Terror courses through me as I realize that between the pendant and my expulsion magic earlier, I’m too weak to fight them off. I gasp for breath, white lights flaring behind my eyelids while I struggle to reach for my power. Foranythingto help me.Nox! I mentally scream out, hoping that whatever connection we have through our magic might be enough for him to feel that I’m in pain. That Ineedhim.
“Gods, her magic is strong,” someone shouts, and I feel that restriction around me falter.
I quickly call up whatever I can—healing and shadows alike. Warm power gathers on one palm as I blindly attempt to lift it in front of me.
“She’s still fucking awake! Hit her again, and let’sgo.”That voice…
“What about Daje?”
“Leave him!”
I manage to open a single lid, bright and colorful magic of different colors holding me in place as it blinds me against the backdrop of the dark forest. Steps rattle the stone beneath me, moving closer until another hit jerks my body, and I succumb to utter darkness.
Chapter Seventy-Eight: Kai
My fingernails dig intothe armrests of my throne while I sit and wait for Tua’s arrival.
It has been two days since the rebel attack, much of that time spent cleaning up the aftermath and dealing with the fallout. I have kept Jahlee and Bahira in my rooms for the entirety of it, while I figured out what to do after learning of Tua’s betrayal. Each of those days, the latter had refused to speak with me beyond what was necessary.
It is better this way, to keep her at arm’s length now in preparation for when she’s an ocean away later. It is better, yet she still consumes every one of my fucking thoughts like a thunderstorm that won’t break. I learned the truth of who she was, and each day since, I find it harder to remind myself why it matters that she lied. Eventually, I do—past insecurities feed into the present, and Bahira’s lies become Tua’s, and those become my father’s, and on and on until I find myself angry with her once again. But the cycle ultimately stalls—usually the moment I step foot into my rooms at the end of the day and seeher curled on the couch with a book on her lap, still recovering from her injuries.
My power pushes at me to shift, my neck straining as a slight haze covers my eyes. It had taken every ounce of control not to kill Tua the moment I saw him after I learned what he had orchestrated. What he had done behind my back, yes, but more importantly, what he had done toher. Instead, I was forced to listen to his lies with a straight face. I was left in awe of how he held my gaze, his dark brown eyes steadfast, and lied with the ease of talking about the weather.
And he had been doing it my entire life.
At least he never brought up Kane. Haloa volunteered to let my cousin stay with him until I could confront his father. We had thankfully found his daughter unharmed and under the care of neighbors. Both families will be receiving a large stipend from the Crown for the foreseeable future.
Bahira had said that Tua knew of something my father orchestrated while my mother was pregnant with me. In the only conversation that lasted longer than a minute, she had relayed everything she could remember about what he said regarding my parents. Despite her obvious anger towards me and the sadness she tried and failed to hide, there was something eager that lit her gray eyes when she talked of what Tua told her. Of the blood and magic connection he hinted at. Something told me that, even if I didn’t want her to, she’d go digging for more.
I had visited my rooms one final time before coming to the throne room, to make sure Jahlee and Bahira stayed put until this was over, only to find it empty. I know better than to assume that either female is incapable of taking care of themselves, but it doesn’t make my ire at them being gone disappear. Maybe Jahlee helped Bahira sneak out to board a ship heading towards the Mage Kingdom. Or perhaps they just needed time away from the palace—fromme.
I recall the way Bahira’s face broke when she told me of her deceit. How her eyes begged for a forgiveness I wasn’t ready to give her then. One that she doesn’t seem to want now. Bahira had been an anomaly in my life since the moment she punched me in the face. Never once had anyone left me both furious and heated in a single interaction, and this female had done so in nearly every moment we spent together.
Both of the wooden doors to the throne room open, and my uncle strides in, flanked by two guards who shut the door behind them and take up posts on either side.
“Everything alright, Uncle?” I ask him, sending all thoughts of Bahira back behind my mental armor as I stare Tua down from my throne.
“One can never be too safe,” he answers, clasping his hands behind him. “You’ve summoned me, Your Majesty?”
Standing, I fold my arms over my chest, letting my power glow in my eyes. “Did you think that I would not discover your treachery?”
His delayed response is the only giveaway to his surprise. “Ah. So the princess lives,” he surmises, giving me a small smile. I had kept him too busy to visit the dungeon attached to my father’s rooms in the wake of the attack—also assigning males from Honna that I could trust to patrol the second floor so that no rebels could slip past.
“She does. Though I can’t say the same for your son.” When Tua doesn’t react to the fake news about Kane, I take a single step down the dais and add, “Neither can it be said of the two rebels who laid their hands on her.”
Tua’s power flares in his eyes, his canines elongating as he drops any pretense of civility. “I willkillher for this.”
Primal rage bleeds into my every cell as I glower at him. She ismineto protect. Even if she wants nothing more to do with me.She is mine.
“She’s already on a ship heading home,” I lie. Or maybe it is the truth. If it is the only way to keep her safe, then despite the nausea roiling through me, I hope she really is on a ship.
He growls low in his throat, his animal thrashing beneath the surface.
“How does it feel to know that a female bested you?”
“I suppose I could ask the same question of you,” he snarls, taking a single step towards me. I eye the guards, their curled lips and combative positions relaying their allegiance to Tua. “You thought that she would hold the key to solving our blight, that she could fix your idioticlegacy. Everyone now sees you for what you really are, Nephew. A failure. Unworthy and undeserving of that throne behind you. When I rule—”
“No,” I interrupt, descending the rest of the steps as I bring my power up to right beneath my skin. The urge to shift is overwhelming, setting my veins on fire and nearly choking me of breath. “You will rulenothing, Uncle. Except maybe a small cell in thetruedungeons while I figure out what to do with you.”
