The Lady Is Mine-Chapter 185: Of Kisses

Jenna’s lips parted, then closed again. She blinked twice as if her ears were playing tricks on her. "You... kissed Percy?" she finally breathed, the disbelief dripping like honey off her tongue.

Kali nodded unabashed. "I did."

Jenna, who had nothing to do with the kiss, paled. She didn’t know what she was waiting to hear when she asked Kali to talk to her about anything. But one fact remains that nothing prepared her for this new development.

"Is it the same Percy we both know or...?" Jenna really wanted to be sure. To heavens, she wasn’t trying to drag it on.

Kali arched her brows. "The wussy that is nothing but a coward in the face of blood. And yes, that Percy."

"Move." Jenna patted Kali. "I need to sit to understand what’s going on."

Kali twitched her lips but helped Jenna sit down comfortably. "Do you need water?" she asked harmlessly.

Jenna turned to look at the young woman, her eyes wide with shock. "Yes, I do!" Kali had almost taken it seriously but halted when Jenna continued.

"And I need to know whatever led to... I mean, I know you’re a woman but... fine, Percy is a man... but... it’s not that I’m being... but... it shouldn’t be a problem but—"

Kali groaned. "Can you say one thing that makes sense already?"

"How did it even happen?!" Jenna said, for crying out loud. "How did you end up kissing Percy?" She had questions and mixed feelings.

It was great to see Rhane’s sister going through this route of emotions, but also, it was an unlikely combination.

Kali and Percy? The outcome was obvious! Jenna screamed in her head.

"How is he still alive?!"

Kali narrowed her eyes, giving Jenna’s words a small thought, then she hummed. "Oh, you mean why is Percy still alive?"

"Exactly that!" Jenna snapped her fingers.

Kali groaned and covered her face with both hands. "It wasn’t planned! It just... happened. Like some stupid fever dream." She dropped her hands.

Jenna pressed a hand over her chest dramatically. "The world must be ending. Kali of all people, kissing Percy of all disasters... I really want to know what led to all of that, but most importantly, how was it?"

Jenna was no longer shocked; she now wanted to tease Kali. Seeing that her face was slowly turning pink, Jenna wanted to get back at her for earlier.

Kali’s eyes widened, her eyes shaking. "I don’t know! I didn’t—" She rubbed her temples. "One moment we were talking, the next he said something stupid. You know how Percy is... he never shuts up."

Jenna nodded, pressing her lips to stop her laugh. Kali continued regardless.

"And I was so angry I grabbed him—then he kissed me back—and gods, Jenna, it was... confusing."

Jenna bit her lower lip, trying to tame the grin threatening to break loose. "Confusing," she repeated. "That’s what people say when they liked it but don’t want to admit it." She was now speaking from experience.

Kali shot her a glare sharp enough to kill a fly midair. "I didn’t like it. I mean, I-I don’t know what I felt." She stammered. "All I know is that when he kissed me, everything in my head went quiet for once. And that terrified me."

Jenna’s grin softened into something more tender. "Terrified you?"

"Yes," Kali whispered. Rubbing her trembling hands, she had sworn never to fall in love, especially with a man, after the hell she’d had to survive.

Then again, Kali’s pride couldn’t take it. She had also said to Percy’s face she’d rather kiss a pig than have anything with him. So yes, Kali wasn’t going to feel anything for Percy.

"I don’t even know who I am anymore," Kali voiced her thoughts. "I keep thinking about him, wondering what that kiss meant. Every time I see him, my heart starts doing this strange thing like it’s trying to escape my ribs."

Jenna’s eyes glimmered with mischief. "Why do you hate Percy?" She changed the wave of conversation.

Kali scoffed. "I can say a thousand reasons... who doesn’t hate that young man?"

"Not me," Jenna exonerated. "But I’d noticed you do... so why?"

Kali scratched the bridge of her nose. "He... is stupid. Doesn’t know when to shut up and always says things nobody asked him. And..." she paused.

"He’s always at the wrong place... tell me why he found me crying and he hugged me." Kali’s mind flashed back to what Percy told her the other night.

"Also, there is this arrogant side of him... he angers me so."

Jenna hummed. She didn’t know when or how it happened, but she could tell exactly what was going on. The only problem was that Kali didn’t know.

"Have you ever been with a man before?" Jenna asked.

