Word Count: 1758

The moment the morning sun hits my skin, I feel immediately better.

Tai and I walk hand in hand through the formal lawn, and into the forest. The silence between us is comfortable, even if I can sense that Tai has a lot to say to me. We continue our walk through an unfamiliar part of the woods, before we emerge from the thickness of the trees and into a field, a stream running right through the centre of it. I nearly have to pause to look around, surprised a place like this exists out here, in the Jade Province.

"You know all the most beautiful places around here," I whisper, the suns gentle rays warming my cheeks, the slight breeze that weaves through the trees and into the clearing touched with a sweet scent from the wildflowers that scatter around the bank of the stream.

"I did grow up here, remember." He sounds nostalgic, a glazed look in his emerald eyes as he casts his gaze over the space. "My brother and I used to take pretty girls here to try woo them. It never worked."

"What was your brother's name?" I ask, realising I don't know much about his family beyond Kailor. The last thing I want is for that poisonous man to stain my view of Tai's loved ones.

Tai holds my hand as we stalk through the grass toward the stream. "Tarik."

"Taius and Tarik, huh?" I note with an amused smile. It's not the first hint that they were compared since the beginning of their lives. There's a reason why Kailor won't allow Tai to go through his life without a constant reminder that he is the lesser child in Kailor's eyes. "What was he like?"

"Kind, gentle and calm. We never fought, even if I provoked him often," he remembers. "He always saw when I let my anger get the best of me, knowing how best to calm me down."

I've never seen Tai let his anger get the best of him, but even him mentioning that has a sense of anxiety stirring within me. Regardless, I concentrate on the stream that we now stand before, the heat of the sun on my back. Tai stoops down, plucking a flower from the side of the stream, handing it to me. Smiling up at him, I admire the way the delicate violet petals bend in the soft breeze, the sweet scent that comes from it tingling at my senses.

"And he got sick?" I ask softly. I'm trying to remember the vague details that he has mentioned to me in the past, but his brother, or even his mother haven't been something he is willing to speak up about willingly. I've tried not to pry, knowing things like that are sensitive.

"Yes. It was all very sudden." He looks tense, jaw clenching and unclenching as he looks vacantly our across the field.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to push," I stutter, not wanting to push him too far and make him uncomfortable. "I'm sure he would be proud of how you're dealing with this Vaia situation."

Tai sighs, sitting down amongst the grass. I join him, letting my feet hang down so they are almost within the water.

"I can confidently say my brother would not be proud of me if he were standing before me today to say it," he admits, sounding dejected, his eyes suggesting his mind is in a distant place. Just hearing that breaks my heart. I've only recently felt that, knowing my mother can't stand me because I decided I no longer wanted to participate in our faith. Yet I can't imagine losing my mother and knowing she felt that about me, even in death.

I open my mouth to console him, but the words are hard to find. "You don't-"

"You look radiant today, Akara," he cuts me off, suddenly snapping himself out of whatever solemn place he delved into.

He now looks at me with contentment, like he means what he is saying, and not that he is trying to distract me. Even if I want to keep pushing him to tell me more about his family, to not run from whatever demons he is hiding, I stop myself. He will tell me eventually, when he feels like it. Right now, I want to enjoy my time in the sun, with a man I care so much about.

"I feel wonderful," I admit. Anf I do. "I could kiss you right now."

I don't expect him to want to kiss me, not after what he has just opened up to me about, but I had to say it. Under the sunlight, his skin glows, his hair different shades of black and violet. And his lips look so full and red I'm finding it hard to look away from him.

He smiles softly. "I would love that."

Leaning over, he raises his hands to glide them into my hair, cradling the back of my head. Our lips meet, and everything melts from my mind. All the fear from yesterday, all the lingering pain in my stomach is now gone with the feeling of his lips against mine.

My hands raise against my violation, resting on his shoulders as I pull myself closer to him, letting his scent envelope me. His hands move down to my waist, gripping ever so slightly harder then what could be considered innocent. My fingers delve into his hair, gripping his soft curls as the intensity of the kiss accelerates.

