The Forbidden Wish(59)

Do it, Zhian urges. Let me out, Zahra. Let me out.

Listen to me first, I demand. There are jinn charmers out here—did you hear them? They are playing, filling the hills with their charms. You must not go near the humans, or we will both end up right back where we started.

We could take them together, he replies. You and I—working as a team. We would be unstoppable!

To that, I only send him an image of the lamp, and he curses. I quickly relay to him the deal I made with Nardukha. Zhian stews in his jar, his impatience hammering through my thoughts.

When I finish, he spits, So do it! Let me out!

I glance around, making sure we’re alone, then lift the jar high before dashing it against a rock. The pottery shatters, as does the charm that held Zhian captive inside.

A burst of smoke fills the air, red and angry. It swells and thunders.

“Quiet!” I hiss. “They’ll come!”

I do not fear mortals!

“Then you’re an idiot. If it weren’t for me, they’d still have you bottled up in their crypts.”

My father would not allow it! Zhian swirls around me, his wind pulling at my hair and my black cloak. Dragon heads materialize in the smoke, snapping and hissing dangerously close to my face. He would burn their city for my sake! He would sink their ships and wreck their walls!

“Well, he didn’t, did he? He sent me. Settle down, because I have one more thing to say.”

Zhian rages about a bit longer, cracking trees and whipping up whirlwinds of dust. Then, at last, he assembles himself, taking the form of an enormous, human-like figure, nine feet tall with hooves and horns. It’s one of his favorite forms, modeled closely after his father. He wears only a leopard-skin loincloth, and his chest swells with muscle and pride. In his hands is a long chain, from which dangles a spiked morning star.

Curl-of-the-Tiger’s-Tail, he purrs, his black eyes glittering. Smoke-on-the-Wind. Girl-Who-Gives-the-Stars-Away. You have chosen a beautiful form. Subtle, but desirable.

Rolling my eyes, I reach out and grab the chain between his hands, pulling him close. “Your father is waiting, so fly up that mountain and through the alomb. Find Nardukha and tell him I have upheld my end of the bargain. Now it is his turn.”

He stares at me, a dangerous light in his eye, and then his gaze travels beyond me, in the direction of the funeral. My hand moves to his muscled forearm, and I squeeze it hard.

“No.”

He sneers, his hand moving quickly to catch mine. He yanks me close, his head bending to look down at me.

“Zahra,” he murmurs, his voice like falling rocks. “Why do you care for these humans? For thousands of years they have enslaved you, forced you to bend and bow to their silly whims. They have mistreated you, abused you, and yet you defend them still?” He drops his morning star to cradle my head in his other hand, and he licks his lips. His fangs flash. “Come with me to Ambadya. Be my bride, as you were always meant to be.”

Revulsion choking my throat, I pull away, slapping him hard across the jaw, but he barely registers the blow. “I’m not anything to you, Zhian. I never will be. You should have abandoned that notion long ago.”

“I did not bargain for your life so that you could play servant to these mortals! My father would have killed you thousands of years ago, like all the other Shaitan, if I hadn’t intervened!”

“I never asked you to.”

He roars, and I clap my hands over my ears at the terrible sound. Somewhere behind me, a horn blasts twice.

“They heard you, you fool!” I snap. “The Eristrati are coming, and their charmers will bottle you up again! Go, go!”

He snarls, his hand grabbing for me, but I shift into a tiger and snarl back at him, my hackles on end.

Get out of here, Zhian! Go find Nardukha and tell him I have set you free! Now he must free me.

The horn blasts again. At last Zhian comes to his senses, and he pulls back, scowling.

I’ll be back for you, he promises. And you and I will be joined at last, the jinn prince and his princess, unstoppable and undisputed!

Shifting back into a girl, I wave at him furiously, and at last he goes, his monstrous form shifting into gray smoke and gliding uphill toward the distant Mount Tissia.

Then I turn and run back the way I came, shifting into a songbird. I flit through the trees, over the heads of the Eristrati running toward the clearing.

I alight on a rock near the funeral and shift back into my human form, taking a moment to compose myself before slipping back through the crowd to Aladdin’s side.

“Zahra!” he hisses. “Where have you been?”

“What do you mean?” I murmur, my eyes on the mountain above.

He frowns, but doesn’t press the issue.

I continue gazing at the mountain, wondering how long it will take Nardukha to fulfill his promise, and how it will happen. What will I feel? Will he come himself to do it? I don’t see any sign of Zhian, so I can only hope he is on his way to the alomb, if not already through it.

After the funeral ends, Caspida leads the procession back to the palace. She walks alone, with Sulifer and Darian a few steps behind. The wind picks up until it’s nearly howling, and everyone must cover their noses and mouths against the dust whipping up. An ominous rumble sounds in the distance, over the choppy gray sea.

Aladdin, anticipating the wards on the city gates, offers me his arm to lean on, and with a mighty effort I keep my pain hidden as the Eskarr symbols glare down at me. We hurry through, Aladdin acting casual while I simply do my best not to pass out. These gates are smaller than the ones through which we first entered the city, and the wards release me sooner, but it is several minutes before my vision clears and I can breathe again.