Chapter Sixty Kai
I stumble backwards, and another hit pummels my face, making my ears ring. The crowd becomes a buzzing sound, but I blink away the sting of sweat—or is it blood?—dripping into my eyes just in time to see the next swing of Manu’s fist.
I duck, finding my bearings and sending a punch directly into his side.
Just below his ribs. He bellows out in pain, eyes fully golden now as he growls.
I don’t hesitate, still fired up from Kane’s words.
Picturing his hands on my Bahira. Bringing her pleasure that was only mine to give, even if she wants nothing to do with me now.
I kick at his chest, but it doesn’t send him flying back nearly far enough.
Worthless, he had said. Just like I called her.
She had given me all of herself. I had seen her unguarded and bare. Her armor laid down only for me to raise my own and send a spear of bitterness through her.
I charge after Manu, only a breath away from shifting.
My magic tugs within me, sending a shiver of energy down my spine.
Manu smirks, raising his guard and blocking the barrage of punches I send.
He attempts to speak—or maybe he actually does—but I can’t hear it above the voice that screams at me to fix everything that I’ve fucked up.
My kingdom and my relationships. Myself and her.
I want to be worthy of everything I have, even knowing that none of it should have been mine to begin with.
Manu’s leg sweeps mine, striking right at the knee and dropping me onto it.
But before he can capitalize on it, I spin and balance on one arm as I send a kick to his jaw.
That brings him down, blood already blooming where the skin is thinnest against bone.
Pushing him onto his back, I bracket his hips with my knees and punch at his head.
Over and over again, until the pain in my knuckles turns numb and the features of his face morph into a mash of blood and bone.
It takes me longer than it should to realize he isn’t fighting back.
Too long to notice that the crowd has simmered down its raucous cheering to simple murmurs.
By the time my magic fades and there is only me at the forefront, Manu is dead.
I push myself up, using my forearm to wipe the blood off my face before turning to where Kane is still out.
Squatting, I hoist him up and over my shoulder in the near silence of the fighting pit, wishing with every part of myself that I could disappear.
A rope ladder is thrown down, and I take its aid, climbing to the top.
The shifters ahead of me part, their wide eyes scanning over my body as I pass, but it’s the condemnation I see in their eyes that makes mine lower.
The beat of my heart sets a punishing rhythm as I begin the journey back to the palace, the taunting disappointment of my people chasing my shadow the entire way. Kane stirs as I walk up the long driveway to the front entrance, and only when he complains about being carried do I set him down.
“Did you win?” he asks through swollen lips.
I don’t bother giving him a response, but based on the rules of the pits, he makes his own conclusion.
“Good.”
Anger still simmers beneath my skin at what he said, but the walk here has calmed me enough to not act on it.
Together, we enter the palace, though I slow my pace to keep at Kane’s side.
Assuming he’ll head towards the healer’s office, I question him when he goes in the opposite direction. “Where are you going?”
“None of your business.”
“Kane!” He stops his retreat, taking his time to turn around. I take in the state of his face, how he favors one side and cradles his arm in the other. “Why were you there tonight?”
His gaze drops to my feet, shame briefly tugging his shoulders down as he frowns. Silence stretches taut between us. “Are you asking as my cousin or as my king?”
I blink, pressing my lips together before releasing them. “Whichever one will give me the truth.”
He cackles and draws a hand through his gnarled hair. “Do you ever hear their disappointed voices?” he asks, moving his stare towards a far window overlooking the jungle.
“Whose?”
“Our fathers. I hear them sometimes, even when I know I’m alone and it’s merely a trick of my mind.
But it doesn’t soften the blow of their words or the cadence of their discontent.
It doesn’t matter that the voices filtering in are sometimes theirs and sometimes my own played through their mouths.
” He goes quiet for a few moments before clearing his throat and looking to me.
“My father was leading an entire movement to kill you and take your throne, and I had no fucking idea. I hope you believe me when I say that.”
“I do. You’d be dead already if I didn’t.” Bahira had told me what Tua said to Kane, and the story of how he had tried to get Kane to kill me when I was a child. He may be a pain more often than not, but I believe her story. I believe him.
