by Ann Denton
I crushed Blue to my chest, smothering him in a hug. No matter what my mother had done, she’d have never done that to me. My anger at Raj flared.
Declan’s voice was thoughtful. “Could Avia be part dragon? If the dragon isn’t the fourth brother … if the ring didn’t recall him … is the dragon we fought actually her mother or father?”
My chest tightened. Dragons had vicious instincts. Lady Agatha hadn’t been wrong when she’d suggested it was unusual that a dragon let Avia live.
Sarding hell. Is my baby sister a dragon? I wondered. I’d always considered dragons to be monsters. They’d stolen my birth father from me.
Donaloo burst into laughter. “Don’t be ridiculous! Dragons are so conspicuous! The evil you seek has lost its name and has no power over fire or flame.”
The wizard wove through us, dismissing our serious conversation with a wave of his hand as he carried Shiter toward Fuzzy. He waved a finger at the two animals. “You two have far to go. You should not be here, no, no no. Say goodbye, goodbye and without a cry.”
He enlarged a ring and put it on Shiter’s paw, then thinned it until it disappeared under the purple-grey fur. He put a black ring on Furry’s claw and did the same. “Twenty-four hours and no more, for you to find what fate has in store.” He patted Fuzzy on the rump and walked to the hall door.
“Wait!” I called. Donaloo turned to look back at me.
“If all these men are half-djinn, can’t they just wish themselves back to human?”
Declan spoke as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “No. Djinn can’t make wishes for themselves.”
I looked at Blue, “I could wish for you!”
Blue gave a sad little tweet and nipped my finger in thanks. At least I assumed it was thanks.
“A wish itself wouldn’t be enough to undo the powerful magic surrounding you,” Donaloo shook his head sadly at little Blue before he continued, “Only a true heart will do.”
“And isn’t there an awful price every time a half-djinn gives out a wish?” Declan asked. “I thought I read somewhere that every wish granted cost a living nightmare. It’s why it’s so hard to get half djinn to give out their wishes.”
I turned to the bluebird for confirmation. Blue gave a single nod of his head.
A wish wouldn’t save him.
My poor little feathered friend. I stroked his belly. It looked like this prince would be stuck as a bird forever.
Chapter Nineteen
Donaloo ruined the contemplative moment by shouting, “Now, to the Mage’s tower! Like the bloom of a flower!” Donaloo disappeared with an “Oop—” that got cut off.
“Sard!” My heart fell. I didn’t think he meant to do that.
We all exchanged a concerned glance.
“I think we need to reconsider whether we’re going to have him help—” Declan’s sentence was cut off as an earthquake shook the castle.
“Shite!” Ryan yelled, coming forward to protect me as furniture toppled over.
When the waves had settled, and the earth stopped undulating, we all shared a look.
Donaloo, Quinn thought.
That sarding wizard better not have just destroyed my castle, I seethed.
We ran, jostling one another. We hurried through the castle toward Cerena’s tower, the menagerie bounding along behind us, guards trailing them. I ignored the stares of the courtiers we passed. They were all shaken by the earthquake anyway.
When we reached the base of the mage’s spire, we could immediately tell what was wrong. The entire tower had turned into a giant mass of vines. Flowering plants had erupted through the stone floor. Bright pink coral honeysuckle, drooping purple wisteria blossoms, orange trumpets, flowers every color of the rainbow bloomed on the tower. In midwinter.
Cerena came down the newly moss-covered steps, her eyes wide. She forgot to hide her limp as she stared in shock at the walls. Her hand pulsed with an orb of fire, that she wielded like a weapon.
One of the orange trumpet flowers suddenly shot off the vine and swallowed the flame in her hand. It glowed, expanding until the flame was a bright ball inside its petals. Then it belched out a puff of smoke and fell to the ground with a sigh.
“What the sard—” Connor whispered next to me. It was a sign of shock that he was cursing in public. Connor never cursed in public. I grabbed his hand.
