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 actuallyworked.”
“You are brilliant,” he replies, andfuck, that’s admiration in his tone. “Absolutelybrilliant.”
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 waswrong? 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 bladeover 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.
Chapter Fifty-Five: Aria
In the weeks thatfollowed our departure from Eersten, Mashaka and I had found ourselves in an uneventful blur of swimming through endless open blue waters. My muscles ache from overuse, and the urge to shift into my mortal form has grown until it feels like I’m trying to keep another being stuffed beneath my skin. I suppose, in a way, I am. Relaying that to Mashaka, he squeaks in annoyance or protest or maybe even agreement, though I doubt very much it’s the latter.
