Page 89 of Heir Of Sun And Moon
My father wastes no time slicing into his palm and doing the same to King Kai, who peers questioningly at him when the spelled dagger drags across his skin. Without another word, the two kings grasp hands and hold them together, until their intermingled blood drips down into the sand. A shimmering glow, like that of the Spell, lights up the sand where the blood has gathered. The outlines of my father and the shifter king briefly glimmer as well before the men release their hands.
“And now we see who the magic has chosen,” my father says quietly, looking out onto the gathered crowd. Seconds tick by as I search the collection of people as well. My eyes find Arin, then Dilan, and finally Daje, but none of them look any different. Suddenly, someone gasps, followed by another, and a low murmuring breaks out amongst the mages. I scan the crowd, trying to figure out who the magic has chosen, when Daje’s panicked voice snags my attention.
“Holy gods, Bahira,” he blurts out as my gaze finds him and he takes a step closer to me. “It’s you.”
“What?” I ask, glancing down. My normally tan skin shimmers with that white, iridescent light of the Spell. My heart beats frantically in my chest as I stare at myself in a state of shock.
“It has made a mistake,” Daje shouts, walking up to my side. “The magic chose the wrong person.” My head wrenches around until I can see him, my eyes narrowing in annoyance. Seeing the look on my face, Daje’s shoulders rise as his throat works to swallow. “You know what I mean, Bahira. You don’t eve—”
“Are you claiming to know more than the ancient magic that runs through this very world?” King Kai asks, his voice rumbling through the tension in the air.
“Of course not, it’s just that Bahira doesn’t have the right tools to help you. She—”
“Maybe instead of speakingforher, we should let theprincessdecide if she would like to accept being chosen.” His tone is one of boredom, but when I look at the shifter king’s face, his eyes burn with a type of fury that seems too intense for this situation. It’s a predatory kind of glint, one that is a precursor to an impending attack. I can’t decipher if he’s mad at me being chosen or at Daje’s words or at something else entirely.
“Bahi, why don’t you come over on this side,” my father suggests.
“Bahira…” Daje starts, but I ignore him as I turn and walk towards the Spell.
I’ve stepped through the glimmering wall only twice before: once to see what it felt like to step through and once because I wanted to feel the cool water of the ocean for the first time. I had let the waves lap at my toes for a few moments before turning right back around and stepping through the thin boundary. It feels just as I remembered, like walking through the softest, thinnest silk. When the distortion clears and I’m instantly face to face with the unfamiliar king, my traitorous stomach clenches.
“Princess,” he drawls, his gaze holding mine as Tua to his right subtly shifts his weight between his feet.
“You know you have the choice to stay here,” my father reminds me.
My eyes bounce from his back to the island king’s as my mind fights to make a choice. My answer should be obvious, but much like the choices I’ve been given lately, nothing is quite as easy as it should be. I’m a magicless mage, and yet the magic of the very Continentchose meas the best option. How can I deny the way that I feel at being recognized like this? How could I not, at the very least,considergoing?
My shoulders roll back as I lift my chin and steel my gaze towards King Kai. “How long?”
“Bahira, no!” Daje yells out from behind me. My father holds his hand up, halting what I assume must have been Daje’s attempt to come through the Spell to get to me.
King Kai tilts his head down to me, a roguish grin growing as he contemplates his answer. “Iamcurious as to why it picked you, Princess. You don’t strike me as the type with experience in these matters.”
My lips lift into a sneer, “Now,who is claiming to know more than the ancient magic of our world? Evenyoursmall brain must recognize that I was chosen for a reason.” My mother gasps, and my father quickly brings the back of his hand to his mouth, stifling a laugh. But I’m too focused on the haughty male in front of me to care. “You would be lucky to have me spend even one month of my time on your littleisland.”
“Even my supposedly small brain acknowledges that one month isn’t enough time for anyone,” he counters, taking a small step towards me and making me strain my neck backwards even farther to hold his gaze. “Six months.”
I throw my hands out to the side as I stare at him.Six months?No fucking way. “Six weeks.”
“I don’t think you understand how bargaining works.”
“AndI’dargue thatyouthink too highly of yourself,” I grit out through my teeth, my chest rising and falling with quickened breaths as my hands brace on my hips.
“One might say the same thing about you,” he replies, dropping his voice even lower. He leans into me, his eyes burning with irritation. “Five months.”
“Two.”
“Bahira, this is madness. You can’t do this!” Daje demands from behind me.
I turn to glare at him, to remind him that this isn’thischoice, but movement just beyond him catches my attention. A tall familiar figure stands in front of the crowd, his black hair longer than it had been the last time I saw him.
“Nox?” I breathe, as Daje’s father grips his shoulder, but my brother’s attention is on that of the petite woman in front of him. Her golden blonde hair glows in the sunlight, the strands of her loose braid billowing in the breeze.
“You’re not the right person for this,” Daje says again, gently this time, from the other side of the Spell. My gaze is then drawn to his hand as he reaches out to me, anger twisting in my gut. I lift my eyes back to his, the pleading look in them begging me to turn down this opportunity. Fervently beseeching me to stay here, with him.
“Three months, Princess. Final offer. Accept it, or we’ll choose someone new,” King Kai barks in annoyance from behind me.
Silence descends on my mind as the weight of this decision coats me like a thick mist. In front of me is the life I’ve always known, one that may hold certain comforts but only at the sacrifice of a part of myself. One that, even with my newest discovery, has been laced with disappointment and often a feeling of being incomplete. Behind me—an ocean away—lies a new opportunity, a new experience. While solving their blight with magic, I might in turn find an answer to our own problem. Two different worlds, two unlikely choices, and yet I was chosen by an ancient, powerful, unseen force. I was chosen because it found meworthy.
