Rhiannon, though, she was my rock. I grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze of thanks.
My mother wrinkled her nose as she surveyed the scorched and baren landscape. “Are we in hell?”
I shrugged. “The Realm of Fire. So essentially, yes.”
Spark waddled over and narrowed his eyes. The Realm is very beautiful. You could lounge on the white sand beaches that surround the ever-burning kerosene seas. Or take a hot mud bath in the steaming caldera lakes where the Fire-Birds hatch their young.
I choked on a laugh. “Spark makes it sound like toxic Cancun, but I don’t know.”
The little dragon glared at me.
My mother frowned. “Why here? It’s so… uh… unpopulated.”
“It’s not ideal, but it was the safest place I could think of in the moment,” Damian explained. “If we ran for one of the three portals in Merchant Town, our pursuers could have followed us through. And Magic Side isn’t safe right now for Neve. I knew Spark and I could use our magic to transport us to the Realm of Fire.”
My father was about to ask something, but my mom quieted him with a wave and interjected. “Why isn’t Magic Side safe for Neve? She told us she was a detective. She’s not being pursued by criminals, is she?”
Her voice was tight, and I couldn’t help but glance at Damian.
Oh fates. Separate circles. Separate circles.
I needed to explain the bigger picture, but I hadn’t wanted to go over everything in the mines. There had been no time, and I didn’t want to worry my parents. We had enough on our plate.
But where to start?
I dragged my hand through my hair. Summary was best. “Essentially, I’m being hunted by a half-demon mage who is collecting genies. He’s created some sort of plane of chaos and is preparing to invade Magic Side. We have to stop him. He almost trapped me this morning.”
My mother’s eyes bugged out. “And here I thought we were deep in the mud.”
The hot wind sprayed a dusting of sand across the hardened lava, and I took a slow breath. It was time to ask the big question.
I turned to my father, pushing hope down in my chest. “I have no idea how to control my genie magic, and I know nothing about my gifts. I’m terrified the mage is going to bind me before I can figure things out. You’re part-djinn, too… can you help?”
My father smiled with saddened eyes. “When you were a child, I dreamt of teaching you to fly one day and how to channel the wind. But I suspect you have far surpassed my skill already. As to granting wishes, only a true djinn can teach you that. It’s been generations since one emerged from our line, and the secrets of that magic are well guarded. I hate to say it, but we should probably visit your great-great-great grandmother, Mavia. She’s a djinn queen and has centuries of knowledge.”
I never knew I had a grandparent. Elation replaced the sinking sense of failure in my heart. “I’m related to a queen? Holy fates.”
My mother screwed up her face like a skunk had just gone nuclear. “Unfortunately, yes.”
My father turned to her and narrowed his eyes. “Mavia’s our best chance for helping Neve, dear.”
“Oh, to be sure, but maybe I’ll just head back to the mines while you visit.”
He shrugged apologetically. “Queen Mavia can be—”
“A horrid bitch?” my mother suggested.
My father winced. “Yes, she can be difficult.”
I shook my head. “Difficult doesn’t matter. I can handle difficult. Until I understand my powers, we’re all in peril. Queen Mavia sounds like my best shot. How do I find her?”
My father tugged at his beard. “She lives in an ice palace—”
“Which is fitting,” my mother interjected.
He glared but continued. “A magnificent palace in the upper reaches of the Realm of Air. I can take you there, but perhaps not everyone.”
“This could help.” Damian waved his hand in the air, and a shimmering book materialized from the ether. The Atlas of the Planes.
He opened it to the Realm of Air and laid it down on the black rock. “Alain, can you pick out her location? Between you, Neve, and myself, we should be able to transport all of us. I don’t like the idea of splitting up.”
My father eyed him suspiciously. “You’re a man of many talents, Mr. Malek. A fallen angel and a planes-walker? That is unusual.”
Damian shrugged, and my stomach knotted.
Before the loaded question train pulled to a complete stop at the station, I hurried over to the Atlas and looked real interested. “Where’s Mavia’s palace?”
My father nodded, crouched down, and tapped his finger on the map. “Here. On the Island of Argyre.”
I bit my lip and nodded. “Then that’s where we’re headed.”
11
Damian
We stumbled from the ether and biting cold cut my skin.
We arrived in the middle of a teleportation platform perched on a jagged promontory at the far end of a floating island.
Neve shivered. I placed my palm at the base of her back and pushed a little warmth into her with my fire magic. She could draw on it herself, but she was transfixed with the view.
She shivered and turned to me, her cheeks flushed. Desire and need flashed through her eyes, and I fought the urge to wrap her in my arms.
The palace of Queen Mavia towered above the glassy mist. It was a tall, twisting spire perched precariously on an icy crag. The patchwork light gave its austere form an opalescent glow.
A rainbow of light filtered through the icy mist that covered the ground. It reminded me of the cloud towers of the angels. Not that I would ever venture into those realms again.
Facing that tower, Neve shone like a queen. Her red hair whipped in the bitter wind, the most brilliant color in the cold and drab expanse. She was like the sun breaking through the clouds.
