Chapter Nine
Every day over the next two weeks, Weiyu left a feather on Zahra’s windowsill. Usually before his early morning flight so his offerings were one of the first things she’d discover upon waking.
So desperately, he wanted to pull her into his arms and take her as his mate. But she continued to hold herself at arm’s reach despite wearing a piece of his Aquatic Core and a blue feather braided into her hair.
Yes, it had only been a couple weeks since her rescue, but she was not at all responding the way he thought a woman being courted ought to.
He blew out a long breath of frustration, wondering what he was doing wrong. In the blue phoenix clan, they wooed each other over with gifts. Thus far, he hadn’t received any reciprocation on her end.
“Am I going about it the wrong way?” Weiyu asked Yinyu after making their rounds that morning. They’d spotted red phoenixes circling over the river near their territory. No one had attacked. Yet. It almost seemed as if they were waiting for something.
“Red phoenixes claim their mate through either battle or peacocking with their tail feathers out.”
He snorted at the unexpected visual. “If I perform a mating dance, then she’d get the hint?”
Not even a single twitch of his mouth at his jest. Yinyu seemed completely emotionless at the best of times.
“Maybe,” Yinyu hummed.
“I suppose it was wishful thinking that I’d win her over as quickly as she won me over.” His mouth quirked to the side in thought. “I’m a catch, right?”
“Well, you finally look older than her now.”
Weiyu smacked his friend in the shoulder. Hard. Yes, he looked like he’d put on another year or two in the weeks since they’d absconded with Zahra, but his friend and bodyguard didn’t have to so blatantly point that out.
He turned in a full circle, showing off his toned arms peeking out of his dark blue and gold-embroidered vest and the roomy trousers cinched tight at his small waist. “I think I’m about back to normal now.”
“Don’t die again,” Yinyu warned.
With a huff, Weiyu pushed past the other man and made his way up the trail leading into the village. Yinyu followed a step behind. “I wasn’t trying the first two times, if it makes any difference.”
“It does not.”
Wanting to turn the subject away from himself, he started speaking about the council but paused when he realized Yinyu had fallen behind.
He backtracked, only to find Yinyu staring up at the skies overhead.
Blue phoenixes glided through the air on graceful wings and tailfeathers.
Although there was a calmness to their movements, he sensed tension thick in the air.
Yinyu’s dark gold eyes hardened with worry, a crease forming between them. He quietly voiced his concern. “Are you sure she’s just a servant?”
It wasn’t the first time this subject had come up. But whenever Yinyu repeated himself, he knew from past instances that it was important to pay attention.
Weiyu furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
“This seems like a lot of expended effort for someone easily replaceable.” He paused. “Not that she is replaceable here. But to them...” He blew out a terse breath. “Could Zahra be lying to you?”
An uneasy feeling churned in his gut as he considered his friend’s words. He wanted to brush them off. Maybe even scold him for voicing such thoughts at all. But this was Yinyu. Everything he’d ever said or done had always been in his best interest.
“She wouldn’t lie to me,” he replied finally, stamping down the momentary uncertainty within him. “Not about this.”
“Hm.” Yinyu said nothing more, but the crease between his eyebrows gave away his concern.
However, Yinyu’s words of doubt clogged every pore in his body, making it difficult to breathe when his mind entertained those doubts. Something about this situation seemed off. He worried it had less to do with the infiltration of the Perch and more to do with who they took.
He shook his head, trying to dispel those moments of doubt. Zahra was his chosen mate. Although he wasn’t sure if she had realized that yet, he thought he knew her character well enough to be certain of his choice.
Which was why he sought her out the next day. Because he wanted to see her. It had nothing to do with squashing his uncertainty. Nothing at all.
He followed the pulse of his connected Core and found her at the river, chatting happily with other women as she knelt beside the water and scrubbed wet fabric with lye soap.
Warmth filled his chest at the sight of her brilliant smile, relaxed shoulders, and shining eyes. He crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby tree just to soak in the sunshine radiating from her soul.
