Page 77 of Kingdom Of Veil And Vow

Kai and Jahlee join me at the ship’s bow. For a long while, there is only the sound of the crew working, the sound of the ocean a slight hum in the background. Anxiousness boils in my blood, my fingers incessantly tapping against the railing of the ship as the details of the Mage Kingdom’s docks come into view, long wooden planks filling the walkways where three ships are anchored, two mage and one mortal.

“Will we be docking?” Jahlee asks, hand shielding her eyes as she squints against the light dancing off the water.

“Not yet. I’m going to send scouts first to make sure nothing dangerous is happening within the kingdom, and then I will request an audience with King Sadryn.”

“I will come with you,” I say against the wind stirring off the water, my throat dry with the taste of salt.

“No.”

My head whips to the side at my cousin’s answer, his gold-flecked dark brown eyes already waiting. “Kai—”

“No, Siyala.”

Turning to face him fully, my jaw clenches with anger as my fingers curl in towards my palms. “You promised that we were here to get help for Rhea. That I would be a part of the mission!”

“You will be,” he says, far too calmly as he adjusts his stance to face me, folding his large arms over his chest. Despite the chill in the air, the onset of winter nearly upon us, Kai is dressed in nothing more than dark brown trousers and a black long-sleeved tunic, the sleeves rolled up and revealing tattoos he has down the length of his right arm. “Once I have assured that there is nothing nefarious happening in the Mage Kingdom, I will allow you—”

“Allow me?” I see red.

“Probably could have chosen a better word, Brother,” Jahlee says, biting back a laugh.

Kai’s eyes flash her way and narrow before he fixes his gaze on me once more. His broad chest rises with a deep breath. “I understand your urgency, Siyala, and I will keep my word. We will recruit all the help we can and come up with a plan to rescue Princess Rhea.” I nod, opening my mouth to demand that we do so right now, but Kai continues, “However, we are not the most important thing happening in the kingdoms. And neither is the abduction of Princess Rhea.”

I growl as I look back to the shoreline, following the glittering of the Spell from where it rests on top of the water to where it looms as a giant wall on the beach, stretching up towards the sky. Beyond it, I can make out the thick forest that the Mage Kingdom is known for. “You don’t know what you are saying.”

But of course he doesn’t. I haven’t told my cousins of the magic Rhea possesses. Of the power that she was too afraid to use but that King Dolian knew she had. I have no doubt Rhea would oppose him, but what if he forced her to use it against her will? I think of the gelsemium tincture I was given, how pathetically helpless I was against Commander Miles’s attack. Just like I was against Kenji. My ears begin to ring, my nails leaving sharp imprints in the skin of my palm as Kai keeps talking.

“I’m just asking for additional time, Cousin. Let me make sure it is safe for us all to enter. And then we can plead our case to King Sadryn and… his family.”

“I can’t believe you would be short-sighted enough to put seeing the lover who jilted you ahead of rescuing a princess trapped with a vile king!”

Kai’s brows draw low, a muscle in his jaw popping. My fox pulses beneath my skin, the magic making my neck strain as I hold my breath to stave off a shift. A slight golden ring forms around Kai’s dark irises, his own magic responding to the rise of mine. But he’s much more practiced at calming it than I am, and within seconds, the ring disappears and his face is once more nothing but a stoic mask.

“This is the way it will be, Siyala. You can either respectfully agree or reluctantly bow to the weight of my command as your king. It doesn’t fucking matter to me.”

My eyes shut against the pressure that is building behind them as Kai leaves. Jahlee wraps her arm around my shoulders as another set of footsteps sounds behind us. “You know he is right, Siyala,” she says, her voice soft and lacking any sort of taunt. It’s jarring. “We want to help you.”

“I see we’ve finally anchored.” Inessa, Kai’s new assistant and the daughter of the only council member allowed to stay after Tua’s betrayal, steps up to my other side. I open my eyes and look at her, her pretty face breaking into a concerned smile. “Everything alright?” Despite not knowing each other before this trip, Inessa has become a more tolerable change. Where Jahlee and Kai push me, no doubt out of love, Inessa’s presence is more calming. Usually never too far from Kai, her soft voice is one that I’ve come to appreciate being here.

I exhale roughly through my nose and shake my head, shrugging one of the shoulders still beneath Jahlee’s arm. “I have to wait,” I grit out, sounding petulant.

Jahlee explains Kai’s plans to Inessa, who listens intently, tucking her dark hair behind her ears as she does. “I suppose his reasoning is sound, but I do understand your frustration. To be so close and still unable to do anything.”

“For safety,” Jahlee emphasizes, then scoffs. “I hate that I’m being a voice of reason here!”

Inessa chuckles, her and Jahlee continuing to talk as that ringing in my ears intensifies. To be so close, as Inessa said, and to still feel so helpless. I chew on my lower lip, my fingers reaching for the hem of my tunic. It’s a thicker material to stave off the cold, the stitching on it too small to feel with the scraping of my nail. I turn my gaze out to the workers on the long pier. From this distance, it’s impossible to differentiate between mage and mortal, though I suppose that would be true even if I was closer. I do spot some flashes of mage magic, brightly colored hazes that must be aiding them.

“It is lovely to see how the beaches of the Continent differ from the ones of the island,” Inessa says, drawing my focus back. “I suppose I thought I’d never see them.”

“Eh, ours are better,” Jahlee hums, tying her hair into a high ponytail. “Bahira waxed poetic about how beautiful her home was, but she definitely exaggerated.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask what else she might have exaggerated, but I swallow it back down. My frustrations aside, Jahlee clearly cares—and is worried—about the mage princess. I know all too well that, sometimes, we don’t see the failure of a person until it is undeniably right in our face.

Eventually, Kai makes his way back on deck, two males in their mortal forms at his sides. Lano and Taika would look imposing on their own, but next to my cousin, they look average, the shifter king a full head taller than both. Still, even beneath the layers of clothing they wear, I can see the definition of their muscled arms and thighs, the undeniable strength of a shifter.

“See something you like?” Inessa asks quietly, her elbow gently prying at my ribs as she gestures to Lano and Taika.

I send her a glance that warns this is not a topic of conversation I want to engage in, but of course, Jahlee goes there anyway.