Kali’s eyes fell to the ground, and she nodded. "Yes... I have served so—"

"I didn’t ask that," Jenna stopped her, knowing a little part of that story. "I’m asking if you’ve ever been in love?"

Kali sneered, folding her arms across her chest. "Tch. That would be a waste of time."

"So you kissed Percy because you love him?" Jenna watched Kali’s expression change to something of disgust.

"That’s absurd! Foolish even. Me? Love?" She laughed.

"So did you kiss Percy because you wanted to serve him?"

Kali parted her lips to speak, but nothing came out. At first, that was her instinct, but then Percy rejected her. "He isn’t worth it."

Jenna sucked her teeth. "And yet you kissed him." For a moment, there was silence and a second of introspection for Kali.

"And yet I kissed him," Kali repeated, the words ringing through her mind, her voice cracking between shame and disbelief. "Maybe I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I’m cursed."

Jenna chuckled, squeezing her hand. "Maybe you’re just human. And maybe Percy isn’t as unbearable as you make him out to be."

Kali stared at the ground, her voice barely a whisper. "He’s unbearable." That she knew for certain. And Jenna agreed.

"But when he looked at me afterward, I swear I saw something different in his eyes. Not mockery. Just... something that made me feel seen."

Jenna smiled knowingly. "That’s how it begins."

Kali sighed, half laughing, half miserable. "If this is the beginning, then gods help me—I’m doomed."

Jenna tilted her head, studying Kali’s face carefully. "So, what do you want to do about Percy? Do you want him to leave, or do you want to actually talk to him? Calmly, I mean. No daggers, no yelling, no accidental kissing."

Kali frowned, her lips twisting into something halfway between confusion and embarrassment. "I don’t know... maybe I should tell him. But what if I make a fool of myself again?"

"Then at least you’d be a fool who tried," Jenna said with a gentle shrug. "Trust me, silence only eats you alive." She reached for Kali’s hand, her voice softening as she spoke.

"When I met your brother, I wasn’t sure I could love anyone again. I was... empty, Kali. I had been broken in ways I didn’t even want to admit. Rhane didn’t come with promises or pretty words. He just stayed. Patient. Relentless. Even when I pushed him away, he pulled me back."

Kali’s eyes softened. "He really loves you."

Jenna smiled faintly. Thinking about Rhane always made her smile. "He does. And he taught me that love isn’t about fixing someone— it’s about reminding them that they aren’t beyond repair. He dragged me out of a darkness I thought would swallow me whole. Sometimes love does that. It doesn’t beg to be perfect; it just reaches for you and refuses to let go."

Kali let her gaze wander toward the garden, where the sunlight flickered through the trees. "You make it sound easy."

"It isn’t," Jenna said honestly. "But it’s worth the bruises. You don’t have to lock your heart away just because it’s been through hell. Maybe Percy is rough around the edges, maybe he’s infuriating but if he sees you, truly sees you, then maybe he deserves the chance to know the woman behind all that fire."

Kali wanted to tell Jenna how wrong she was. How it was because Jenna had it easy that she was able to move on, but something Percy said to her echoed at the back of her mind.

’You’re scared of accepting that there are good humans out there. I don’t know what happened to you, or the darkness that made you this way. I only wish you’d open your eyes and see... before you get trapped forever in a darkness that would abandon you. Bury whatever it is that has trapped you there.’

Kali inhaled deeply, shaking her head with a small smile. "I guess I can now," she said quietly. "I have killed the monsters that haunted my dreams."

Jenna blinked, her smile fading. "You did what?" She knew not to take lightly the words of the Henderick siblings, especially when it comes to killing. They meant every word they said.

Kali’s expression didn’t change, her tone as calm as it could be. "The monsters, Jenna. The ones that kept me awake. The ones that wore my fears as faces."

A chill ran down Jenna’s spine. "Kali... what do you mean by killed?"

Kali turned toward her slowly, eyes dark with something unreadable. "Sometimes, to truly heal, you have to bury the nightmares yourself." At least that was one thing she had learned from Percy.

"Maybe you’re right... I should let Percy know what I think." Kali stood up and dusted her trousers. Before she left, she turned to Jenna.

"And oh... I heard Nikolai is dead, but it wasn’t my doing. I prefer the torture. Rhane says its better."

Jenna jumped to her feet. "Kali, wait... what?" The young woman had already left.