“Fire eaters,” Declan peered closer at the orange flowers. “Interesting.” Of course, he would find a damned magical flower interesting after everything that happened.
“What in the sard is going on? Who in the sarding hell is this?” Cerena yelled when she saw me.
She jerked her head toward Donaloo, who was following her, a bit of a bewildered grin on his face as his hand traced over some yellow flowers.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself not to sigh in public. Guards surrounded us and no doubt courtiers were running this way. Isla’s entourage was still packing to leave. Every single one of my provinces had a duchess or duke here.
“He volunteered to be your new assistant.”
Cerena’s nostrils flared and I could sense a fit of rage coming on. I let go of Connor and quickly walked over.
I grabbed Cerena hands, guiding her around several haphazard stones in the floor that had been displaced by the quake. I led her away from Donaloo toward a window.
“He’s a wizard,” I whispered. “A true wizard. We found him living in the clouds—”
“His head’s certainly there.”
“Literally. His house was levitated into the clouds and he’s three hundred, or so we believe—”
“Ew! Three hundred! He pinched my ass,” Cerena looked horrified.
“I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I.”
I tilted my head and stared, silently reproaching her. “He can help. He offered to help us with the dragon that took my sister.”
“You honestly trust this witless fool?” she gestured at the wizard.
Donaloo was fingering the yellow blooms and the vine started glowing. A crowd gathered behind him. Suddenly, the vine shivered and let out an ear-piercing shriek. We all covered our ears.
Donaloo shushed the flower, but I had to blast it with peace before it settled down.
When I did that, Donaloo accidentally stepped into the green light. That made him go limp, which made him trip. That meant he fell right into a magenta flower that started to smolder. As did Donaloo’s sleeve. He yelped and jumped, and the smolder on his arm was fed with air, turning into a bright flame.
Declan held out his hand, lighting the room up in a blaze of yellow. Water splashed down on all of us, soaking our clothes. As usual, Declan overdid it with his power. We stood in a good two inches of water afterward. My slippers were soaked.
Cerena turned to look at me, pushing her sodden hair out of her face. “Are you sure you want him here?”
I rubbed the water from my eyes. “No. But, we need the help.”
She gritted her teeth. “He asked me about the prisoner.”
I widened my eyes. “We hadn’t mentioned that.”
She glanced behind me and suddenly Quinn was next to me.
I looked at Quinn. He knows about Abbas. I told him we had a problem with a djinni. But I didn’t tell him we had one imprisoned.
Quinn put a comforting hand on my back and thought, He can be trusted.
My eyes wandered toward the flood and the Donaloo’s burnt sleeve meaningfully.
Quinn shook his head. I promise. His thoughts are all good. Ask Connor.
I waved Connor over.
“Have you sensed any deception from Donaloo?” I whispered.
Connor shook his head. “No. But are we worried about deception or competence here?”
I sighed.
Quinn reiterated, His thoughts are clear. Not muddled like his actions.
You’re sure?
I’m sure.
You trust him?
Yes.
I stared at Quinn a lo
ng moment, but his eyes didn’t waver. He meant it.
“Quinn says you can trust him,” I told Cerena.
I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t think the old man meant any harm. He was powerful. But at the same time … he’d just turned my tower into a flower pot. And then set himself on fire. I didn’t think he was incredibly reliable. But Quinn was my knight. And he and Connor had powers I didn’t.
And what was love if not trust? I trusted them.
Cerena thought differently. She shook her head and rolled her eyes but marched back up the stairs, grumbling the whole way.
Donaloo followed and Quinn held out his arm to escort me up.
Where is she going? I asked Quinn.
I had her seal the djinni in the container we captured him in. Then she hid it in her tower. Hopefully Donaloo knows how to extract more information from him.
The stairs underneath our feet suddenly become covered in bright green clover. A deer appeared out of nowhere and bounded down the steps, forcing Quinn and I to push apart and hug the wall so we wouldn’t be trampled.
