He motions for us to enter his home, Mira tucked into his side tightly. The living room is modest, just a few pieces of furniture adorning the space. A tiny kitchen is to our left, a dining table that seats four set in the middle. Draping from wooden shelves attached to the wall are potted plants, all of them varying in their stages of decay as if someone has forgotten to care for them over time.
“My name is Haloa,” he says, laying a hand to his chest and tilting his head forward. “You’ve already met Mira. Thank you both for coming. Come, my wife is back here.”
Kai and I follow behind Haloa and his daughter, going down a short hallway and into a bedroom.The room is narrow, only a bed and a dresser holding a glass case filled with plants making up its contents. I cast a curious glance Kai’s way at the emptyroom when he gestures with his chin to the dresser. Together we move towards it, the wood floor beneath us creaking loudly from our steps.
My fingers grip onto the edge of the dresser as I follow Kai’s gaze to what rests on top of it. Small plants and grass grow from the black soil tightly packed in the bottom of the glass box, rocks and twigs spread out in a thin layer on top. A large chunk of wood is set in the middle, and residing atop it, nearly camouflaged in its environment, is a small green and black striped snake. I suck in a sharp inhale, realizing that this isn’t just a glass case; it’s anenclosure.
The symbols on the door—a paw print and a serpent—were not sigils or random carvings but a representation of the shifters that reside here. One of which I was staring at.
“Can she no longer shift back?” I ask Kai quietly under my breath. His eyes hold mine, and he doesn’t have to speak for me to understand.Thisis the blight. “My gods.”
“She shifted nearly two weeks ago,” Haloa states from behind me, forlornness woven in his voice. “I’ve been doing the best I can with Mira, but I have to work both the day and night shifts now that my wife—” He takes a moment to compose himself, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut at howdesperatehe sounds as he tells Mira he is alright. “Can you help her?”
No.This is beyond what I was prepared for. Beyond anything Icouldhave prepared for. And the fact that the king knew this and led me in here blind anywayenragesme.
“Excuse me,” I say sharply, tearing my gaze away from Kai’s as I leave the bedroom.
I open the front door too roughly, having to then catch it before it slams into the wall. My teeth grind together, and I feel the pressure of hot tears sting the backs of my eyes.Failure.The word burns as it lands in my thoughts, Daje’s voice pushing it deeper into me.
“Bahira,” Kai grumbles from behind, his heavy footsteps catching up to me quickly. He grips my arm and pulls me to the back of one of the nearby homes, keeping us out of sight. “What is wrong with you?”
“You led me in therecompletelyunprepared.”
Kai drops his hold on me to throw his arms out to the side. “What did you think you were going to see, Bahira? What were you expecting to find? We areshifters,and something is wrong with our magic.”
“I didn’t think—” I bite down on my tongue as I run a hand through my hair.I didn’t think it would be this.Naively, I had assumed that it would be a problem similar to the one back home.
Kai’s eyes flash golden, his expression sharpening the longer he watches me. “Are you saying that you don’t think you can help?” he questions, his hands bracing on his hips.
I know what’s at stake—for both kingdoms—if I fail. Though Nox had said that Rhea was responsible for the magic we felt, they both ran from the king of the Mortal Kingdom, and I have no idea if he knows they ran to the Mage Kingdom or if he will retaliate in any way. Part of me suspects that if he had a magical niece under his nose all this time, then there is a chance he might have other magic hidden within his kingdom. We still need the protection that King Kai is offering, and the only way to keep it is to ensure that I stay on this island for as long as possible.
“I will do it—cando it,” I say, standing up taller. “But I’m going to need you to start giving me more information. I will need your help,Kai, and a space in the palace that I can work in. Somewhere I can set up all of my equipment and have access to any books or research I deem necessary.”
Kai’s hardened expression eases a little as he contemplates my request. The sun shines directly onto him, the exposed skinat his neck and collarbone gleaming in its light as we stare at each other. “You will have it,” he finally says.
A rush of surprise catches me off guard, but I give him a nod and swing my backpack around, opening it as I search for my journal and a spelled pen. Once the pack is back on, I gesture with my hand, and Kai leads us back into the house.
Chapter Thirty: Bahira
Kai and I visitedfive families affected by the blight yesterday. Our walk back to the palace had been quiet while I read over the notes I had taken from each household. The king had walked beside me, his presence imposing but beginning to feel normal. Loathe as I was to admit it, I had paid attention to how he interacted with the shifters we visited. He wasn’t overly kind or amiable, but he was very respectful and attentive. Even when one older female droned on and on about how she thinks his bloodline is tainted and that these problems started with hisgrandfather, Kai kept eye contact with her and simply listened, absorbing her barbed words like he thought he deserved to hear them.
I didn’t want to find a single thing about the king to like that was beyond the physical, because at least my own carnal desire for him could be explained away by the part of my brain that was guided more by instinct than rationale. The part that saw a male who nearly exceeded seven feet tall and was hewn from a mountain and then carved by the gods into something that seemed exclusively made to torture me… I could deal with the repercussions of that. Yet to find myself growing a seedling of respect for him? A modicum of admiration? No, that only spelled disaster.
Kai kept his word, coming to my room this morning and taking me to what he called a “waste of space” but then amended to clarify that it was an abandoned workroom his father once used for his own experiments. When I asked what kind, he said he didn’t know.
The door Kai stops in front of is unremarkable, its wood dark in color while its handle is a worn brass. He pulls out a matching brass key, unlocking the door before handing it to me. I tuck it into the pocket of my black trousers and follow Kai into the dusty space.
The room itself is simple, unadorned and basic in its presentation. The walls are made of vertical slats of wood, each beam a slightly different shade as if the leftovers from other projects were used to construct it. Two large windows are cut into the farthest wall and look out to the jungle. The furniture in the room is simple: one large wooden table in the center with a smaller desk off in the corner. A standing rectangular mirror with an intricately detailed golden frame is pushed to the side, a canvas sheet haphazardly covering part of it.Is this where he keeps his kingdom’s Mirror?
One side of the room contains shelves built into the wall. Most of them are bare except for a few books randomly stacked together in the center, their colorful leather spines covered in a layer of dust. The other side of the room has a counter with cabinets and drawers stacked underneath and a small basin sink tucked into the corner.
“I take it no one has been in this room for a while?” I ask, turning around to find Kai studying something on the desk in the corner. He picks it up, thumbing through the pages of what must be a journal or book before laying it back down on the desk.
“No. Have you explored much outside yet?” he asks, changing the subject.
I turn from him and set my pack on the table in the center of the room, the sunlight gleaming through the windows showcasing the different scars and indents left on it from past usage. I wonder again what Kai’s father experimented on.
“Not yet. Though Kane did have alovelynote sent to me this morning offering to show me around the city. I’m thinking—”
