A King's Seduction ✔️

FORTY

Word Count: 2348

*Explicit content at the end of this chapter, read at your own discretion!*

¬Akara

I find my way back to Tai's office after many hours waiting for him upstairs. By the time the sun had set and he hadn't made it to dinner, I decided to seek him out myself.

Sure enough, he is in his office, slumped over his desk looking down at a mess of paper on his desk. It smells like him in here, for all the amount of time he spends in here in comparison to anywhere else. He probably had his dinner summoned down here so he doesn't have to step away from here. As much as I understand how dire our situation is, it still hurts my heart knowing he's done here so often.

Resting my shoulder against the doorframe, I rub my arms, the fire at the other end of the room has since gone cold, reduced to glowing embers. "How are you feeling?"

He looks up, and my stomach twists. His lovely emerald eyes are shaded by darkness, lack of sleep starving away any healthy colour from his face. Not to mention he is sick, like me. Maybe his illness isn't as pressing, but I haven't allowed myself to forget how much pain he lives with under the surface of his skin.

Pain he doesn't have to tell me about. I can see it.

"Tired. I feel like I've been staring at all this for hours," he mutters, running a hand back through his dark, curled strands. They fall around his face in a cascade, slightly too long now. I don't know the last time he did anything for himself.

I approach slowly, looking down at his desk. "What is it?"

"Names of people who have recently gone missing. I think they are all connected to Vaia," Tai sighs, turning the page so I can look at it. A lump gathers in my throat; that's a lot of names. We used to have people go missing a lot from my home village, what with the Beast being the child-eating monster that it was, but this number is disturbing.

"I wouldn't be surprised." At this point I'm as defeated as Tai, not surprised by anything Vaia is doing. But the more people she is choosing, means the more lives that are being lost after being forced to drink from the river. Clearly whatever she is doing to try to make powerful Tani isn't working...

Tai shifts between pieces of paper, each full of hurried handwriting. "There is no trend in who she chooses, clearly. They are all different, in age, in the village they are from. Even the Province."

"She's outsourcing to other Provinces?" I ask, shuddering at the thought.

Tai's gaze clouds with anger, with guilt. "Potentially."

Leaning against the edge of the desk, I look around. He's given up on keeping the space clean and clear, and due to the sensitive nature of what he is investigating, and the fact that Marek likely still has spies conveying information to him, he hasn't allowed anyone in to tidy up in here. It will be over soon, I remind myself. Soon, we will take Vaia down, and Tai will return back to normal.

"Have you heard anymore about Evolet?" I ask tentatively. She's another who has been haunting my thoughts. Why would she help me? My last experience with her was her trying to kill me...She told me she isn't ready to come back yet, but she will. When will that be, and how?

"No, we have found no trace of her anywhere," Tai admits. He only had people looking into it because I insisted, because I couldn't get it out of my head."You're the only evidence that she's alive."

"Kailor isn't doubting my account, is he?" I mutter, having already expected that. Kailor doesn't believe a word that comes out of my mouth, and when I mentioned Evolet, I knew he would be skeptical. None of us can come up with a reason for her going out of her way to save me, and yet not come all the way back to the estate with me.