This might be a bad idea. He’s turning the palace into a woodland forest.
First off, the animals showed up before he came. You can’t say that’s on him. That Raj’s fault. And secondly … he fixed me, Quinn’s mental voice was tight, tense. He’s incredibly powerful.
I don’t doubt that. I mean, feel this. I ran my hand over the flowers. They felt completely real. Until I touched a purple one and the petals suddenly shuddered. The petals moved and rearranged themselves and a tiny pixie popped up, fluttering purple flower petal wings. She reached back and unsheathed a sword that had looked like a yellow stamen on her back. “Do not touch!” she growled.
I held up my hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
She narrowed her eyes but sheathed the sword and returned to her place on the vine, her wings settling back again until she looked like nothing more than a flower again.
I widened my eyes and shared a look with Quinn.
He just raised an eyebrow. Built in tower defense, he thought, smugly, defending his hero.
Built in tower insanity, I thought, but tried hard not to project that thought to him.
I simply kept walking up the stairs, all my knights following behind.
We entered Cerena’s chamber, me doubting the sanity of one of the magicians. Walking into her room only made me begin to doubt them both.
Donaloo stood to the side of the room, unconcerned. Cerena was throwing things, pulling her room apart at the seams. “It was here!” she shouted. “I had it!” She threw aside a large chameleon skin, an animal paw, and a bronze contraption that looked suspiciously like a penis.
Cerena whirled around, limped toward me, her eyes livid. “He’s gone!”
She held up an empty beer stein.
“The slave defies his master only to find a new one. Rebellions require obedience and expedience, ingredients for deviance.”
I didn’t even listen to Donaloo’s drivel. The sight of the empty stein was a lance to my gut. The djinn, fake Abbas, whoever he was, had escaped.
I met Quinn’s eyes. His were blazing.
There’s no sarding way he got out of that himself! Declan and I checked the spells and watch her seal him in.
What’s that mean?
Someone freed him.
Chapter Twenty
It hit me. Isla. That’s why she was here. Why she’d come so quickly and suddenly. Why she’d broken protocol. She’d come to free the djinni.
I wanted to use her crown to smack her across the face. That bitch. That sarding clever bitch made me waste away in meetings with her … I tried to think past my anger and put the pieces together.
I’d survived and captured Abbas. She and Raj hadn’t planned on that. Maybe they’d planned to plunder Evaness for resources or just take over. But either way, a powerful magical slave wasn’t something they’d want to lose.
I turned to Cerena and demanded, “Has Isla been here? Any of her people?”
“Just your friend and her father.”
Ember. Donovon. Ember had already gone. My heart constricted at the thought that she might have done it.
I looked at Connor. “Didn’t you say Sedara executed her family?”
He nodded gravely, “For smuggling.”
Ice ran through my veins. It was her. It had to be her.
“Get her father locked up.”
Ryan nodded. “I can have his quarters searched.
I knotted my fingers. “We should search all of her people. One of them might have it on their person.” I said it, even though my gut told me Ember had taken it. We couldn’t chance that. We couldn’t let them get Abbas back in their clutches. He’d already nearly killed me twice. I didn’t know if I’d get lucky a third time.
Connor grabbed my shoulder. “Bloss Boss, think carefully. I don’t think we can do that. If we publicly accuse Rasle and don’t find proof, we’re offending a country already prepared for war.”
“Their soldiers are on the shores, away from us! Preparing to go across the ocean,” I threw my hands out in frustration. I wanted nothing more than to tear apart Isla’s gowns and find that evil, sharp-toothed djinni.
Isla’s not stupid. She came her to take your measure, distract you, and free that djinni. It doesn’t mean she won’t attack you. She has back up plans in place, I’m certain.
I turned to Donaloo. “Rasle and Cheryn have amassed troops on the beach. Who are they going to fight?”
“Why ask a question, when the answer’s already known? Those who seek power always seek to topple the one who sits on the highest throne.” Donaloo’s answer confirmed everything we’d suspected.
