When the silence lingers, Tua closes his book and leans forward, matching my position. “Change takes time. It takesfortitude, but it also takes support. In a kingdom such as ours, not even a king is all-powerful.” Conviction colors his tone, the words spoken harshly despite the placid look on his face.
“And he shouldn’t be. It is why councils and advisors exist, to help guide the king into choices that better the land he rules over.”
“Precisely, Princess. It is important to remember that time is on the side of the plans that have already been put into motion.” I clench my jaw at the use of my title, casting a quick glance around the empty library. Tua offers me a pointed smile before standing and pushing his chair in, walking around to my side. I cast my glance upward, his brown eyes now ringed in a faint golden glow. “What are your plans this evening? There is going to be a celebration here at the palace, and there is a theme for the party.”
Feigning an ease I don’t feel, I lean back in my chair. “I think I might opt to read in my room instead.”
Tua chuckles, as though he expected that answer. “Perhaps a wise decision. The gods know that I hate having to mingle at these things.” With a knock of his knuckle on the table, he heads towards the library’s exit.
I call out to him when he’s halfway there. “Tua, what is the theme for the party tonight?”
He halts his steps, barely looking over his shoulder at me. “Masquerade.”
Kai and I sneak out the back of the palace. He said it was necessary to do so, as Tua had asked him to meet with the court advisors this evening before the party. He is apparently inclined to avoid them all.
“Should you skip meeting with them? What if they want to discuss everything you’ve been working on?” I ask, thinking of my conversation with Tua earlier.
“An extra day will not kill them, despite how they may act. Besides, rain is predicted to fall tomorrow, so this is the only opportunity we have to come out here before it’s too flooded.”
It’s nearly sunset, orange and bright pink painting the sky overhead. The temperature is beginning to cool, the oppressive daytime heat sweetening into a slight evening chill. It reminds me of the last days of summer back home, the signal that the Autumnal Ball is nearing.
“What about the masquerade party? We’ll be missing that as well.”
Kai snorts from where he walks ahead of me, the path only wide enough for us to stay in a single file line. “Do I look like someone who partakes in that sort of revelry?”
“You don’t exactly look like someone who is keen onanything,” I retort.
Kai chuckles, pushing an overgrown plant from our path. The trickling sound of the waterfall fills the air, the temperature dropping even more as we clear the last bit of the jungle. We step out into the open space I saw the day I followed Kai—only, this time, we’re on the ground. The waterfall looms in front of me, mist from its powerful flow coating my skin. The water above is the brightest blue I’ve ever seen, white caps forming where it crashes into the stream below. Unlike the scent of salt that normally permeates the air, the smell that lingers here is one of damp earth and pungent florals. Blooming purple flowers line the banks, and I suspect they are the reason for the perfumed scent.
Kai lets me study our surroundings a little longer before he gestures for me to follow him. We walk for another ten minutes before a second body of water comes into view. Steam curls intothe air above the aquamarine pool cradled within a white stone formation in the ground.
“How did this get here?” I ask, marveling at how the spring seems so out of place.
“It’s been here since well before my family line held the throne. It may even be as ancient as the island’s creation itself.” Kai walks around the spring to where the surrounding rocky outcrop has created a small natural cave. “When my mother and I still resided in the palace in my early years, she would often bring me here. I preferred to splash in the water by the waterfall as opposed to boiling in this pool.”
Grinning, I round the steaming spring to join him as he pulls off his pack to set it against the stone wall. “How long did you live in the palace?”
“The first five years of my life,” he answers.
I set my own backpack down, my spear scraping against the cave wall and causing sparks. “Why did you leave?”
Kai turns to look out over the spring and into the jungle. “Normal shifter offspring manifest into their animal for the first time around the age of two. Yet I made it to five and still had shown no signs of being able to shift. So my father sent my mother and I back to where he took her from.”
Shock draws my eyebrows up. “Took her?”
Kai nods, his jaw hard as a muscle there tenses. “My father was halfway through a royal tour of the kingdom when he arrived in Honna. My mother helped serve him and his entourage, and he was, according to Iolana, very smitten by her beauty.” He pauses, taking a deep breath before turning to look at me. “He demanded for her to be available to serve every meal. He extended his trip and began inviting her on walks or to dine with him in private. My mother had never had so much attention on her, let alone by someone of such importance.”
“She got swept up in it,” I surmise.
“She did,” he replies softly. “He asked her to come back to the palace with him. She knew he was married, but he led her to believe that the queen would be alright with him seeking the pleasure of another, as they hadn’t been able to sire an heir.”
“Was that true?”
“Partially. They hadn’t sired an heir, but his wife was not aware of hissideactivities. When my mother arrived at the palace, she was hired as one of the help and continued to see my father in private.” Kai’s face is a whirling storm of emotion—sadness and anger are the strongest, but there is also an undercurrent of grief. “Shortly after, she fell pregnant. Fearing his response, she kept me secret for as long as possible before she had to tell him.”
“Was he angry?”
Kai shakes his head, an incredulous scoff leaving his lips. “No. He waselated. He pampered her the entire pregnancy. She became a lady in the queen’s circle—the friends she had made as a palace worker now servedher. My father doted on her, even taking her out to public events in the city. Everyone came to know her for what she was—the king’s favored mistress.” His words grow quieter as he speaks until the last one is hardly above a whisper.