Rhiannon sucked in a deep breath and coughed on the frigid air. She grabbed Neve’s arm to steady herself. “I think—no—I know that I truly hate planes-walking.”
“Feeling a little rough?” I asked. Her face was ashen. Planes-walking took some getting used to.
She groaned. “That’s three times today. Earth. Fire. Air. We can collect the whole set in one trip if we head to water next. Maybe nobody will notice me vomit there.”
“Please don’t do it here,” Neve teased. “It would freeze straight to the ground.”
Rhia covered her mouth. “Gods, Neve. I may never be able to eat a Chicago dog again.”
Tinaya sidled up to her daughter. “Isn’t it delightful here? What more could you ask for? If I had unlimited resources and was going to create an enormous palace, I would make one just like this. Who needs things like beaches, warm water, and living plants or animals, when you can have so many different types of ice and snow?”
A winding path of steps descended from the teleportation platform down to the palace. Everything was sheathed in ice, but that was easily taken care of.
Neve jumped as I summoned the efreet’s magic and bathed the icy steps in flame. Water melted away, instantly freezing again in rivulets as it ran down the sides of the stairs.
Tinaya leaned close to Neve and whispered, “He’d make a good groundskeeper. Strange, though, for an angel to have fire magic.”
Neve’s face tightened.
She expertly dodged the question. “I can channel fire magic, too. From my familiar.”
Her tattoos illuminated with red light as she summoned Spark’s magic though their bond. She quickly joined me at the steps, melting a path with blasts of fire.
She leaned close and muttered, “My folks are curious about you.”
Quite.
I moved down a few stairs to give her space. “Perhaps trying to kiss me wasn’t wise.”
She gave me a demur smile from above. “Perhaps. But it would have been nice.”
I couldn’t help but gaze at her lips, flushed with the warmth of her fire.
Yes, it would have been nice.
Those lips would have stolen my breath, warm and wet, and pressed against mine. Her tongue would have grazed mine, and there would have been nothing left in the world.
Heat flashed through me, but in that moment, surrounded by her family, I knew that I was an intruder in their story. A thing that children were taught to fear. A monster.
I could tell by the light in Neve’s eyes that something broken had been made whole. Her parents had given her something that I could never give her. Something threatened by my very presence. I wouldn’t destroy that for her.
I was playing with fire, and it was time to stop.
Her gaze sought mine, and I shook my head. “It’s best if I leave. The marid king knew instantly what I was and banished me from his realm. Queen Mavia might do the same. My presence may cause problems.”
Not only that, but I had to find Matthias so I could ram my blade through his heart. Only then would Neve be safe from us both.
“Don’t leave. If I have to face a djinn queen, I want you there at my side.” She tried joining me on the step, but I shifted further down the melted path.
“That’s probably the last place I should be.”
Suddenly, I could barely stand to be this close to her. Her signature raged around me, a deadly siren’s song. Except I wasn’t the one being lured to my death.
I poured my frustration into the fire.
Why had fate cursed me with this relentless desire? The dragon within me was like a rabid beast, writhing and screaming to be let free.
No. I wouldn’t allow it.
Neve pushed the mist away as we approached Mavia’s palace. The landscape was pure ice. It coated the walls and towers. Light reflections danced across the frozen world, and the whole tower seemed to glow.
While the light of the Illumined One had been flat and lifeless, the light here was playful and full of color.
As we approached the massive entryway, a loud crack split the air, and the doors of the palace shook. Their coating of ice broke away and crumbled to the ground, as one of the doors swung inward.
The hairs on my neck stood on end. “Apparently, our arrival has been noticed.”
Tinaya kicked one of the chunks that had been covering the door. The broken edge revealed dozens of thin layers, built up over time, like banded sandstone.
“The ice over the door is pretty thick. Doesn’t seem anyone has come by in a long time.” She glanced at Alain, a smile on her lips. “I wonder why?”
My father fixed her with a flat stare, but his eyes were laughing. “Please, remember civility, dear. I don’t want us to end up in another prison. I’ve heard all your jokes a thousand times.”
Neve looked away, hiding tears in her eyes. I could almost feel her emotion in her magic. Joy and sorrow.
My heart twisted. She had missed so much.
What would her life have been like with parents like these—parents who could still laugh and have light in their eyes after fifteen years of servitude and torment?
Neve bit her lip, focusing on the ground.
To lose her freedom was one thing, but to have these people ripped from her life… I wouldn’t let that happen. If I had to sell my soul to the heavens or hells, I wouldn’t let Matthias have her.
Neve slipped through the door, her father following right behind.
This could be a trap. I raced forward into the darkness, my eyes taking a second to adjust after the blinding white of the ice. I stopped cold in my tracks.
Two enormous ice devils blocked our path, frozen spikes protruding from their craggy limbs. One stepped toward Neve.
I whipped my black sword from the ether, and fire erupted from the blade. The memory of the attack on the Jewel of Tayir fueled my rage.
“Wait!” Alain’s voice cracked through the air with an unexpected tone of command. “These are the queen’s servants.”
He turned to the devils. “We’re here to see Queen Mavia. We seek urgent assistance. Let us pass.”
The ice devils drew their cavernous eyes toward Neve, and her hands flickered with Spark’s fire magic.