They were going to attack Sedara. But sarding hell, Quinn was right. I couldn’t jump into accusing other monarchs when I didn’t have proof in-hand. I’d look crazy. Unfit. I needed to know more. I needed to know what they thought their trump card was.
I stared again at the wizard, “Who are Avia’s real parents?”
“What creature’s unseen in the deep, deep dark? What creatures have black minds but the voices of larks?”
Could he mean dragons? They live in caves? Fairies? I asked Quinn.
Declan will have to—
Yes. I know. Look it up. Wait! I have an idea!
I touched Donaloo’s unburnt sleeve. “My mother was supposed to have left documents for me. Confidential documents left in the care of her mage. He passed before I got them. I understand they were concealed with magic. Possibly in this tower. Do you think you could retrieve them?”
Donaloo gave a happy grin and dance. “Mother to daughter, secrets revealed. Knowledge unlocked and scrolls unsealed.”
Scrolls and papers fell from the ceiling of the mage’s tower, twirling and falling lightly like snow.
I snatched one out of thin air.
Answers! We’ll finally get sarding answers! I thought.
But no sooner did Cerena reach out to grab a page than the entire mass of parchment transformed into a swarm of bees.
I screamed and covered my head as buzzing filled my ears.
Quinn swatted one away and was immediately stung. He grabbed his sore hand.
The rest of my knights flung their hands out to protect their faces. The bees grew angry at the intrusion. They attacked.
Stings rained down on my head and neck. I swatted the bees, screeching at them. I lashed out, blasting the room with so much peace power that everyone swayed. The bees clattered to the floor, turning back into pages once they hit the stones. I swooped down, grabbing several, ignoring the gashes in my wrists and the pain from a wound deep in my thigh. Declan did the same, albeit slowly. He was dazed from the peace magic.
Ryan scooped me up and started healing me despite my protests.
“You’re getting blood all over the pages!” he scolded.
I forced myself to be still and take deep breaths. My heart calmed down as my wounds closed.
We’
re close to answers, I told myself. The closest we’ve been.
But the moment Donaloo bent and picked up a page, they turned into ants. The little black insects scurried around the room, slipping into cracks, crawling onto the vines, disappearing into the flowers and disturbing the purple pixies.
“A very thorough protection spell,” Cerena looked appreciative. Not angry. Like she should have. As I felt.
Sarding shite.
Our answers were getting lost in the flower petals and leaves. I lunged out of Ryan’s arms, only half-healed from my gashes, eyes locked on an ant. I squished it against a vine in the wall. It turned back into a page under my fingers. “Squish them!” I cried.
Everyone fell to stomping and smacking—everyone but Donaloo and Cerena who froze after Declan yelled, “Not you! The pages are protected from you!”
I was somewhat surprised they listened. But I didn’t have time to analyze. I was too busy smacking ants on the floor.
Declan tried to shake a purple vine, and that sent a whole group of pixies flying at him. His shirt was shredded in seconds by their tiny yellow swords and he released the vine, backing away. Donaloo tried to get out of his way and backed into a blue and green vine, which sprayed mist out over us. A mist which smelled very much like skunk.
The door swung open. Jorad appeared. His lip curled when he smelled us. It curled further when he had the opportunity to look around the room and saw us. “The party from Rasle are ready to take their leave. I suppose I should have them wait, while you all get … as clean as might be possible.”
Sard it all. Of course. Rasle was leaving. I had a dinner with my duchesses to attend. And I smelled like a chamber pot. I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath through my nose. I had to decide if I wanted to offend Isla by making her wait or offend her by appearing like this.
I looked down at the two tiny bits of parchment in my hand. They were all I’d retrieved. My knights had similar results. Most of the pages had been lost.
My eyes scanned one of the scraps I held. I wasn’t ready to decide yet what the hell I was going to do with Isla. All I really wanted was proof she was going to war. Proof she’d ordered that djinni to attack. Proof enough so I could lock her in my dungeon.