With my ears still ringing, I enter my room and huff out a rattled breath. My motions are automatic as I undress and make my way to the bath, hoping to wash away how his touch felt like a flame against my skin and how his scent only brought me closer to my climax.
Yet, as the night goes on and sleep eludes me, the only relief I receive is when I come twice more by my own hand. The most troubling part of it all is that when I close my eyes, my fingers pumping between my legs, all I see ishim.
The next morning, I sit in a dark blue armchair in my room, eating a breakfast pastry brought up by Lana. She had stared at me for a moment before her lips widened and she started cackling. I sent her out of the room immediately after that. How the old hag seemed to know thatsomethinghappened betweenKai and I, I don’t know. I also don’t know how to quantify exactlywhathappened last night. Or why it didn’t ease any of the ache I feel when I think of the way Kai’s eyes lingered on my slick fingers.
After eating, I dress for the day, intent on finding a room that can double as my workspace to set up my magnifier. I find a pair of blue cotton trousers and a lightweight white sleeveless tunic. My hands braid my hair loosely, and then I slip on some sandals that I brought from home.
Home.The word rattles me enough to pause as I think about my family and all that I’ll miss in the next three months. I reminisce about Daje, his birthday only a few weeks after the Autumnal Ball which is near the end of my stay here. His sapphire eyes shine brightly in my mind, the memory of him begging me not to accept Kai’s proposal.
I snort out loud at the word. Two different proposals by two men who could not be more opposite, and yet I had accepted the one from the male I didn’t know but still loathed beyond comprehension—and am most inconveniently attracted to.Daje had stripped me of the very little power I had by taking away my choice and throwing an ultimatum at me instead. Pick him and sacrifice my heart or choose myself and lose the man I’ve called my best friend for the majority of my life—neither option was ideal, and neither one seemednecessary.
Shaking my head as if I can clear the looming deadline that will alter my life, I roll my shoulders back and stand, walking to the door. I shriek at the dark brown eyes staring down at me from across the threshold when I open it.
“Why? Why are you lurking in front of my door?” I shout.
Kai’s pupils flare for a moment as if his mind has betrayed him with thoughts of last night before his face once again becomes impassive. “It’s time you start what you came here to do,” he orders.
I scowl at his tone, at how chastising he sounds, as if I haven’t been waiting forhisinstructions on what I should be doing. “Of course,Your Majesty,” I cajole sweetly, enjoying the way he bristles at the title. “Just tell me where you have need of me, and I’d be happy to get out of your hair.”
The animosity between us burns, turning any of my lingering thoughts of desire into ash. Kai breathes deeply through his nose before relaxing his jaw, the heat in his eyes cooling.
“Tua has asked around the capital for any families willing to let us speak with them, so you can see firsthand what the blight is doing. We leave in ten minutes.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before he’s already walking towards the stairs. I stare at the now empty space in front of me, exhaling an exaggerated breath before stepping back into the room to gather my journal and spelled pen. Swapping my sandals out for boots, I drop my supplies into my backpack and stride towards the stairs.
Kai leans against a wall on the first floor, his eyes snapping to mine once I’m within a few feet. Dressed casually in a tan tunic with short sleeves and black trousers tucked into dark brown boots, he’d blend in with the rest of the shifters milling about were it not for the fact that he’s a head taller than most of them. We proceed out of the palace and down the path we followed when we arrived from the docks, the noise of Molsi growing louder in the distance.
I scour the faces we pass, looking for signs of discontent. Kai’s presence draws every gaze, their eyes bouncing from him to me and back again before they reveal whether or not they despise him. As a creature who hides behind her own makeshift armor, I’m beginning to understand why Kai’s disposition is less thanpleasantmost of the time. My own people may have hurled cruel words at me as a child and then levied looks of pity my wayas an adult, but it was rare to see someone so openly loathe my existence back home. Not like with Kai and the shifters of Molsi.
I look at him from the corner of my eye as a different feeling stirs low in my stomach. Not the normal lust or animosity that so easily toggled back and forth between us but something gentler, more understanding.
“What do your tattoos mean?” I blurt, needing the distraction.
Kai swings his head in my direction, a somewhat surprised look on his face like he’s forgotten I was walking next to him. Looking back ahead, he mutters, “They mean many things.”
When he doesn’t expand on that, I rememberwhyhostility is one of the emotions I feel towards him, and we continue walking with only the shouts from merchants and clamoring of shoppers between us.
Kai follows a path that leads away from the very center of Molsi and, instead, goes to where a collection of small homes made of stone and wood are gathered. Smoke blends into the air above the huts from their chimneys, while lanky trees with wide dark green leaves stretch far above them. We halt a few feet in front of one of the homes, a large paw print and snake symbol carved into the light-colored wooden door.
“Here you will see how the magic of our kingdom has changed,” he says vaguely, folding his arms over his chest.
I nod, observing the home once more. It appears to be normal, no odd noises or sights anywhere for me to evenbeginto guess what he is talking about as Kai knocks on the door.
The wooden door creaks open, and I look down to find a young female shifter, no older than eight, staring up at us. Her light brown hair is braided haphazardly, the long plait draping over her shoulder. Kai stares at her, his hands opening and closing at his sides slowly like he can somehow yank the words he wants to say out of the air.
When another few seconds pass and she begins to shrink away, I clear my throat and squat down to her level. “Hello. My name is Bahira. What’s yours?”
“Mira,” she squeaks, her eyes—brown with stripes of golden yellow—moving from Kai to me.
“Hi, Mira. The king and I are here to visit. Are your parents home?” I ask, looking past her shoulder and into what I can see of the small living room.
She nods her head, her small hand twisting the fabric of her skirt. “My mom is always home now.”
My head tilts as I dissect her answer before a bare-chested male appears in the doorway. His tattoos run up his arms, pouring over onto the front of his body as well. Part of the pattern is covered by his unbound straight black hair, but the swirls and lines are hard to ignore, especially as I wonder if Kai’s chest is adorned with similar ink.
“Majesty,” he says by way of greeting to Kai before looking at me. “And Lady…”
“Just Bahira.”
