If this was how I was going to go, then I would be the one to say them, not some demon bastard.
My throat caught as an idea burst to light.
Matthias had taught me how to bind a djinn. Once bound to an object, a genie couldn’t be bound to another. Frantic hope surged through me.
What if I cast the spell first?
On myself. I had no idea what would happen, but Matthias wouldn’t be able to bind me if I was already bound.
But bound to myself? Would that work, or was it sheer madness?
The iron chains pulled me down to within twenty feet of Matthias. This was it. Madness didn’t matter anymore.
I knew the incantation by heart, but the spell also required a powerful object and something precious. Matthias had an enchanted bottle and my old khanjar.
I summoned the khanjar Damian had made for me—a powerful object that I could keep safe in the ether. I ripped Rhiannon’s necklace from my neck—the most precious thing I owned.
My throat suddenly tightened as a phantom collar formed around my neck and translucent cuffs wrapped around my wrists. It was almost over.
Triumph shone in Matthias eyes.
This madness was my only shot. I stopped fighting against the iron chains and poured all my exhausted anger and terror into resisting his binding spell. Pressing the opal against my dagger, I shouted the words of the incantation I knew so well.
My voice boomed like thunder, but I didn’t recognize any of the words I said. I didn’t speak the incantation as Matthias had taught me.
I spoke the language of the djinn, the song of creation—the unwritten language that had once divided day from night, that had once divided the sky and the land and the sea.
The unearthly words hung like sunlight in the air.
I’d spoken the language only twice before—when I’d healed Damian and when I’d banished the marid, but it was part of my soul. It was the language of magic and life and possibility.
My tongue wove the complex incantation into five simple words that had been true since the dawn of time.
“I am my own master.”
26
Neve
Time stilled.
Not even the sky breathed.
Then the universe exploded outward. I gasped as the vast power of the cosmos ripped through me. My tattoos flared like dying stars, and my body shook with magic.
My binding spell wrapped around me and my khanjar, an impregnable armor against Matthias. Against anyone who would ever try to dominate me. A truth so powerful that no one could ever take it from me.
The bonds of Matthias’s spell shattered as if they were nothing.
Possibilities rose and fell around me like waves on the ocean. Never had I felt so alive. So free. So limitless.
I touched the chains around my legs, and they crumbled to rust—nothing more than red dust filtering down from the sky.
Light poured from my eyes as I saw the world for what it was. All the possibilities of reality.
And I turned on Matthias. “You.”
His useless, pathetic incantation died on his lips.
Fury surged through my body, so much that I could no longer contain it. The clouds around me billowed into thunderheads, dark and ominous. Lightning leapt from my skin.
Matthias saw my true form and fled. But the sky was mine to command.
I snapped my fingers, and the thunderhead formed into a massive arm, mine to control. I reached out with it and snatched Matthias from the sky.
He writhed in the grip of the clouds, and I felt him struggling in the palm of my hand as if he were there, gripped like a doll. If I closed my fist, I would crush him like a bug. He was nothing compared to my power. My voice boomed like thunder. “You are mine.”
The skies quaked and lightning burst around him, and Matthias screamed in horror. I pressed my thumb against his chest, and he gasped, his scream stifled.
A torrent of rage, power, and elation surged through my veins.
“Mercy!” he cried.
Anger consumed me, and lightning lashed out with each of my words. “Three times you tried to bind me. You gave me over to the efreet to be tortured, to be a plaything. You unleashed the genies on Magic Side, and you were going to tear the city down with an army of demons. You deserve no mercy.”
“I was trying to create a new world for our kind!”
I squeezed the breath from his lungs so I wouldn’t have to listen to his words anymore. “Look around, Matthias. You’ve created nothing but chaos and destruction!”
I could end it all. That was justice. Pleasure poured through me as I started to squeeze the clouds tighter around him.
Then a new emotion rolled across my skin. A pleasure so pure that vengeance was like dust in my mouth. It came with the scent of ancient forests, the sound of crashing waves, and a whiskey voice that was so smooth it felt like silk wrapped around me. “Neve.”
He was here.
Damian rose before me on flaming wings.
“Damian.” My voice broke, no longer a thunderclap. No longer stronger than a breeze. “You’re alive.”
He grinned. “It was only a small dragon. No match for mine—and I wanted to be back with you, more than anything in the world.”
Radiant warmth flowed through me. But there was time for this later. I looked back at Matthias. “I have him.”
“I knew you would. Now it’s time to deliver him to the angels.”
The world reeled around me.
We’d actually won.
The gateway below had crumbled, and the remaining demons had fled. Matthias was alone, as I had been moments before.
One quick squeeze, and he would never hurt anyone again. He didn’t deserve justice or mercy. He had blood on his hands.
But if I did this, so would I. Could I live with that?
I’d made a blood oath to Zara. I’d cut my hand and bound it to hers. She had given up her father for the promise that he wouldn’t be killed.
I didn’t care about the blood oath. Nothing in this world could bind me anymore, not Matthias’s spell or demon magic. But I’d spent my life longing for my parents, and I wouldn’t do the same to Zara.
