Chapter Fifty-Five Bahira #2
His sigh is weighted. “No, it isn’t. She would undoubtedly ask me to work to ensure our father remains king. She wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt, certainly not in her name.” His lips quirk upwards. “Her reaction would be very queenly, even if she doesn’t believe herself to be one.”
I snort. “I suppose she’ll be happy you don’t want the throne, then.”
“She’ll be queen either way.”
“Hard for her to be queen if the heir to the throne doesn’t want to be king,” I counter, a brow arched.
He has the audacity to aim the expression back at me. “Not if the throne is actually hers.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, sitting upright.
“The only way she could have any claim to it is if she marries you.” I shake my head, a laugh tumbling up my throat.
“Not unless you’re insinuating she is the next Void queen or some—” I snap my mouth closed at the expression on his face, my eyes growing wide.
“No. No. She wasn’t even born here, Nox.
It’s impossible for her to carry Void Magic. ”
“It isn’t,” he says, leaning forward so he can keep his voice low. “We did her Flame Ceremony before the ball.”
“What? Do our parents know?”
“No.”
“Fucking gods, Nox!” I whisper-shout, standing from the chair to begin pacing the room. “Why haven’t you said anything sooner?”
“It isn’t my information to share,” he answers, his gaze shooting to the door. “Rhea wanted time for us to talk about what that blue flame meant. But I can’t trust that I won’t get myself killed trying to bring her back, and she’ll need as many allies as we can give her to claim the throne.”
My pacing halts. “You aren’t going to get yourself killed,” I tell him. Command it of him.
But he shakes his head as he stands, rounding the table and placing a hand on my shoulder. “I need you to promise me something.”
“As soon as you agree, you won’t get yourself killed.”
He smiles, but it’s clearly an attempt to pacify me. It has the opposite effect. “Promise me that, no matter what happens to me, you will stand by Rhea as your queen.”
My eyes bounce back and forth between his as too many rebuttals fire off in my head. “Nox—”
“Please, Bahira. I have never asked you for anything, but I’m calling in all the favorite brother points I’ve accumulated.”
“You’re my only brother,” I whisper, something desperate clawing at my chest. When his eyes stay pleading, I groan and give in. “I promise.”
Relief visibly relaxes him, his hand squeezing my shoulder before he releases it. “Thank you. I know this is likely the worst and most ironic time to ask this question, but how are you?”
A short laugh bursts from me, and even though uncertainty and anger still hum beneath my skin, I shake them off in favor of simply having a conversation with my brother.
“Fine enough. I didn’t expect coming home from the Shifter Kingdom would mean entering chaos, but I suppose I’ve never been one to thrive in monotony. ”
“And your time on the shifter island,” he says, tilting his head. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I—” I knit my brows as the memories of a deep voice and golden-brown eyes play in my head, the reminder that I had found so much more than I went looking for leaving me feeling hollow.
“I did, and I didn’t,” I answer, making Nox grin.
The urge to tell him overwhelms me. Perhaps it’s because I know I can trust him, or simply that, in the havoc since I’ve been home, this is the first time I’ve felt safe enough to let my guard down.
Either way, when I begin to recount my time there, Nox listens intently, and although I keep the same intimate details to myself like I did with the council, I tell him everything else.
The rebels and Kai and our goodbye. At some point, I find tears tracing down my cheeks and wipe them away with quick hands, embarrassed that I’m feeling so deeply.
Embarrassed that there is so much to feel regarding Kai and the island he rules.
“Gods, Bahira,” he finally says after taking it all in, cradling his head in his hand. “I feel like a shit brother now.”
I chuckle, but it’s short-lived when a guard knocks on the door. “Your Highnesses, Councilman Kallin has requested Prince Nox’s presence in his office,” he says through the wood. Nox drags a hand down his face and moves to step towards the door, only to falter as he sways.
“Are you alright?” I ask, rushing to help steady him.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just a little off after…
everything.” Right. We hadn’t even talked yet about what happened while he was gone and how he was caught—or his magic, though it sounds like that still isn’t back to normal.
And, gods, I still haven’t told him about Siyala, and her connection to Rhea.
I don’t know when the right time might be to share those details, but now certainly doesn’t feel like it.
We walk together to the door, my hand gripping his wrist as I stop him before he reaches for the handle. “Be careful, Nox. I really do not want to be an only child.”
He manages to laugh before sending me a wink. “At least you’ll always have Cass.”