Much to my disappointment, Tai pulls away from my lips, instead bending his head down to kiss my neck. My eyes flutter closed, digging my fingers tighter against his head.

A warm feeling suddenly pools in my palm that is pressed against Tai's head. Pulling back, I gasp, scarlet blood streaming down through Tai's hair and onto his temples, making him flinch back in surprise. For a moment, I'm convinced he has hit his head and is bleeding, however, when I pull my hands away, I realise the profuse amount of blood is coming from my hand.

Tai grabs my wrist, a look of horror plastered across his face. A dark feeling settles in the pit of my stomach, realising I've been cut in my palm before, when Tai wanted to practice his healing on me.

"We can't ignore this." Tai closes his eyes for a long moment, as if he can't bear to look at what has clearly been caused by him. I wanted to pretend like this issue came from something else, that maybe it was Vaia's fault alone, but it's evident now that I can no longer come to that conclusion. "This is because of my healing."

"What went wrong?" I question, blocking my bleeding wound with Tai's shirt that he has pulled over his head.

"Maybe I'm not practised enough," he breathes. I can already see the guilt written across his face, which is going to haunt him now until this is fixed.

Pulling the shirt away from the wound, I see the bleeding is already subsiding. That must be from the Tani blood still streaming through my veins, but it's clearly not enough to fight off whatever failing magic from Tai that has caused this. Thankfully Tai has tried healing anything else on my body, but I have a feeling the wound of my stomach isn't going to be easy to heal now without magical intervention. I was meant to die that day by Vaia's knife. We have defied nature, and now I'm paying the price.

"You are not meant to bear such power. This could be nature's way of keeping it in check," I explain, wiping away some of the blood, only to smear it across my skin. Tai's shirt is beyond stained at this point.

"We need to find someone who can help you...Someone who can heal you properly," he assures me, reaching out to hold me, his hands shaking. He knows his nurses don't have the ability to heal something like this.

"We will, Tai...Everything is going to be okay."

Tai helps me to my feet, a wave of dizziness hitting me. His hands steady me until I'm ready to start walking back to the estate. At this point, my hand stings, but at least it's not comparable to the pain that came from my stomach earlier, which I imagine is going to come back at some point.

"We should talk about what is going to happen next," Tai mutters solemnly.

Mustering a sigh, I nod, knowing this may be my chance to get some information from Tai that Kailor doesn't want me to know."Do you have a plan for Vaia?"

"My father has a plan to invade my estate soon," is all he responds warily, clutching my good hand tightly. I have a feeling Kailor's plan is going to be vicious and aggressive, motivated by revenge. Anyone who is going to be in that estate when he invades is going to be at risk.

"What's going to happen to everyone in it?" I ask.

"He will kill them," he comments flatly, not even sounding remorseful. I look at him, the sunlight highlighting his frame. Has he told Kailor that innocents don't deserve to die in any of this? "He might even kill Vaia."

Even though I have a bad feeling about this, I know I trust Tai, and he's going to want to do the best for everyone, including Vaia. I know he doesn't hate his sister, and although he will happily kill Marek given the opportunity, he will do his best to ensure Vaia stays safe. But she will be punished...At least I hope she will be.

"Whatever happens, I'm on your side. No matter what," I assure him, swallowing the feeling of doubt that rises up within me.

I can only hope I make it long enough to witness his revenge.

🤎••🤎

If you guys want to read ahead, you can read more of KING'S SEDUCTION on Radish! It's chapters ahead of Wattpad (:

You'll will find it under KING'S POSSESSION on Radish, as season 2!

👻••👻

I'm officially rewriting Alpha Jasper's story now on Radish! It will be following the same storyline with the same characters, but with revised scenes and some new ones!

I love Jasper's story so much that I wanted to go back and rewrite it. I hope you guys will enjoy it, you can find it now on Radish (:

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~Midika 💜🐼