “Theo is young. He may be about to cross over to the age of maturity, but he is still a juvenile. Making sure he was safe first was the right thing to do.”
“Even if you could have spared your friend from harm instead?” For once, Malachi didn’t speak with his usual arrogance. The question was asked in earnest, so Kadeesha decided to return a genuine answer.
“Samira wouldn’t have had it any other way. In fact, she would’ve been furious if I even thought about making a different choice. Not that I would have. We are Kongamato Flyers—Nkita—and that means something to us. When we formed our sisterhood, it was founded upon the principles of protecting Aether interestsandprotecting all who could not protect themselves. We swore oaths to each other to uphold those principles always.”
Malachi stared at her for an extended time, his dark gazepenetrating. Eventually, he told her, “I’ve accrued more than one debt where you are concerned this day. I owe you for protecting the boy and for allowing harm to come to Samira when I swore none would befall your people.”
“I suppose you do,” Kadeesha said because she couldn’t think of anything else to express. She was at a loss for words at the realization that Malachi was right and she hadn’t yet thought about any debts or how she might use their accrual to her advantage.
“Why did you not mention them when we spoke in the infirmary earlier?” Again, his question was earnest. It held none of his usual taunts or condescension or conceit.
“I guess it was because Samira’s condition meant political maneuvering was the furthest thing from my mind,” she answered truthfully. “Plus, even if I had thought about it earlier, I am not so callous or cruel that I’d demand boons from you while you stood at your injured friend’s bedside, clearly grieving his circumstances.”
Malachi didn’t respond at first. He merely gazed at Kadeesha in an intense way that threw her off-kilter. She bit the inside of her cheek. Malachi’s unwavering stare made a deeply unsettling sensation steal over her. With just the fixed look, it felt like Malachi was attempting to take a knife to her and peel back the myriad layers to cut straight to the core that comprised her. “It’s late, and most have called it a night. I think I’ll go too,” she said, disturbed.
“Excessive use of my void magic leaves me famished and then I need to refuel. Does your aether magic function the same way?” he called out when she turned to leave.
She spun around and faced him with furrowed eyebrows. “It does,” she answered in a measured way, trying to decide ifconfessing it revealed too much information. They were having a conversation free of sniping and threats and barbs, and it was so bizarre that it was messing with her head. It was also making things come out she might have otherwise not divulged so he couldn’t wield the information he unearthed as a weapon later.
“I am going to call it a night too and get food. Do you want to join me if you need to eat as well?” Malachi inexplicably asked. The invitation, coming from him, sounded so ludicrous that she nearly sputtered.
She eyed him warily and inquired, “Why are you behaving in this manner?”
“In what manner?” His eyebrows crept up in plain confusion.
“You aren’t being an ass at present. Since you started speaking to me, you’ve been someone who seems actually decent.” Perhaps even … kind and compassionate. She glanced upward to be sure the sky hadn’t fractured apart and the very heavens weren’t about to crash down on their heads.
“As I said, I owe you debts and I always pay my debts.” Malachi’s words pulled her attention back to him. The explanation settled her nerves. That reason made his uncharacteristic behavior make sense.
But still … it was difficult to trust it and not be completely bewildered.
Malachi must’ve sensed how taken aback she was because he smirked. She immediately started to rebuild her armor, pivot back to engaging with his impervious asshole form, when he sighed, then muttered, “It’s been an infernally long day. I need to eat. But I don’t much desire to be alone with the hellish events of the blast and afterward playing on loop in my mind while I do it. I’d like company while I eat. All of my Cadre have dispersedto tend to various other necessary tasks. But you’re here. So I am asking if you’d like to eat with me, Kadeesha.”
She didn’t think she could be more confounded until she came to the realization that she felt much the same. She could eat and refuel while sequestered within her own room and call upon one or more of her Nkita for company. But Samira wouldn’t be present if she did so, and that meant she’d find no true respite, not even a brief one, tonight. And after the day she’d had, she definitely needed a moment of solace—and strangely that solace would come in the form of the Apollyon king.
