“I’m home for good.” It’s silent again, and I don’t know why, but that causes me to grit my teeth while an ache forms in my chest. Turning around to face the door, I see that Cassius is already gone, and when my gaze then finds Flynn’s, it’s a struggle not to crash my body into his. The way his eyes plead with me to… To what, I don’t know this time. Listen to him? Believe him?Trust him?
He must see the indecision in me because his eyes close for a moment as he tilts his head down. One of his hands runs through his hair, pushing the strands back and holding them there. I study his face closely, the way his mouth is bracketed with tension and how his brows are drawn down and in. He looks tired, dark circles visible under his eyes. Even with all of those things, he is still the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. Which only unravels me further. Here, in the painful quiet, Flynn blows out a deep breath and forces his eyes to meet mine.
“I want to tell you why I was really in the Mortal Kingdom.”
Chapter Two: Bahira
“Bahira,” Daje rumbles again,his fingers stretching towards me on the other side of the iridescent wall of the Spell. Between his wide eyes boring into me and the shifter king’s domineering energy behind me, I’m pinned into place.Three months.Three months to try to fix another kingdom’s magic problems—to hope it helps more than hinders the solving of ours as well.
“Deal,” I say firmly, keeping my gaze on the man that’s held such an important part of my past but speaking my answer to thelooming male who represents my now-immediate future. “Three months.” Daje sucks in a breath, his head jerking back as his hand falls to his side.
A rumbling, dark laughter makes my hair stand on edge. “This will be an interesting three months,Princess,”King Kai says, his deep voice laced with amusement.
Though the blue sky above is free of clouds, I swear a shadow passes over me as I turn to face the exasperating ruler of the island kingdom. “Can’t wait,” I say through a fake smile. “Being that you can’t pass through the Spell, I assume you will want to leave soon?”
Only one side of King Kai’s mouth lifts as he half smiles, half snarls at me. “How perceptive you are. I can see now why—”
“Say another word, Your Majesty, and I will kick your balls so far inside you, Tua here won’t be able to find them.”
Tua lets out a sigh while the shifter king leans forward, all pretense of an attempted grin gone from his expression. “That would be considered an act harsh enough for me to declare war,” he grits out, his advisor shifting closer until his shoulder bumps the king’s.
I smile—my own flashing of teeth—as I take a step towards him until our bodies are a mere hand’s width apart. “And yet you’ve just given a blood oath to protect our people. Your threats are as pathetic as you are.”
The shifter king growls low in his throat, and I laugh. A flicker of surprise passes through his earthy brown eyes, but then it’s gone and is replaced by animosity.
Good, the feeling is fucking mutual.
“Return here with whatever you need for your stay in my kingdom within the hour, or you’ll swim to the ship.” He turns around, and I’m about to retort with something entirely unladylike, when my father steps up to me and gently guides me away.
“Let it go, Bahi. Something tells me that the shifter king has never met a woman who could rival him in insults,” he says with a small chuckle as we step through the Spell. That silky bubble feeling washes over me for half a second, and then we’re back on the other side.
Daje is waiting for me, and based on his bitter expression, I know he wants to have a conversation right this very second about what just happened, but there is someone else who draws my gaze away. My parents and I trudge across the warm sandy beach to greet Nox, our first time seeing him in person in a year.
All I can see is his side profile as he speaks to the blonde woman I saw him with earlier, though their conversation looks mostly one-sided. When we’re only a few feet away, Nox meets my eyes with a pained—near panicked—expression before turning back to talk with the woman. She gives him a nod, facing us as we reach them.
“Son,” my father rasps, bringing Nox in for a hug. The tension melts from their shoulders as the crown prince and his king reunite. My mother patiently waits her turn, stepping into my brother’s embrace the moment my father has vacated it. Where the two men hugged with the intensity of too much time spent apart, the hug with our mother is softer. Like caressing a delicate rose, Nox rubs her back in soothing strokes as she cries tears of joy at having her only son back home.
My attention is drawn back to the woman beside Nox. Though she looks a little travel worn, it’s impossible to ignore how classically beautiful she is. Each of her features looks as though they were hand-picked and placed with the utmost care.
Nox angles himself in front of her, and though sadness pulls on the edges of his eyes, his smile is bright as he says my name and starts to reach out to hug me. Instead, my fist connects with the side of his jaw. The sound of the impact causes a reverberation of gasps amongst the crowd still gathered at thebeach. My parents’ heads snap towards me, their gazes ranging from utter shock to confused amusement. Nox’s head jerks to the side where he stays for a moment, his lips pinching together before he turns back around to glare at me.
“What,” he growls, “was that for?”
My arms fold over my chest, the corner of my mouth lifting with delight. “Thatis for writing such vague letters, you idiot.”
Nox lets out a strangled laugh before pulling me in for a hug that I don’t fight. “I missed you, nerd,” he says into my hair.
“I missed you too.” His arms tighten around me to the point of near suffocation before he lets go, stepping back. “Who is she?” I ask, gesturing with my chin to the woman behind him now standing with Cassius.
His entire body tenses, fists clenching, as his eyes dart to the council members standing off to the side before coming back to mine. “Not here,” he says quietly, turning towards our father. “Did you get my last letter?” There’s an odd insistence in his voice, his body poised as if he’s preparing for an attack.
My father nods in response to Nox’s question. “Bahira was chosen by the magic of the Continent to leave for the Shifter Kingdom,” he says, his gray eyes finding my own. “We only have an hour before she is to sail with him.”
“Why are you going there to begin with?” Nox questions.
“I’m going to help them with a magic problem,” I reply. They can hash out the details of the deal my father made with the shifter king later, once I’m gone. “I need to go pack my things and stop at my workshop. Shall we go home?”
Nox nods before giving our parents one last glance and then turning to face the woman. They speak quietly before walking towards the carriages, and I move to follow them when Daje calls my name.