“All this time, I thought my arrogance would bring me to people who accepted me. Regardless of the fact that the throne you sit on was promised to me. Regardless of the fact that my father couldn’t look me in the eye without relaying the magnitude of his hatred towards me.
In the end, all I did was blind myself—blind you through my own anger and jealousy—to what was really going on.
People died. You almost died. She almost died.
” Kane drags a breath in and holds it before slowly letting it out.
“If you’re asking as my king why your advisor was there, then I don’t have a good enough reason for you not to remove me from my position immediately.
And I do not blame you for doing so if that’s what you choose. ”
“And if I’m asking as your cousin?”
His glassy eyes hold mine. “I’d tell you, it’s the only way to make their voices stop.”
“Your Majesty!” Footsteps pound on the stone behind me, and I glance away from my cousin to look over my shoulder, finding Inessa running towards me with wide eyes.
“Yes?”
“It’s the Mirror. You’ve been summoned through the Mirror.” Bahira. Hope bursts in my chest, and when I turn to tell Kane we’ll continue this later, I find that he’s already retreating down the hall.
“Your face,” Inessa whispers at my side. Her fingers lay over my arm gently. “Are you alright?”
“Fine,” I murmur, releasing a breath.
She nods before retreating a few steps. “We should hurry, Your Majesty. They’ve been trying to call you for a little while now.”
“You can just call me Kai,” I tell her as I follow her around a corner and into the main foyer on our way to the throne room.
She slows her pace to drop back to my side, her chin drawing down to her chest. “Thank you, Kai.”
I offer her a tight smile as we approach the double doors, a wolf and oryx carved into them.
The symbols of two kingdoms—one run by my father and one attempted to be run by Tua.
I ignore how my stomach sours and push one open on silent hinges, the throne room quiet except for the shuffling of steps from Lady Miranda and some guards.
“Your Majesty—”
“I’d like to do this alone,” I bite out, striding down the center of the room, shadows dancing from the lit torches all around us.
Lady Miranda crosses her arms over her chest as she studies me, Inessa moving to stand at her side.
It’s not that I don’t trust her or anyone else to be here.
It’s that I don’t know what I will do when I see Bahira’s face for the first time, and I’d rather not have an audience as the mage princess brings a king to his knees.
She nods once and heads towards the door, her daughter joining her as the guards follow behind.
“I’ll grab some ice for your face!” Inessa shouts, and then the doors shut behind her.
The Mirror’s solid surface ripples when I step closer.
Each magical wisp in the glass pulls towards the edges, and as the image they are hiding grows clearer, my heart plummets into my stomach.
In front of me is not Bahira, nor is it anyone from the Mage Kingdom.
Standing with his hands in his pockets and a troubling smirk on his face is King Dolian, ruler of the Mortal Kingdom.
“King Kai, it is wonderful to finally have a face to put to the name,” he says, tilting his head.
“Though it looks like you’ve had a rough day.
” The light of whatever room he is in glints off the gold embroidery on his vest and the matching embroidery of the dress the woman standing next to him wears.
Her head is bowed while her hands are clasped in front of her, but it’s the stiffness in her posture that makes my eyes narrow, unbidden fists forming.
When I don’t respond, he adds, “I was talking with my council today, and we realized that we cannot pin down your exact coronation date. When was it you became king?”
I lift a brow. “Likely after you did.” The answer makes his smirk falter for a brief moment, while the woman to his left leans her body slightly away from his. He takes one hand out of his pocket and wraps it around her hip, tugging her into him and pinning her there.
“Where are my manners? King of the shifters, may I introduce you to my fiancée, Lady Nele.”
The woman’s shoulders rise towards her ears, but she keeps her gaze down until the king leans over and whispers something in her ear, and a line forms between my brows at this overall odd fucking exchange.
Her chest rises and falls slowly before she finally lifts her head and meets my eyes.
Hers are a shade of green I’ve never seen before, one that reminds me of the rarest flowers that grow on the island, their roots planted at the edge of a volcano.
