The Forbidden Wish(85)

The Shaitan, looking on with approval, said to the Jinni, “This human girl is proud and foolish, thinking she could rule both men and jinn. I am well pleased with thee, my servant, who hast brought her to me. Slay the queen and prove thy loyalty to thy king.”

And the Jinni grinned, and in her eyes rose a fire. “With pleasure, my Lord.”

Then, with a wicked laugh, she struck down the good and noble Queen, the mightiest and wisest of all the Amulen monarchs, whose only mistake was that she had dared to love a Jinni.

—From the Song of the Fall of Roshana,

Last Queen of Neruby

by Parys zai Moura,

Watchmaiden and Scribe to Queen Roshana





Chapter Twenty-Seven


HAND IN HAND, Aladdin and I stand before the Shaitan. Beneath Nardukha’s primal gaze, all I want to do is cower and flee, but I focus instead on Aladdin’s pulse in my palm.

“Nardukha.” I lift my chin, meeting his black eyes.

The Shaitan is old, older even than the race of men. He was one of the first creatures ever formed by the gods, long ago when Ambadya was lush and beautiful. Looking in his gaze now, I find nothing remotely human. No emotion, no pity. He is more a force of nature than a living being, like a walking volcano. Rarely does he set foot in this world at all—and never do his visits result in anything other than catastrophe.

He looks down slowly, his eyes shifting from me to Aladdin. Then, with a sound like thunder, a black pillar of smoke envelops him. When it falls away, Nardukha stands not much taller than us, vaguely human in form. His skin is black and charred, cracking at the joints to reveal lava-red muscle beneath. His robes are smoke and silk, and instead of hair he has two curling horns protruding from his elongated skull.

He is a walking nightmare.

“The-Girl-Who-Gives-the-Stars-Away,” he murmurs. His voice is soft and beautiful, clear as a crystal and sweet as honey. I guard myself against the dangerous allure in that voice. “Curl-of-the-Tiger’s-Tail. What have you done?”

“I freed Zhian,” I say, drawing his attention back to me. “I kept my part of the deal. But you were never going to grant me freedom, were you? It was all a lie.”

“You were to be freed from your lamp, just like he promised,” Zhian cuts in, rising to face us. Fury rages in his eyes.

“And then what?” I snap, my gaze still locked on Nardukha’s. “Be killed?”

“Be joined to me,” says Zhian. “As you were always meant to be.”

I know what he means, the ceremony the jinn perform like some kind of perverted wedding. I would have been bound to Zhian in every way, unable to disobey his commands. It is similar to the bond Nardukha holds over all jinn, and the thought of being made slave to Zhian in this way is repulsive. Once more, another of Nardukha’s “deals” has turned out to be nothing but a trick. Last time, Ghedda paid the price of my foolish hopes. Now it will be Aladdin who suffers.

“I would rather be bound to my lamp than be bound to you,” I snarl.

Zhian opens his mouth to reply but falls silent at a look from the Shaitan. Nardukha circles me and Aladdin, his train of smoke coiling around us.

“My beautiful jinni,” he murmurs. His voice is wind on hot coals, sparking and sighing. “More powerful than any other, made of fire and water, of earth and air. Why have you defied me?”

The horde of jinn raise a chatter, like the hissing and clicking of cockroaches, that rustles through the air. Nardukha silences them with a single uplifted hand.

“Why does it matter so much to you?” I ask. “What are you so afraid of?”

But even as I say it, the answer hits me like a dash of icy water.

Nardukha fears the Forbidden Wish.

It is the one wish he cannot stop from happening, because the magic behind it is older, older even than he. It is a power far greater than any the Shaitan could wield. And love, love makes people do stupid things, like sacrifice themselves for one another. Nardukha fears love because he fears it will lead to the Forbidden Wish and my freedom.

For the first time, I realize I might be strong enough to defeat him.

If I were to let Aladdin make the wish, giving his life in exchange for mine, perhaps I could defeat Nardukha then.

But I already know I won’t let that happen. The price is not one I am willing to pay.

“You have broken the first rule of the jinn,” rumbles the Shaitan, his voice dangerously low. He stops in front of me. “And you must be punished.”

Before I can say another word, his hand wraps around my arm.

“Let her go!” shouts Aladdin, grabbing Nardukha’s arm and hissing when the Shaitan’s skin burns his hand. Zhian steps forward and easily knocks Aladdin to the ground, and Aladdin’s head strikes the stone hard. Smirking, Zhian pulls the lamp away from the thief. The bond between Aladdin and me unravels, and I’m left suspended, neither confined to my lamp nor bonded to a new master, for my wish-granting power is meant only for humans, not jinn. At least that’s something to be grateful for. I don’t have to feel Zhian’s will invading my own.

“Zahra is mine, boy,” Nardukha says. “I created her. And in my benevolence, I allow you dismal creatures to borrow her. But as always, you grow greedy.”

“She doesn’t belong to you,” Aladdin declares, rising to his feet, his temple bleeding. “She belongs to no one.”