“Can I make you some tea?” Magda asks, already rushing to a cupboard above the counter.
“Yes, please.”
She gathers our mugs and fills a kettle with water. “Rangi, my husband, is normally the one who makes the tea, so I apologize if my brew is weak.” Her voice quavers as she speaks, her sadness over her husband undeniable.
“What can you tell me about the day he shifted?” I pull my journal closer to me and open it up to a blank page, my pen hovering over it.
“It was a normal day. We’ve been wary about shifting, as we have seen the blight spreading to more and more homes. But, as you know, we cannot control the call of it.”
I nod my head at her back. I may not be a shifter, but I can at least understand in theory what it is to be unable to deny yourself something that feels so intrinsic. It is how I feel when it comes to finding my magic.
“Anyway, he shifted and was gone for a few hours after I put our offspring to bed. I knew something was wrong when he came in through this window still in his animal form. Normally, he shifts outside the front door and walks in.”
She continues as I take notes, writing down questions I have to ask Kai about later on. Like if shifters of different species can communicate with each other in their animal forms.
“The longer he stays as he is, the more, well,animalhe seems to become. I’m afraid that by the time we end this blight andfigure out a way for him to return back to normal, it will be too late. He won’t be able to be saved.”
The kettle whistles, the noise hiding some of the woman’s quiet weeping. I study my notes, my resolve to fix the blight deepening the longer Magda speaks. When she sits down across from me and goes on to talk about her struggles operating as essentially a single parent, I ask her if anyone in the village helps her.
“They do as much as they can,” she answers, taking a small sip of tea. “But it would be easier if the Crown hadn’t denied my plea for aid.”
My brows pinch together as I stop writing and lift my gaze to hers. “What do you mean?”
Her eyes nervously dart behind me, where I know she is watching Kai hold Sione.
I drop my voice low and lean in closer. “You needn’t worry about him. I merely ask for my own understanding.”
Magda blows out a steady breath. “A few weeks after Rangi became stuck, I wrote a letter to the palace asking for help. With my offspring still so young, I cannot work enough to cover all of our expenses. But last week, I received a letter back claiming that they could do nothing.” She sighs as she takes another sip of tea and winces. “This really is weak.”
I grip the pen more harshly before grinning at her and closing my journal. “Thank you for your time. I promise—” Surprise at my own words temporarily halts any more from coming. I can’tpromiseanything. At least, I certainlyshouldn’t. “I will do everything I can to try to solve this as soon as possible.”
For the first time since I entered her home, Magda’s eyes gleam a little brighter, something like hope seeping into them. We join Kai back out in the living room, the king now surrounded by a gaggle of small shifters climbing all over him like the mountain of a male he is. Despite everything I justlearned, I have to swallow down a laugh when his eyes meet mine in desperation.
The next four homes we visit go much like Magda’s did, though no one else mentions being denied aid from the Crown.
It’s nearly sunset by the time we begin our journey back to the palace. The clouds are fully gray above us, the scent of rain and the feeling of an impending storm thick in the air. I pull my hair up into a ponytail, the curly ends tickling my shoulders as we walk. My thoughts run rampant, mostly on why Kai would deny help for his people. The farther we walk in the jungle, the more my irritation with Kai over this revelation grows.
I thought he genuinely cared about his people, butthis? It is not what a good king does. They are the actions of one that is malevolent. I could take dealing with an asshole brute who just didn’t know how to communicate. I was not, however, willing to work for one that only wanted to heal his people to make them suffer in other ways.
When my anger crests within me, I step abruptly in front of Kai on the trail and stop his advancing step with a hand to his chest. “Why are you denying aid to families of those stuck in their shifter forms?” I ask, working—and failing—to keep the ire out of my voice.
“What?”
“You heard what I asked,” I seethe, pushing harder against his chest.
“I did, and I’m still fucking confused. What are you talking about?” His hands flex at his sides, but he doesn’t try to remove my own.
“Magda told me that she wrote to the palace asking for help and her plea was denied. So, I ask again,Your Majesty, why?” I expect him to bark back a response, to try to justify himself or perhaps even blame others for what is happening. But there isno denying the genuinely confused look on Kai’s face as his dark brows draw together.
“I have never heard of this happening.”
My hand leaves his chest as I step back, rolling thunder sounding above us as rain begins to sprinkle. “Who is in charge of bringing those things to your attention?”
His eyes narrow as he folds his arms over his chest. “Tua handles most everything of this nature at my request. But I don’t see why he would deny something like that.”
I huff out a sarcastic laugh and mirror his stance. “You can’t justgivehim the responsibilities you don’t want.”
Kai tilts his head to the side, the air fraught with tension that I’m not sure can be blamed on the storm. “Why not? He’s a better fit to handle those things than I am. I’d say it makes me a conscientious ruler to acknowledge that.”