And when she lifted her face to the skies and laughed...
His heart seemed to lurch straight out of his chest, and he barely managed to catch hold of it before it splatted at his feet in a mess of desire and longing.
His gaze followed the soft lines of her throat, dipping to her exposed collarbones and the briefest flicker of her semi-exposed shoulder.
The soft heat in his chest warmed into something burning and fierce.
A heaviness settled in his lungs until he found each breath difficult to draw.
The forest around him seemed to darken in his vision until he only saw her.
His nostrils flared, honing in on her delicate, flowery scent.
My mate...
I want...
Mine...
He blinked himself out of his longing stupor until the darkness around him subsided, giving way to lush, green forests and cheerful, babbling water.
One of the women gasped and launched to her feet, bending into a quick curtsy. As the others noticed him, they too followed suit.
Zahra glanced at the others with confusion written in her eyes, at least until her gaze landed on him. “Oh,” she murmured.
She attempted to stand, but her knee caught on her dress, and she elected to dip her head in acknowledgement of his status instead in her kneeling position.
“I did not mean to interrupt,” he said, finding it challenging to look at anyone but the woman kneeling before him.
“You did not,” one of the older women said, and finally, he found the strength to pull his attention away from Zahra and settled his gaze on the gray-blue hair and facial wrinkles of one of the older female members of the clan. “What can we do for you, Your Highness?”
“I was hoping to steal Miss Zahra away for a few minutes.” He smiled wryly. “But it seems I have come at a bad time.”
“Oh, not at all!” the matron cried. The women standing behind her grasped Zahra beneath the arms and hauled her to her feet. Hissing whispers reached his ears as they smoothed down Zahra’s clothing and fixed her hair before pushing her toward him. She stumbled a few steps before righting herself.
“Weiyu,” Zahra murmured. She glanced over her shoulder, but the others started busying themselves with work once more.
Despite their seemingly occupied attention, Weiyu still felt all eyes on them.
When she turned back to him, he noticed the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. “Have I erred in some manner?”
His eyebrows shot upward when he realized she thought he’d come to reprimand her. “No! No. Of course not. I am free from my duties for the next hour and wanted the pleasure of your company.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders lifted with a heavy breath, her eyes wide. “Alright. Yes. I would like that.”
With a hand lightly pressed against her lower back, he guided her down a path with a slight incline leading up a foresty hill.
In his youth, he’d flirted plenty with women both older and younger than him.
But this time? It felt substantial. Heavy.
Consequential. Like the slightest failure might bring an end to this before it truly ever began.
She’s already yours if you want her, a voice inside him whispered.
The alpha king in him could make her submit, and he sensed she’d do so willingly. But he wanted this to be her choice. Therefore, he ignored those inner voices and attempted not to mess this up.
They passed rows of trees sparkling with dewdrops from last night’s rain and boulders slick with water.
He walked slowly at her side, one uncertain foot in front of the other. “I was curious...” He dared to glance sideways at her but quickly pulled his gaze away from the intense amber of her eyes. “You seem very comfortable with the villagers from the clan.”
Against his better judgement, he peeked at her again only to find the faintest smile on her lips. “I am warming up to them. I’m simply grateful they are treating me so kindly. I am...not used to...being seen.”
He nodded sagely. Although he didn’t know exactly how the red phoenix clan’s hierarchy worked, he could imagine a servant might be treated poorly. Which further proved him right over Yinyu.
“What were some of your duties as a servant?” he asked, trying to keep his voice even and unassuming.
“Oh...I...” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the light dimming from her eyes. He instantly regretted asking. “I suppose I washed clothing. I was good at that. And I weaved.”
“Weaved?”
At this, some of the light returned to her expression. “Baskets and rugs and even jewelry.”
He smiled as he imagined Zahra focused on her work, moving steady hands as she created something beautiful. “I would like to see one of your creations someday. If you will allow me.”
“Oh.” She released a long breath and quickly turned her head away. But not before he caught the faint blush rising to her cheeks. “I’m afraid such things might bore you, Your Highness.”
