Chapter Eleven
~Leo~
For several long moments after Kalo finished speaking, I couldn’t form any words.
My inability to respond didn’t stem only from the story itself, though that would have been enough to leave anyone speechless.
The forbidden love, the desperation, the naive hope and the catastrophic unravelling had been riveting, but it was the quiet ache behind every sentence that truly undid me.
The way his voice softened over the name of the man he’d once loved, and the slight tremor when he reached the part where everything went wrong.
It might have been a long time ago, but it obviously still affected him, and because of that, it affected me too.
When I asked why he became a genie, I expected… well, I didn’t know what exactly. Vengeance? A misguided attempt at escape, or adventure?
Not this.
When I finally found my voice, it felt fragile in my throat. “Thank you for trusting me with that.”
Kalo made a small huff of sound, almost like a laugh but thinner and brittle around the edges. “It’s hardly a secret anymore. Akkara is long dead. No one is left to be shamed by my foolishness except me.”
Akkara.
I let the name settle in my mind, giving shape to the shadow of a man who had carved such deep scars into Kalo.
“Do you know what became of him?”
Kalo nodded, his gaze drifting towards the floor. “He married the princess, as he wished. For a short time, he prospered, but another noble family resented his rapid rise and coveted his position. They attacked, killed the princess, seized his land, and enslaved him.”
His tone was eerily even, as though he’d retold the story so many times in his own mind that no amount of retelling could hurt worse than the original wound.
“The genie’s magic fulfilled his wishes, but not the way we intended. That was the first time I truly understood the curse behind every genie’s gift. Wishes always come with unintended consequences.”
A frown tugged on my lips. “Always? Like what?”
His expression grew distant again, as if he were peering through the centuries.
“A farmer once wished for his crops to grow faster. They grew so fast that they drained the soil of nutrients, causing famine in his entire region. A wealthy merchant wished for his ships to be the fastest on the sea; the winds obliged but became uncontrollable storms that destroyed every vessel. A lonely young woman wished for a husband who would never leave her. He died days later, leaving her permanently bound to the spirit of his ghost.”
“Every wish backfired?” I clarified.
“In a way. Usually, they were answered too literally. Magic came at a cost, and mortals rarely consider the full extent of what they ask for. That’s why Amanda had to wish for all her wishes to be undone in order to be safe; otherwise, something would have come back to haunt her.”
As I mulled that over, something slipped into place in my mind. “Do you think that what Akkara did to you, the choices he made, might have been an unintended consequence?”
Kalo’s eyes met mine fully for the first time in several minutes. “Of my wish, you mean?”
“Yes.” I leaned forward to hold his gaze, elbows braced on my knees. “You wished to be a genie so you could grant his wishes. Is it possible the magic twisted something in him? That he didn’t abandon you by choice, but because the curse forced him to?”
Kalo looked at me for a long time, his amber eyes reflecting something I couldn’t decipher, before he slowly shook his head.
“No, I don’t think so. I think he simply loved power more than he loved me.” His lips curved, not in bitterness but in tired acceptance, which felt far worse. “But it’s kind of you to try and make me feel better.”
“Kind?” I echoed the word with a startled laugh. Nobody ever described me that way.
Kalo didn’t back down from it, though. “You are,” he said with a shrug. “You try to be, anyway. I can tell.”
“No, I’m not,” I insisted. “I’ve always been too practical to be kind. I do what makes sense, not what feels good.”
Kalo’s head tilted, as though that might help him puzzle through my logic. “Why can’t both be true? You can have a practical mind and still have a good heart.”
Again, his words didn’t fully match up with the image I had of myself, the one formed through years of interactions with my friends and colleagues.
Each of us had a role to play in the pack.
Vaughan was the serious, protective one.
Felix set people at ease. Darius saw the big picture, and I handled the details.
Kindness never figured into it.
Before I could figure out how I felt about him assigning that quality to me, a different question slipped out:
“Do you think you have a good heart?”
Kalo stilled almost the same way I had, as if he hadn’t ever applied the description to himself either. When he answered, his voice was quieter than before. “Maybe I did once, but I’ve hurt too many people over the years to claim that now.”
“That wasn’t you,” I argued. “It was the magical rules that bound you and the curse itself.”
The afternoon light filtered through the glass across his face as he turned towards the window. “Is there truly a difference?”
“Yes,” I replied without hesitation. “There’s a big difference.”
I wanted to say more to reassure him, needed to, but a sudden pull in my mind snapped me out of the moment. Darius’ voice, clipped with urgency, came through the pack’s mental link.
You coming, Leo? We’re all in Vaughan’s office waiting for you.
Shit. I’d lost track of time, apparently, which wasn’t at all like me.
Reluctantly, I straightened. “I have to go.”
Kalo nodded, but something in the set of his shoulders told me the heaviness of our conversation still weighed on him. As I pushed to my feet, Silo paced restlessly beneath my skin.
Don’t leave him like this.
I didn’t want to, but I still had duties to the pack. I couldn’t just abandon that.
Unless…
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I turned back to Kalo. “Would you like to come with me?”
He blinked over at me in surprise. “Where?”
“To a meeting with the Alpha. We’re discussing the alarm from last night, the scent from the forest, and what you saw out in the trees.”
I hadn’t even had a chance to ask him about that, we’d been so focused on the discussion of his past, but I didn’t regret it. Already, I treasured every word he’d shared with me.
“You might have to answer some more questions, but I…”
I swallowed before forcing the unfamiliar sentiment through my lips.
“I’d rather be with you.”
Kalo studied me for a long heartbeat. “This bond is really strong for you, isn’t it?”
It was, but it wasn’t only the bond this time. After what he’d just confided in me, I simply didn’t want him to be alone.
Rather than answering directly, I simply nodded towards the door. “Please come.”
He hesitated only a moment before standing, and as he joined me at the threshold, the heavy ache inside my chest eased just enough that I could breathe fully again.