I dip my chin at her, taking my time to study her and the way familiarity strikes me even though I’m sure I’ve never seen her before.
Much like those rare flowers, her beauty is a delicate one.
Those green eyes glow against fair skin, honey golden hair framing her face where it falls over her shoulders.
But there’s a certain hollowness about her beyond the way darkness stains the skin beneath her eyes and her cheeks hug the bone beneath them.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Nele.”
She forces a smile before the king’s fingers flex against her hip and it twists into a wince.
“What can I do for you, King Dolian?”
“What can you tell me about Princess Bahira of the Mage Kingdom?”
I mask any emotion his question evokes, even as Lady Nele sharpens her gaze on me as if she’s intrigued by my answer.
“I likely only know what every other kingdom does.” Knowing that mages can pass through the Spell may be a secret that my father somehow came by, but it certainly isn’t one I am willing to share with anyone else.
Not when it could harm the people of the Mage Kingdom. Not when it could harm her.
King Dolian chuckles. “Come now, Your Majesty. Let us not start off with any lies between us.”
I offer him nothing but a blank stare.
He sighs, shaking his head as if he’s disciplining a difficult child.
“I know, as you do, that mages can cross through the Spell without loss of life. I know that Princess Bahira spent months in your kingdom and is currently being investigated for treason after a letter from you was intercepted by the king’s council. ”
The hair on the back of my neck rises as my magic floods my veins. Treason? Is that why they haven’t been answering my call? Because they believe that she’d somehow endangered her kingdom by being here?
“I see I’ve rendered you speechless, but it doesn’t matter. Your silence is answer enough. The reason I’m truly calling is that I need to know, one ruler to another, if you are planning on allying with the mages to attack us.”
“No.”
“Not very reassuring, is he?” he retorts, leaning over to kiss Lady Nele’s temple. She doesn’t react, instead keeping her gaze fixed on mine. “Perhaps information shared, then. Why did you enlist in the help of the princess?”
“Why do you need to know what I seek in my spare time? Or who I seek to spend that time with?” I inflect enough innuendo in the last statement to bring a slight blush to Lady Nele’s cheeks and a scoff from the king’s mouth. Good. I’d rather him be disgusted than continue to dig too deeply.
“You expect me to believe that there aren’t enough of your own kind to fuck, so you’ve taken to pillaging women from other kingdoms?”
I snort as anger curls over my spine. As if Bahira would let anyone touch her without her consent. “Better to sink into someone willing than to force someone who isn’t, don’t you agree?”
Lady Nele’s stare widens, her lips pressing into a thin line.
“I see this was a waste of time, then, Your Majesty.” His sigh is dramatic, but the anger that colors his cheeks gives him away. “I suppose, I hope that our paths never cross.”
“I don’t know, King Dolian,” I start, leaning in closer as I grip on to a little more power until my eyes are glowing gold. “I have a feeling things between us have only just begun.”
His smile is anything but friendly as he tugs the woman out of view and the Mirror grows misty again.
My hands brace my hips as I sort through the information I’ve learned.
Jahlee’s letter had been intercepted, and whatever she wrote in it is now causing problems for Bahira.
It’s clear King Dolian has someone inside the Mage Kingdom, someone close enough to the Crown.
And I have no doubts that Lady Nele is actually Rhea.
Siyala had given me a description of the woman King Dolian imprisoned in a tower.
In one short conversation, two worst-case scenarios are now confirmed: Rhea is back with the mortal king and Bahira is worse off because of her time here.
The urge to leave the island hits me hard, as it has every day that has passed, but leaving my kingdom now feels impossible.
And telling Jahlee and Siyala what I’ve learned? They would be devastated.
I spend a lot of time replaying the events of the day in my mind as I lug myself up to my room to bathe.
I never wanted to be king, but I thought that perhaps, with enough determination, I might be able to make it work.
To dull everything that made me sharp and dangerous into something more refined.
Something deserving of the power that flows in my blood.
But if today’s events are any indication, I can’t reform myself any more than I can control the tides.
I am Kai Vaea, king of the shifters and a damn fool.