“Then I hope you might get to know me better to learn that they do not.”
The color in her face deepened, but this time she didn’t turn away. “Such work is considered lowly in my clan. Only for those who cannot shift.”
“Creating beautiful things is praiseworthy. Not worthy of shunning—”
“I do not understand,” she said, speaking loudly over him. “Why you would rescue me. Why you would ask for my time. I have little worth.” She lifted her hands, palms up, as if to emphasize her point. “I cannot shift.”
Weiyu halted in his tracks as the shock from her words smacked him in the chest and created an echoing pang that hurt with each beat of his heart. She truly believed this... She truly thought her life held little worth.
Giving himself a moment to gather his thoughts, he reached within himself for his magick.
The waterfall up ahead coaxed to his will, the water bending outward to create a path for them through the tunnel on the hillside.
Only a faint chilly spray hit them as they entered, a wall of rock on one side with an open horizon on the other to reveal winding rivers and lush forests.
He dropped the waterfall after they entered, the roar of the water resuming before he spoke again.
“This may be how it is in your clan, but in mine, we do not discriminate in such a way. Kai is my best friend. He cannot shift. Ye-Ye is the best healer in the village. He also cannot shift. There are many others, and their ability or inability to shift does not affect their worth.”
She chewed on her bottom lip and glanced at him dubiously. “Mm,” she said noncommittally.
They continued up the path. Although Weiyu held up most of the conversation, as the minutes passed, he was delighted that she was opening up more to him, if perhaps growing a little more comfortable in his presence. Her rigid posture soon relaxed, and her smiles came more readily.
When they rounded a bend in the path, he stopped to admire the view over the cliffside.
A faint orange-pink blush layered the horizon as the sun set, sinking slowly beneath the hills in the distance.
Streaks of orange and purple brushed against the sky like a paintbrush to a canvas.
From here, he spotted the jungly forests, the rolling hills, all of Sunfire Isle as a whole.
It was favorite spot that his own two feet could carry him.
He glanced toward Zahra and noticed the way she hugged the wall, even though a half dozen paces lay between them and the edge of the cliff.
Although he wanted to comment on the strange behavior, especially for someone from a phoenix clan, he didn’t want to interrupt the peaceful stillness that had grown between them.
“What is it like?” she whispered after they’d gazed at the blush of a sunset over the horizon for a while.
“What is what like?” He glanced over at her to watch as she followed the flight of two blue phoenixes through the air.
Finally, she tore her attention away from the skies and trained her eyes on him. “What is it like to fly?”
There were a thousand things he could say, a thousand reasons why he loved the gift of flight. But only one thing burned in the forefront of his mind. “Flying is freedom.”
Freedom, she mouthed silently as if tasting the word on her tongue. “Those who long for freedom intimately understand the shackles of bondage.”
A question lay in her eyes, and he found he wanted to share. To give this small part of him to her, a part he had not given to anyone else. He hadn’t even shared this with Kai.
Blowing out a long breath, he turned his gaze back to the horizon slowly sinking into darkness.
“What else have I ever been but King? What more have I done than shoulder hefty responsibilities, even from a young age? Sometimes...” His voice lowered, filled with longing.
“Sometimes I wish I could shed my coat and escape somewhere far away without so much weight on my shoulders. I know that will never be a possibility. So when I fly... When I soar through the skies...” He trailed his finger through the air, touching one end of the horizon to the other.
“It is freedom. If only for a short time.”
“Freedom,” she whispered. She traced the same trail from horizon to horizon.
He couldn’t help but smile. “I have discovered the river offers a similar feeling for me since leaving the Perch. It may only travel in one direction, but the water is not confined to only one place. It is free to see the world.”
Weiyu lit up with the knowledge. If the river brought her a sense of freedom and peace, then he knew exactly where he wanted to take her next.
They both stared out at the horizon once more, a comfortable quiet settling between them. The skies and the rivers... There certainly was freedom to be found in both of them.