The scent of the ocean—so calming and alluring—is in every breath I take as I step closer and closer to the railing at the edge of the deck. Just a few more steps, and I can sink into the cool waters—I can returnhome.The single voice guiding me is feminine and light, and gods, do I want to be smothered by it. I want it wrapped around me and in me so deeply, so thoroughly, that it’s all I can think about. I’ve never needed something this much.
My hands find the railing, and I peer down into the crystal-blue ocean waters. I see her then—the exquisite creature who calls to me. Her hair, glowing like a ruby, cascades in intricate braids down her head and into the water, floating around her as she swims next to the ship.
My feet step onto the first rung, then the second, as I move to get past this last barrier keeping me from her. Her song stops before I’m yanked back, my heels dragging along the deck as agrowl rumbles over me. I twist and turn, my head drowning on the lingering sound of her voice as I’m hauled farther away from the railing until I’m back in the dining hall and deposited onto the floor.
Like the tide drawing back, my mind slowly clears of the film I had felt over it. My hands tremble as I push them into the wooden planks, grounding myself while my temples throb.What the fuck was that?
The wolf from earlier gives me a sharp look, the command for me not to move conveyed in its eyes. I’m not inclined to at the moment anyway. I’m too shocked at what just happened, at how my body and mind were not my own. The wolf walks back to the door of the deck, poking its head through and staying still as if waiting for something.
I am standing up on shaky legs, needing to lean on one of the tables for support, when golden light flashes out of the corner of my eye, and then King Kai is striding towards me. A verynakedKing Kai. I stumble backwards at the sight.
“Where the hell did you come from?” I gasp, my hip fully leaning into the edge of the table. My eyes seem to move on their own, drawing a searing line down his broad chest and extremely toned torso. Defined muscle flexes and gleams under his golden-tan skin as he walks, but I force my gaze to move back up before I see too much. It’s much harder to do than it should be.
“And why are you naked?” I glance towards the door where the wolf was previously standing, the space now empty. “Fuck,” I whisper, as the heat from his body invades my space. Blaming my sudden breathlessness on the fact that I think I was somehow lured by a siren’s song seems like the most rational thing to do at the moment.
“Why did it look like you were about to jump off of the boat?” he growls, the wolfish cadence evident now that I know what animal he can shift into. The silence is pressurized—an overfulldam waiting to burst open and drown us both. “Answer. Me,” he seethes, taking another very exposed step towards me. His anger is so distinct and sharp that it lures my own out to defend myself.
“I don’t answer to you,Your Majesty.”
“Yes, I am a king. So I can, in fact, command you to answer me.”
My eyes narrow into spiteful daggers as I glare back at him. “I would have to respect you enough to give a shit about your title, and Idon’t.”
The truth, however, is that I’m not sure enough about what happened to give himanysort of answer anyway. One moment, I was staring at a wolf—at him—and the next, I was sitting on my butt in the dining hall, the memory of in between hazy like trying to see through murky waters. I know that something happened with a siren, but I can’t remember exactlywhat. That terrifying understanding mixes anxiousness into the already-full pot of anger and confusion I’m operating under.
The king shakes his head, a dark look molding his features into something predatory. “That foul mouth of yours is going to get you killed one day. You are not in the Mage Kingdom anymore, Princess. You’re entering a world of beasts and animals. Theywillbite back if provoked, and their teeth are much sharper than yours.”
I go to cut him down and remind him that I’m not someone who has to bend to his will, but I stop myself before the words can make it past my lips. Unfortunately, I want answers as much as he does, and that means that I at least have totryto work with him.
“I don’t know what happened,” I grit out. “I wasn’t in control of my body. Even my recollection is cloudy.”
“Siren songs don’t work on females,” he states, and I throw my hands up in exasperation. His gaze turns from indignantinterrogation to one of pure confusion as his eyes drag down my body, lingering on my chest.
I scoff and cross my arms over myself. “I’m not a fucking male, youidiot.”
He shrugs though his eyes are slow to move back to mine as the air imperceptibly thickens. “You certainly act like one.”
“Why? Because I’m not some simpering fawn falling over myself in your presence?”
“No, because you are brash and don’t think before you speak,” he snaps, and I do a shit job of hiding my surprise. The shifter king’s wide jaw clenches, but it seems he’s made his point. “Not going to deny it, then?”
My breaths are quick as I gawk at him, trying to pull words from my brain and into my mouth, but none will come.
“Everything alright here?” Tua asks as he enters the dining hall, his chest bare and a pair of trousers in his hands.
King Kai catches the pair of trousers Tua tosses at him, his eyes boring into mine as he pulls them on, challenging me to look away. Or maybe daring me not to. I might as well be swallowing rocks for as hard as my throat works.
“Everything is perfect, Tua,” I respond, turning to grab the journals and pen from the table and then heading towards the door.
Outwardly, my steps are steady and even, but inside my chest, my heart beats furiously. Three months. I havethree monthsof this hell to look forward to.
Chapter Eighteen: Bahira
With my stomach ceasingits revolt from being at sea and the shock of the siren attack pushed to the back of my mind, I had decided to spend the morning doing my daily physical and mental exercises, a practiced routine since childhood, before grabbing a plate of food and taking a seat in the dining hall.
Part of the education a mage goes through is learning how to meditate. They say it’s because of how our magic works—howmagic flows where intention goes.Being without magic, I foundmeditation to be a way of quieting my mind so that I wasn’t constantly overwhelmed by it.
For as much as I appreciate the mental aspect of meditation, my favorite expression of it has always been the physical exercises. The head training instructor, Dilan, is a hard-ass, but he has never treated me any differently for being magicless. If anything, he pushed me harder than the other children. When they would rest and work on manipulating their magic, he would have me running laps or doing extra sparring. For years, I practiced not only at the designated class times but after hours as well. Ihadto be the best: the fastest, the strongest, and the most agile.