I met Damian’s eyes and nodded. With a snap of my fingers, the cloud hand swept Matthias forward until he was inches from my face. I tightened the clouds around him, and he gasped.
“You. Cannot. Escape,” I spat each word with venom, surprised at the hatred in my voice.
Matthias’s face was hollow and ashen, too defeated to exhibit anything like shock or fury or remorse.
I ripped away my tattered sleeve and shoved it into his mouth. “And that’s in case you were going to try casting a spell.”
He mumbled something and struggled in the grip of the clouds.
I assumed it was biting sarcasm, so I squeezed harder for good measure, and he groaned sharply.
“Let me make this clear. Your daughter is the only reason you’re still alive.”
His eyes widened in horror, and my stomach churned. I fought through my unease. “But that scenario depends on you cooperating. Hand over the genies.”
He growled a muffled “no” through the wad of cloth.
I closed my fist, and he moaned in pain. My ribs were broken and every breath I took hurt, so I was damn keen to repay the favor.
I leaned close as he writhed. “Is it really worth taking them to your grave? They won’t help you anymore, here or there.”
He glared for several seconds, fury and pain burning in his eyes. Then his whole body slumped. He tried moving a hand, so I relaxed my grip.
Matthias summoned an ornate bronze box from the ether, and I quickly took it from him. He was gagged, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
It was the box Damian and I had retrieved from the caverns in Cappadocia, the one I’d used to trap the djinn.
The box was ruined. The metal was twisted and burnt, and the hinges were broken. I could still sense a hint of frankincense and tobacco, but I co
uld tell from the signature the djinn was truly gone.
I’d destroyed one of my own kind.
That killed me inside, but Damian had given him a chance at freedom once. The djinn had kidnapped Rhiannon and four others. He’d tried to murder and entrap me.
The djinn had been a monster, but he hadn’t asked to become Matthias’s tool. Guilt crystalized in my gut. I was going to have to face it one day, but not today.
Today, I had to put things right.
I handed the broken box to Damian. “Where is the other one? The marid.”
Matthias shot daggers at me with his eyes. A sharp squeeze set him gagging on the wadded cloth, reminding him who was in control.
He summoned the ivory bottle we’d recovered from Helwan.
Then the bastard dropped it.
The bottle spiraled down through the sky. I stopped it midair with a small eddy of wind. I was queen of the sky, after all. Still, it was a dick move.
Damian scoffed. “You’re really an asshole, Matthias.”
A trace of delight flickered in the iron mage’s eyes.
It didn’t matter.
I retrieved the bottle. It was still intact, and I could sense that the marid was alive. And now, mine to command.
Damian pulled a couple of long, heavy zip ties from his back pocket and bound Matthias hands and feet as I looked down at the portal below.
Smoke and bursts of magic surrounded the great ring. Our battle wasn’t over.
“I have to close the gateway. Take him!” I shoved Matthias into Damian’s arms and raced toward the portal.
Fates, let Rhiannon be okay.
I clenched the genie bottle in my hands. Wishes could fix a lot, but they couldn’t bring someone back from the dead.
The island was scarred by streaks of blood and traces of magic. My friends were huddled in a circle beneath the giant ring. Demons were everywhere.
Rage tore through me, and my strength returned. I called the storm and dropped on the demonic hordes like a cyclone. I created a pocket of calm around my friends, while the violent wind ripped the attacking demons off their feet and flung them into the sky.
With no time to lose, I shot forward to the ring. Unstable magic crackled around it, and only a few of the runes were still alight.
It was almost shut.
Then my breath caught. An extinguished rune flashed to life, suddenly glowing with bright magic. And then another.
Demons were repairing the spells from the other side.
I had to shut the gateway now.
Releasing the hurricane, I drew upon the full strength of my magic. I thought of Magic Side, my friends, and what would happen if I couldn’t shut the portal. Rage consumed me, and I could feel my magic vibrating in the air.
I summoned my khanjar and rammed it into the center of a rune. I began to speak the spell of locking that Ethan had taught me, but only two words left my mouth, booming like a thunderclap.
“Be Sealed.”
Magic ripped through my body, the blade, and into the rune. Lightning danced across the surface of the ring, and with a deafening crack, all the runes went out.
Thin trails of smoke rose from the ring.
It was done.
I was finally getting the hang of this genie magic thing. Ears ringing, I whirled around.
Angels were cutting down the last of the demons who hadn’t been hurled from the island.
Rhiannon was there amidst it all, grinning like a buffoon when she caught my gaze. “Holy shit, Neve! I think we lived! Did you catch that asshole?”
I ran over and wrapped my arms around her. “We got him.”
As if in answer to her question, Damian alighted nearby, Matthias in tow.
I released my friend. Her hair was matted down, and she was covered head to toe with demon blood. Blue, green, every color you could think of.
“Fates,” I whispered. “What happened to you? You look like hell spooged all over you.”
She blanched. “Kind of what happened.”
“Are you hurt?” Her clothes and tactical vest were tattered.
“Pretty badly, a couple times. It’s going leave a couple of cool scars, but Nathaniel healed me during the battle,” she purred.
Oh fates. She was in trouble. Or he was, I couldn’t be certain.