The ice devil’s voice rumbled like an avalanche. “Fire is forbidden outside of the queen’s hearths.”
My palms itched. Something made me want to cut them down, but these weren’t the same monsters that had attacked Neve when we were aboard the Jewel. Probably.
Gritting my teeth, I dismissed my blade. Neve followed, releasing the fire from her hands.
The devils loomed over Alain. “Your identity is known. If you will vouch for your companions, proceed.”
He stared up, unafraid. “I do. Let us pass.”
A pair of human attendants in fur-lined robes swept into the room and led us on. What kind of people chose to serve in a place like this?
We left the cold and silent entranceway and entered a great hall. Six great hearths blazed with magical fires that consumed no wood.
Sunlight streamed in through the high stained-glass windows, creating lively patterns of light along the stone walls. In comparison to the monochrome ice world outside, the hall was a vibrant picture in light.
Perhaps the palace was only frozen on the outside.
The attendants swung open the doors to a colonnaded throne room. And there, upon a dais of frozen shards, sat Queen Mavia.
Fearsome, statuesque, and indomitable.
With a glare as cold as ice.
12
Neve
The warmth of the great hall vanished as the throne room doors swung open.
My breath caught. Queen Mavia.
The air in the room seethed with power, and the queen’s signature slammed into me like an avalanche. My mind whirled, disoriented and lost.
Her magic was frigid. Not like the ice around us, but cold like iron in the depth of winter. So cold your flesh would freeze to it instantly, and you’d have to rip your skin to free your hand. It sounded like the howling winter wind and tasted like fresh snow. Yet there was a warm hint of allspice, and something about it felt almost… indescribable. Like the strength of snowdrops pushing up in spring. She was resplendent. Her face, perfection. Posture immaculate.
The ice around her throne was ever changing. Melting from her warmth and refreezing in crystalline forms. This woman terrified me in ways the djinn never had. Her power felt inevitable and absolute.
Could she be my ally in all this?
“Enter.” Her voice cut through the air like shattering icicles.
I stepped into the throne room and noticed we weren’t alone.
Ice devils lurked in the corners of the room, clinging to the walls like spiders. Four attendants held a pair of massive, hairy mastiffs at bay. Incongruously, a small dog sat on the Queen’s lap, tongue out and eyes delighting in the world around it. She scratched its head and shot me a quick glare that made me snap to attention.
“I was tending my ice gardens. To what do I owe this intrusion?” Queen Mavia’s voice was strong but brittle, showing little patience.
My father bowed, while my mother stared straight ahead. “I am Alain. It has been many years since I was here last, Great Grandmother.”
Mavia studied my parents with a relentless, penetrating stare. They went pale, and I could almost imagine frost forming on their features.
“I know who you are. You have not aged well, Alain. Nor you, Tinaya. What is it that you want? Your time in this room is short.”
Mavia’s gaze was focused on my parents, but somehow it raised goosebumps on my skin like she was staring straight at me.
My father bowed his head again. “Forgive us for not paying respects sooner. We were trapped for fifteen years in the mines of the Illumined One.”
Her eyes flashed a deep blue, and I swore ice began cracking throughout the throne room. Her voice emerged in a thin growl. “How dare that lit-up lizard imprison my kin! I will make my merchants squeeze him for all he is worth. The disrespect he shows me is unconscionable.”
Mavia leaned back in her throne with an exasper
ated huff. “It is a wonder that you survived, considering the weakness of your lineage. How did you find yourself in such a perilous and foolish predicament?”
Fury trickled down my spine. How dare she speak to my parents this way.
Mavia’s eyes flicked my direction for a fraction of a second. Had she sensed my anger?
My mother muttered something under her breath, but my father gently squeezed her arm. “We were searching for our missing daughter, and we were captured.”
My gut wrenched. Fifteen years of their lives, destroyed, because of me. I used to be so angry that they never came for me. The hard truth was they couldn’t, because they had gone looking and wound up trapped in the Realm of Earth.
Bitterness pulled at me. Everything I touched turned to dust.
The queen seemed to be losing interest and started motioning to one of her servants at the back. “Ah. Then how did you escape? Or are you some form of tribute from the Illumined One? I’m not paying anything in exchange for you.”
“Our daughter found us. Rescued us. We brought her here for an introduction. This is Nevaeh.” My father pushed me forward.
Mavia’s disinterested eyes narrowed as she turned on me with her icy stare. I was sure she’d been watching me out of the corner of her eye, but now that I had her full attention, I withered a little under the frost of her glare.
“You,” she said, clearly unimpressed.
“Me.”
She was in front of me before I had time to even draw a breath. Her magic crushed in around me, and I felt the blood drain from my skin.
She snatched my chin in her hand and wrenched my face up to meet her gaze.
“You are a true djinn, though new and weak-spined. Acting like a shy girl of six and hiding behind your parents. That said, I am honestly surprised your linage produced anything of value. Thin genes. Like tea from a second brewing. I can see it in your hair.”
This was the woman who was supposed to help me master my powers?
Screw that.
Broken Skies (Dragon's Gift: The Storm Book 4) Page 8