I looked over, and Nathaniel gave me a cold nod. “We are victorious. The angels thank you.”
Gods, and I thought Damian had been cold and formal once. This guy was like an incredibly beautiful ice sculpture.
Ethan strode over and placed his hands on the ring. “Neve. That was amazing. But I think you should feel this.”
Damian shoved Matthias into Nathaniel’s hands and joined my side as I walked back to the ring. We both laid a hand on the runes. They vibrated with foul magic.
Ethan grimaced. “Do you feel that? They’re still trying to restore it from the other side. We need to destroy this gateway, now.”
My stomach dropped.
So, it wasn’t over, after all.
27
Damian
Ethan’s words chilled me to the bone.
My skin burned from the corrupt and rancid magic that was trying to force its way back through. Ethan was right. They were trying to open the portal.
If we wanted this victory to mean anything, there was work to do.
I touched Neve gently on the shoulder. “Could you destroy it? With your power? The same way you sealed it?”
She was a living hurricane. I didn’t doubt that she could rip the citadel down. I didn’t doubt anything about her anymore.
Neve thought for a moment, and then slowly shook her head. “Destroying it won’t be enough, Damian. They could rebuild it. We need to shut down this operation for good.”
Matthias shouted something through his gag, and Nathaniel decked him across the chin. That shut him up.
Neve came close. “We should use a wish to seal it forever.”
I tensed. “That will be dangerous. Do you feel confident you could control it?”
“I think I’m figuring things out, but I’m beyond drained from my battle with Matthias and sealing the portal. I need time to recover. Time, I don’t think we have.” She held up the genie bottle and looked at me. “But…maybe we can use the marid. How exactly do these things work?”
My gut clenched. “Neve, this is madness. I’ve made four wishes. None of them worked out the way I’d intended. The marid is our enemy. He would twist our words.”
Determination flared in her eyes. “I need to set things right. This, I can handle. Tell me what to do.”
Every fiber of my being railed against the idea, but I trusted her more than anyone in the world. “Whoever holds the bottle can take control of the genie, though he may disobey the intent of your words. If you are certain this is what you want to do, just rub the bottle and call forth the marid.”
“That’s it?” she asked.
I shrugged. It was a rather poor security system for something that amounted to a weapon of mass destruction.
I held my breath as Neve uncorked the bottle, rubbed it with her hand, and called out, “Great marid, I summon you to my aid.”
Her voice boomed with command.
After a second, water began to drip from the mouth of the bottle onto the ice. It poured out faster and faster until it became a torrent, swirling in the air.
The marid formed before us. His eyes were piercing and infinitely blue. The ocean roared in my ears, and the scent of the sea and old wood washed over me. I could taste salt and sweet herbs. His magic was cold, not like frost, but like the abyss.
I felt the efreet’s magic rise with hatred inside of me, but I reined it in.
The marid’s voice rolled over us like a tidal wave, wrought with pain and fury. “I see you have defeated my old master, young djinn. So be it. You are my new master, and I owe you three wishes. Tell me, why have you summoned me from my slumber amongst the dark waves?”
Neve’s eyes flared wi
th white light, and her words roared like the wind. Her voice was low, rumbling, and everywhere at once. “I’m your master, marid, and you are at my command. Don’t toy with me, or try to trick me, because I’ve already destroyed an efreet and a djinn, and I’ll destroy you, too.”
“Then what do you wish, genie-killer?”
Her body tensed so subtly that I doubted anyone else noticed. But I’d studied her every expression and knew them by heart. She was bleeding inside, but her eyes betrayed no pain.
She growled. “Tell me what you desire most.”
He stared so intently at her that it felt like his eyes were peeling back her soul. At last, he spoke.
“My freedom.” He turned and glared at Matthias. “And vengeance.”
“And if you had to choose one?” Neve’s threatening voice brought him back to attention.
The marid did not hesitate. “Freedom above all. You have no idea what it is like to be bound for centuries. To be waiting in darkness. Endless silence. Grant me my freedom. I will grant myself vengeance.”
His voice roared like the ocean, a churning storm of fury and pain and madness.
My heart ached. That could have been Neve. We’d come so close to disaster. If Matthias had trapped her, he would have commanded her to kill me, to kill Rhiannon, and to destroy the city she loved.
She would have gone mad in centuries of silent guilt.
Every part of my soul wanted to grab her and take her from this place. I couldn’t bear the thought of her facing down the monster she might have become.
Neve rose into the air, power crackling around her. “We once let the djinn go free, and he turned on us. You hunted us across the Earth. You tried to kill us, attacked the prison, attacked the Archives, and tried to destroy Magic Side. What will you do with your freedom?”
“Seek justice. I would rebuild that which I destroyed, and I would destroy those who brought me pain,” the marid growled, rage and excitement and delight infecting his words.
Matthias struggled in Nathaniel’s grasp.
Storm clouds boiled behind Neve. “What was done to you is beyond evil and can never be forgiven. But we cannot trust you as you are. Tell me, you crave vengeance, but would you trade your pain and hatred for your freedom?”
Broken Skies: Dragon’s Gift: The Storm Book 4 Page 17